Record Multi-Track Podcast with OBS Studio

Recording a multi-track podcast with local guests in OBS Studio allows you to isolate each microphone onto its own separate audio track. This layout is crucial for post-production, as it lets you edit, adjust volumes, and apply effects to individual voices without affecting the other speakers. This guide will walk you through the essential hardware requirements, OBS audio configurations, and recording settings needed to capture high-quality, multi-track local podcast audio.

Step 1: Connect Your Audio Hardware

To record local guests on separate tracks, you need a multi-channel USB audio interface or mixer (such as a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, Rødecaster Pro, or Behringer U-Phoria) connected to your computer. Plug each guest’s microphone into a different input channel on your interface.

Step 2: Disable Global Audio Devices in OBS

By default, OBS may bundle your audio devices together. To gain individual control, you must disable the default global devices: 1. Open OBS Studio and go to Settings > Audio. 2. Under the Global Audio Devices section, set all devices (Desktop Audio, Mic/Auxiliary Audio) to Disabled. 3. Click Apply and then OK.

Step 3: Add Individual Audio Sources

Now, you will add each microphone manually as an individual source in your scene: 1. In the Sources dock, click the + icon and select Audio Input Capture. 2. Name the source for the first speaker (e.g., “Host Mic”) and click OK. 3. In the device dropdown menu, select your audio interface. If your interface maps channels as separate inputs, select the specific channel for that mic. Click OK. 4. Repeat this process for your guest, creating a new Audio Input Capture source (e.g., “Guest Mic”) and selecting the corresponding input channel.

(Note: If your audio interface sends all inputs as a single stereo mix where Mic 1 is Left and Mic 2 is Right, you will need to downmix them to mono. Click the gear icon next to each source in the Audio Mixer, select Advanced Audio Properties, and check the Mono box for both sources.)

Step 4: Route Sources to Separate Audio Tracks

To ensure each microphone records to its own track in the final video file, you must configure the track routing matrix: 1. Click the gear icon next to any audio source in the Audio Mixer dock and select Advanced Audio Properties. 2. On the far right of the window, you will see a grid of checkboxes labeled Tracks (1 through 6). 3. Uncheck all boxes for all sources. 4. Check Track 1 only for the “Host Mic” row. 5. Check Track 2 only for the “Guest Mic” row. 6. Click Close.

Step 5: Configure Recording Output Settings

Finally, you must tell OBS to record multiple tracks to your output file: 1. Go to Settings > Output. 2. Set the Output Mode dropdown at the top to Advanced. 3. Click on the Recording tab. 4. Set your Recording Format to a container that supports multi-track audio, such as MKV or MP4 (MKV is highly recommended, as it prevents file corruption if OBS crashes). 5. In the Audio Track section, check the boxes for 1 and 2 (corresponding to the tracks we assigned in Step 4). 6. Click Apply and then OK.

Step 6: Test and Import

Click Start Recording and have everyone speak into their microphones. Stop the recording and import the resulting file into a video editor (like Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve) or a digital audio workstation (DAW) like Audacity. You will see two distinct audio tracks beneath your video file, ready for independent editing.