Manage Multiple Streaming Brands with OBS Scene Collections

Managing multiple streaming brands or shows can be chaotic if you try to pack all your overlays, alerts, and camera sources into a single workspace. This article provides a straightforward, step-by-step guide on how to use custom scene collections in OBS Studio to easily separate, organize, and switch between different brand designs and asset setups with just a few clicks.

What is an OBS Scene Collection?

In OBS Studio, a Scene Collection saves your entire layout of scenes, sources, and filters. Crucially, switching to a different scene collection completely swaps out your active assets without deleting your work on other setups. This allows you to have one collection dedicated to “Brand A” (e.g., a corporate podcast) and another for “Brand B” (e.g., personal gaming streams), keeping your workspace clean and preventing accidental clutter.

Step-by-Step: Setting Up a Brand-Specific Scene Collection

Step 1: Create a New Scene Collection

Open OBS Studio.
In the top menu bar, click on Scene Collection.
Select New from the dropdown menu.
Type a clear name for your brand (e.g., Brand_A_Gaming or Brand_B_TalkShow) and click OK.

OBS will now present you with a completely blank canvas. Your previous scenes are safe and can be accessed at any time by going back to the Scene Collection menu.

Step 2: Build Your Brand Assets

With your new, empty scene collection active, you can now build your brand-specific layout: * Add Scenes: Create scenes for your intro, main content, “be right back” screen, and outro. * Add Sources: Import the specific overlays, webcams, logos, alerts, and microphone sources that belong to this specific brand. * Configure Audio: Adjust the audio mixer levels specifically for this brand’s requirements.

Step 3: Switch Between Brands

To switch to a different brand setup before you go live: 1. Click Scene Collection in the top menu. 2. Select the name of the brand collection you want to use. 3. OBS will instantly load all the scenes, sources, and configurations associated with that brand.

Best Practices for Managing Multiple Brands

Use Profiles in Tandem: While Scene Collections control your visual assets and sources, Profiles control your stream settings (like stream keys, bitrates, and output resolutions). If your different brands stream to different platforms (e.g., YouTube vs. Twitch), create matching Profiles for each brand.
Consolidate File Paths: Keep all graphics, videos, and audio assets for each brand in dedicated folders on your computer. If you move these files, OBS will lose the path and display a blank screen.
Export Your Collections: Back up your hard work by going to Scene Collection > Export. Save the file to a cloud drive or external storage so you can easily restore your brand setups if your computer crashes.