Fixing Fuzzy High Notes for a Twitch/YouTube Singer

The Client’s Challenge

The client, a singer and content creator in the United States, streamed live karaoke-style sessions on platforms like Twitch and YouTube. His main issue was audio distortion: whenever he sang high notes and projected loudly, the microphone signal became fuzzy and distorted. He was seeking advice on what plugins he could use to clean up the sound, believing the fix was post-processing.

He was using a professional home studio setup: a Shure SM7B microphone running into a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 audio interface. The technical issue was directly impacting his ability to stream confidently and professionally.

Diagnosis

The client was convinced the problem lay with the need for corrective plugins. However, my immediate thought was to examine the core signal path before the computer. When diagnosing audio issues, I always look for the point where the signal first clips or distorts. This is almost always a hardware issue, not a software one.

I checked the settings on his Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 audio interface. The gain control was set too high. This meant that while his speaking voice sounded fine, the moment he hit a loud, high note, the raw signal coming from the mic was overloading the preamp in the interface. This resulted in analogue clipping, which is impossible to fix with any software plugin afterwards.

Additional Support

With the core issue resolved, the focus shifted to achieving the professional, polished “karaoke sound” the client wanted for his streams. Since his audio was running through OBS, we set up a simple chain of effects filters directly in the streaming software.

We established a clean processing chain:

• Gain to add a final boost and achieve the desired output volume.
• Compressor to level out the dynamics, controlling the difference between his softest and loudest notes. This is essential for consistent streaming audio.
• EQ (Equaliser) to fine-tune the tone of his voice, adding clarity and brightness.
• Limiter to act as a final safety net, ensuring no digital clipping occurred within OBS.

Finally, we looked at adding reverb. I recommended and helped him install a free, high-quality VST plugin, the TAL-Reverb-4, and showed him how to set up the sends in OBS. We spent the last part of the session testing the settings and making sure he knew how to switch the effect on and off, giving him full control.

Result

The client was delighted with the outcome. His voice was now coming through the stream cleanly, brightly, and with consistent volume, even when he sang high and loud. The distortion was gone, and he had a professionally configured effects chain with the reverb he wanted. He was now fully equipped and confident to stream his singing on Twitch and YouTube.

Reflection