Case Study: Fixing OBS Audio Running Ahead of Video

The Challenge

A live streamer got in touch a couple of days before a scheduled stream. In OBS, his audio was running ahead of his video, both on stream and in his recordings. He was using Sony Handycams through Elgato Cam Links, a Zoom F6 as his audio mixer, and a Lenovo Legion laptop. He had already tried OBS’s Sync Offset and changing his bitrates, and nothing had fixed it.

What I did

We booked a 60-minute remote session. When I first connected, I couldn’t see anything obviously wrong in his OBS setup.

• Checking drivers and firmware: Looking through his equipment, I noticed the drivers and firmware on his devices could all use updates.
• A pattern I’d seen before: It reminded me of a church livestream I’d fixed in person, where the audio drifted out of sync until the firmware was updated on the video switcher and the mixer. I suggested the same fix for his setup.
• Updating everything: I helped him go through his gear and make sure every device was running the latest firmware and drivers.
• Testing over time: A short call can’t show drift that builds up over a long stream, so I asked him to run an extended recording test and let me know the result.

The Result

He ran the extended test and messaged me to confirm it was fixed, then sent a tip a few weeks later. Nothing in his OBS settings had been wrong: his gear needed its firmware and drivers updating.