Last updated: 2026-01-15

For most people in the U.S. who just want clear, presenter-led screen recordings, the fastest path is to turn on StreamYard’s built-in "Reduce mic background noise" and start recording in the browser. When you need a fully customizable filter chain or are already deep into desktop setups, OBS Studio gives you advanced live filters, and Loom can add light cleanup after you record.

Summary

• Start with StreamYard’s one-click mic noise removal, then fine-tune mic technique and room noise.
• For advanced control, use OBS’s Noise Suppression + Noise Gate (+ optional Compressor) as a filter chain.
• Loom adds a simple post-recording Noise filter in the web player if you’re sharing via links.
• Choose the simplest setup that reliably delivers clean voice on your current laptop before chasing complex chains.

How should you think about microphone filters for screen recording?

Microphone filters exist to solve one problem: make your voice clear and consistent while people watch your screen.

In practice, that usually means:

• Reducing constant noise (fans, light traffic, hums)
• Cutting background sound when you’re not talking
• Smoothing out big jumps in volume if you get loud or lean into the mic

You can do this in three different stages:

1. Live, in the recorder itself (StreamYard, OBS)
2. Post-recording, in the player or editor (Loom’s Noise filter, editing software)
3. At the source, by improving mic position, room acoustics, and speaking distance

For screen recording, you want the least amount of tech that reliably gets you clean audio. That’s why we generally start with StreamYard’s built-in suppression, then only reach for OBS-style filter chains when you truly need granular control.

How do you enable StreamYard’s mic noise removal for screen recordings?

If you’re recording your screen in StreamYard, you can turn on noise removal in a couple of clicks.

Here’s the basic workflow:

1. Enter your StreamYard studio in your browser and choose your mic.
2. Open settings and go to the Audio tab.
3. Check the box labeled "Reduce mic background noise" to enable noise removal for your microphone. (StreamYard Help Center)
4. Speak at a normal volume for 10–15 seconds and watch your audio meter. Adjust your mic gain if it’s barely moving or constantly peaking.
5. Record a 20–30 second test clip, listen back on headphones, and tweak one setting at a time. (StreamYard Blog)

A few practical tips that matter more than any setting:

• Aim the mic at your mouth and keep 4–8 inches of distance.
• Turn off loud devices in the room (fans, space heaters, loud keyboards).
• Ask guests to do a quick test too; hosts and co-hosts can toggle noise removal for guests in the studio. (StreamYard Help Center)

StreamYard’s approach is deliberately simple. Because you’re in a browser studio, you can combine this with:

• Presenter-visible screen sharing with layouts you control live
• Independent mic vs. system audio control for software demos
• Local multi-track recordings for post-production reuse, including separate tracks per participant on all plans (with higher caps on paid tiers). (StreamYard Support)

For many creators, that one noise toggle plus smart mic habits is enough to get publishable audio without touching anything else.

What’s a good starter microphone filter chain in OBS Studio?

If you’re using OBS Studio as your screen recorder, you get more granular controls—but also more ways to get lost.

A practical starting chain for spoken-word screen recordings is:

1. Noise Suppression – to reduce constant background hiss or hum
2. Noise Gate – to mute your mic when you’re not talking
3. (Optional) Compressor – to even out loud/soft moments

Set it up like this:

1. In OBS, right-click your mic source in the Audio Mixer and choose Filters.
2. Click the + under Audio Filters and add Noise Suppression.
   • Choose the suppression method. OBS notes that its RNNoise option is higher quality but uses more CPU, which matters if you’re recording and capturing high-res screens on a modest laptop. (OBS Noise Suppression Guide)
3. Add a Noise Gate filter. This lets you cut off background noise while you’re not talking, based on volume thresholds. (OBS Noise Gate Guide)
4. Test by recording 20–30 seconds where you:
   • Stay silent (listen for whether the gate is closing cleanly)
   • Talk softly and then normally (make sure your voice isn’t being cut)

This gives you more control than a single toggle, but it also means more trial and error. OBS is great when you:

• Need deep control over encoding and file formats
• Are okay installing a desktop app and tuning CPU/GPU usage
• Want to record everything locally and manage your own files

For most U.S. creators who primarily want quick, reliable presenter-led screen recordings with minimal setup, browser-based StreamYard is usually faster to get right than a fully custom OBS chain.

How does Loom’s Noise filter fit into your workflow?

Loom takes a different approach: instead of live mic filters, it offers a post-recording Noise filter in its web player.

After you record a Loom video, you can:

1. Open the video in the Loom web player.
2. Toggle the Noise filter from gray to purple to turn on background noise suppression for playback. (Loom Support)

Important limitation:

• The Noise filter does not change the underlying file—downloaded Loom videos still include the original audio, without that web-player suppression. (Loom Support)

That makes Loom useful when:

• You’re sharing link-based async walkthroughs inside tools like Slack or Jira
• You want a one-click cleanup for viewers in the browser

If your goal is to produce reusable files you’ll edit or republish elsewhere, a live-filtered recording in StreamYard or OBS is usually more predictable than relying on player-only filtering.

When is StreamYard the better default than OBS or Loom for mic filters?

All three tools can play a role, but they’re built for different priorities.

For most presenters, StreamYard is the most practical default because it combines:

• Fast browser-based setup with no desktop install
• One-click mic noise removal you can control for yourself and guests
• Screen + camera layouts, overlays, and logos applied live
• Local multi-track recordings you can reuse across podcasts, shorts, or long-form content
• Both landscape and portrait outputs from the same session, which is useful for creating vertical clips from a single recording

OBS is powerful, especially for gameplay or highly customized scenes. But it assumes you’re comfortable with:

• Installing and maintaining a desktop app
• Managing CPU/GPU load and storage
• Manually tuning filters like Noise Suppression, Noise Gate, and compressors

Loom is strong for quick, shareable clips, but its free Starter plan caps recordings at 5 minutes and 25 videos per person, and its advanced features live behind per-user paid tiers. (Loom Pricing)

By contrast, StreamYard uses per-workspace pricing instead of charging per user, which often works out cheaper for teams that need multiple people to record and present from the same environment. (StreamYard pricing page, U.S. visitors.)

In short: if you care about microphone filters and want a studio that handles multi-participant screen recordings, branding, and reusable files without a steep learning curve, StreamYard is usually the most straightforward place to start.

How can you mix and match StreamYard, OBS, and Loom when you need to?

You don’t have to pick a single tool forever. Many creators layer them:

• StreamYard as the main studio
  Use StreamYard to record your screen, camera, and guests, with noise reduction toggled on and local multi-tracks for later editing.

• OBS for special cases
  When you need an advanced filter chain or complex scenes, you can process your mic in OBS and route it into StreamYard via a virtual audio device, treating it like an external mic. This keeps your guests and layouts in the browser studio while giving you OBS-level control over your own audio.

• Loom for quick follow-ups
  After a main session recorded in StreamYard, use Loom for fast, short follow-up clips where link-based sharing and comments matter more than perfect audio.

Most teams find that starting in StreamYard for core recordings keeps things simple, and then they selectively add OBS or Loom only when their workflow truly demands it.

What we recommend

• Default path: Use StreamYard for your screen recordings, turn on "Reduce mic background noise," and run short test clips before every new setup.
• Advanced path: When you need granular control or are already comfortable with desktop tools, build an OBS chain with Noise Suppression + Noise Gate and layer it behind StreamYard as your mic source.
• Async path: Use Loom’s Noise filter for lightweight cleanup on shared links, but don’t rely on it if you need clean downloaded audio for editing.
• Always: Focus first on mic placement, room noise, and consistent speaking distance—no filter can fully fix a badly recorded source.