Best Settings for Noise Gate in Streaming: Best Settings and Config (2026) (2026)

Getting a noise gate right for streaming is about prioritizing intelligibility over silence. Your viewers should hear the start and end of every word cleanly, without keyboard clacks, mouse clicks, fan hum, or room echo leaking through. A gate that is too aggressive chops off quiet consonants and makes you sound choppy, while a gate that is too loose does nothing at all. The goal is a transparent gate that opens instantly when you speak and closes naturally during pauses. In 2026 most streamers run this inside OBS Studio, so the settings below focus on that workflow while also translating directly to Streamlabs and NVIDIA Broadcast.

Before you touch thresholds, lock down your input gain so your normal speaking voice peaks between -18 dB and -12 dB on the OBS audio meter. Keep your mic 6 to 8 inches from your mouth, add a basic noise suppression filter first if you have constant background noise, and then tune the gate. Always tune with headphones on and the OBS audio meter visible.

Quick Recommended Settings

Setting-by-Setting

Close Threshold: -32 dB

This is the level where the gate closes and mutes the mic. Set it just above your room noise floor. For most quiet rooms, the floor sits around -45 dB to -38 dB, so -32 dB gives you headroom.

Trade-off: If you set it too high, like -26 dB, the gate will close while you are still talking quietly and clip word endings. If you set it too low, like -45 dB, keyboard and fan noise will leak through because the gate never closes. Adjust in 2 dB increments while watching the OBS mixer meter. Speak at your quietest streaming voice and then stop; the meter should fall below the close threshold within a second of silence.

Open Threshold: -26 dB

This is the level where the gate opens and lets audio through. Keep it 5 dB to 8 dB higher than Close Threshold. The gap is called hysteresis and it stops the gate from rapidly opening and closing when your voice hovers near the threshold.

Trade-off: A narrow gap, like 2 dB, causes flutter and stuttering. A wide gap, like 12 dB, forces you to speak louder to open the gate, which loses soft starts. In OBS Studio navigate to Sources > your Microphone/Aux source > right-click > Filters > + > Noise Gate. Set Close Threshold first, then set Open Threshold 6 dB higher. Test by whispering; the gate should still open on a whisper at normal mic distance.

Attack Time: 25 ms

Attack is how quickly the gate opens after crossing the Open Threshold. The range in OBS is 0 ms to 1000 ms. Use 20 ms to 30 ms for voice.

Trade-off: At 0 ms to 5 ms the opening can create a sharp click on plosives. At 80 ms or higher you will lose the initial transient of words, making sentences sound like ” -ello” instead of “hello”. Leave it at 25 ms and only increase it if you hear clicks on hard consonants.

Hold Time: 200 ms

Hold keeps the gate open for a fixed duration after your voice drops below the Close Threshold. This bridges natural gaps between words and sentences. OBS allows 0 ms to 1000 ms.

Trade-off: Below 80 ms the gate will close between words, creating a pumping effect. Above 400 ms it stays open long enough to let keyboard typing between sentences leak through. 200 ms is the sweet spot for conversational speech and gaming callouts. If you are a fast talker, reduce to 150 ms. If you pause often to think, increase to 250 ms.

Release Time: 150 ms

Release is the fade-out time after Hold expires. Instead of cutting abruptly, the gate fades to silence over this period. OBS range is 0 ms to 1000 ms.

Trade-off: A very short release under 50 ms sounds abrupt and unnatural. A very long release over 300 ms lets room noise swell in at the end of every sentence. Set 120 ms to 200 ms for a natural decay that matches room reverb. Listen to the tail of a sentence like “thanks for watching” with headphones; you should not hear a hard cut or a long hiss.

Filter Chain Order

Order matters. The correct stack in OBS Filters is from top to bottom: 1. Noise Suppression, 2. Noise Gate, 3. Compressor, 4. Equalizer, 5. Limiter. To reorder, use the up and down arrows in the Filters window. The config file for this chain is stored at %appdata%\obs-studio\basic\scenes\YourSceneCollection.json and at %appdata%\obs-studio\plugin_config\obs-filters.

Trade-off: If you place the gate before Noise Suppression, the gate has to fight raw background noise and needs a higher threshold, which risks clipping speech. If you place the Compressor before the gate, the compressor will raise the noise floor during silence and make the gate ineffective. Press Ctrl + F to search “Noise Gate” inside the JSON if you want to verify order manually, but use the Filters UI to change it.

By Hardware Tier

Low-End Setup: Budget USB Mic or Laptop Mic, No Acoustic Treatment

Examples include basic USB mics, headset mics, or webcam mics in an untreated room with a keyboard and fan audible. Use more aggressive gating because the noise floor is high.

Apply this path: OBS Studio > Settings > Audio > Mic/Auxiliary Audio > select your device > OK, then Sources > Filters > + > Noise Suppression (RNNoise, keep at default) > + > Noise Gate. Set Close Threshold to -30 dB, Open Threshold to -24 dB, Attack 25 ms, Hold 200 ms, Release 150 ms. Enable Noise Suppression first and set it to RNNoise to lower constant hiss before the gate acts. Use Closed-back headphones and set Advanced Audio Properties to Monitor and Output to hear the effect. Press Alt + click the gear icon on the Audio Mixer to open Advanced Audio Properties quickly. If typing still leaks, raise Close Threshold by 2 dB at a time until typing between sentences is muted, then retest soft speech.

Mid-Tier Setup: Dynamic or Condenser USB Mic like Elgato Wave:3, FIFINE AM8, or Audio-Technica ATR2100x with Light Treatment

This tier has a controlled noise floor around -45 dB to -38 dB and benefits from transparency. Use the Quick Recommended Settings exactly: Close -32 dB, Open -26 dB, Attack 25 ms, Hold 200 ms, Release 150 ms. Place the mic on a boom arm with a shock mount, 6 inches off-axis to reduce plosives. In OBS Studio > Settings > Audio > Sample Rate keep 48 kHz and Channels Stereo or Mono to match the mic. Add Filters in this order: Noise Suppression disabled or set to Speex at -30 dB suppression if needed, Noise Gate with values above, Compressor with Ratio 3:1, Threshold -18 dB, Attack 10 ms, Release 100 ms, Output Gain 2 dB. This preserves natural dynamics while the gate remains invisible to viewers.

High-End Setup: XLR Dynamic Mic like Shure SM7B, Electro-Voice RE20, or Shure MV7 via Interface like Focusrite Scarlett Solo, GoXLR, or Elgato Wave XLR

With low self-noise, proper gain staging from the interface, and treated space, you can run a gentle gate that only removes residual room tone. Set Close Threshold to -36 dB to -34 dB, Open Threshold to -30 dB to -28 dB, Attack 20 ms, Hold 180 ms, Release 120 ms. Set hardware gain on the interface so normal speech peaks at -15 dB on the interface LEDs and in OBS. In OBS, disable OBS Noise Suppression entirely and rely on the clean signal, or use NVIDIA Broadcast > Noise Removal at 50% strength before OBS if you use an RTX GPU and route via NVIDIA Broadcast Source. Path for NVIDIA Broadcast: NVIDIA Broadcast app > Microphone > Noise Removal toggle On > Strength slider. Then in OBS add Source > Audio Input Capture > Device: NVIDIA Broadcast. Keep the gate as the first OBS filter. This setup minimizes processing artifacts and keeps breaths and quiet asides audible.

Common Mistakes

1. Gate Cuts Off Quiet Words and Word Endings

What causes it: Close Threshold is too high or the gap between Open and Close is too small. The gate closes while you are still speaking softly.

How to check: In OBS, open Filters > Noise Gate and watch the threshold meter while speaking softly. Say “testing one two three” at a whisper volume. If the meter drops below Close Threshold mid-phrase and the Audio Mixer volume bar snaps to -inf, the gate is closing on speech.

What to do: Lower Close Threshold by 3 dB, then set Open Threshold to Close plus 6 dB. Increase Hold to 220 ms and Release to 160 ms. Test again with the same phrase.

How to undo: In Filters, select the Noise Gate and click the eye icon to bypass, or click the gear icon > Remove. Your previous values are stored in the scene collection JSON so you can re-add with Default if needed.

2. Keyboard, Clicks, and Fan Noise Still Audible Between Sentences

What causes it: Close Threshold is too low, Hold and Release are too long, or the gate is placed before the compressor which raises the noise floor.

How to check: Mute your voice and tap your keyboard. Watch the Audio Mixer. If the bar jumps above -32 dB and you hear it in monitoring, the gate is not closing.

What to do: Raise Close Threshold by 2 dB increments up to -28 dB maximum. Reduce Hold to 150 ms and Release to 120 ms. Verify filter order: drag Noise Gate above Compressor using the arrow buttons in Filters. If constant fan hum remains, add Noise Suppression > RNNoise above the gate.

How to undo: Reset Close Threshold to -32 dB, Hold to 200 ms, Release to 150 ms. Drag filters back to original order or press Ctrl + Z immediately after reordering in the Filters window.

3. Gate Flutter During Pauses Makes Audio Pump

What causes it: Open and Close Thresholds are too close together, usually 2 dB to 3 dB apart. Background noise hovering near the thresholds makes the gate open and close rapidly.

How to check: Stop speaking and observe the Filters > Noise Gate status. If it flickers rapidly between Open and Closed without speech, the hysteresis gap is too narrow.

What to do: Enforce a 6 dB gap. If Close is -32 dB, set Open to -26 dB. If Close is -30 dB, set Open to -24 dB. Do not change Attack to fix flutter; Attack only affects opening speed.

How to undo: Click Defaults in the Noise Gate filter pane to restore OBS defaults, then re-enter Close -32 dB and Open -26 dB.

4. Gate Does Nothing or Sounds Worse After Adding Other Filters

What causes it: Monitoring is set incorrectly, or Noise Gate is disabled, or Expander is mistaken for Gate. The OBS Expander plugin can look similar but behaves differently.

How to check: In Filters, confirm the filter name is Noise Gate and the eye icon is enabled. Go to Edit > Advanced Audio Properties and check that Audio Monitoring for Mic/Aux is not set to Monitor Off when you are trying to test, and that the track is assigned to Track 1.

What to do: Use only Noise Gate, not Expander, for hard silence. Set Audio Monitoring to Monitor and Output while tuning, then return to Monitor Off before going live to prevent echo. Use headphones only. Adjust thresholds as above.

How to undo: Set Audio Monitoring back to Monitor Off and disable or remove the test filter by clicking the eye icon. Restart OBS if monitoring sticks, via File > Exit and relaunch.

FAQ

Should I use Noise Gate or Noise Suppression for streaming?

Use both for different jobs. Noise Suppression, like RNNoise in OBS at Filters > + > Noise Suppression, removes constant low-level noise such as fan hum and AC continuously. Noise Gate mutes everything below a threshold during silence, which removes intermittent sounds like keyboard clicks and mouse clacks between words. The ideal chain is Noise Suppression first, then Noise Gate. If you have an RTX GPU, you can also use NVIDIA Broadcast > Microphone > Noise Removal as your suppression stage and keep RNNoise off to avoid double processing.

Why does my noise gate cut off the start of my sentences?

The Attack Time is too slow or the Open Threshold is too high. The gate is taking too long to open after you start speaking. Set Attack to 25 ms and lower Open Threshold to -26 dB while keeping Close at -32 dB. Test by recording a 10 second clip: OBS > Controls > Start Recording, say “hello chat, testing testing” at normal volume, then review in VLC with hotkey Ctrl + O to open the file from Videos folder. If the “h” in hello is missing, reduce Attack to 20 ms.

What are the best noise gate settings for a mechanical keyboard?

Mechanical keyboards spike around -35 dB to -28 dB on a desk mic. Start with Close -30 dB, Open -24 dB, Hold 150 ms, Release 120 ms, Attack 25 ms. Position the keyboard off-axis from the mic and place the mic on a boom arm with a shock mount. Add a Noise Suppression filter above the gate if the keyboard has a high-pitched rattle that still sneaks through during speech. If you use Open Broadcaster Software keyboard filters, confirm the gate still opens on soft speech after tightening thresholds by testing whisper volume.

Do I need a noise gate if I use NVIDIA Broadcast, RTX Voice, or Discord Krisp?

You can use either, but not always both aggressively. NVIDIA Broadcast app > Audio Effects > Noise Removal and Noise Gate are already combined. If you route your mic through NVIDIA Broadcast into OBS as an Audio Input Capture with Device set to NVIDIA Broadcast Microphone, set the OBS Noise Gate much gentler at Close -36 dB, Open -30 dB, or disable the OBS gate entirely to avoid double-gating which causes choppy audio. If you use Discord for voice chat separately, Discord > Settings > Voice and Video > Noise Suppression set to Krisp or Standard will handle that output, but your stream mic in OBS still needs its own gate.