Content:
- How to Record in Streamlabs Desktop
- Setting up Streamlabs Desktop recordings
- Audio
- video
- Test, test and test again!
- Summarizing
Being a content creator may seem easy, but most content creators will tell you that it’s not as easy as you think. This requires a lot of planning. You invent content, execute it, record it or broadcast it live and upload it to Youtube or social networks. It may seem like a full-time job – and for some, it really is. Having the right tools in your toolbox can make your life as a content creator much easier by making the creation process smoother.
One such tool that you can use is Streamlabs Desktop . Most of its users probably use it for live streaming, but the truth is that this free and open source software can also record.
Streamlabs Desktop, formerly known as Streamlabs OBS, is indeed a powerful piece of software capable of recording your gameplay. If you need to shoot videos that have nothing to do with gameplay, this program can also serve that purpose by recording your screen and any other sources you may have included in your scenes (such as your logos, microphone, etc.). ) .
In this article, we won’t talk about how to set up Streamlabs Desktop and get it ready for streaming. Rather, we will talk about how to record with this software. We will also take a closer look at recording settings with Streamlabs Desktop.
You can check out our full guide here if you’d like to learn more about how to set up Streamlabs. We also have a guide for setting up Streamlabs on Mac if you’re using macOS.
How to Record in Streamlabs Desktop
In this guide, we assume that you have already downloaded and installed Streamlabs Desktop on your system. If not, please do so! You can get the application from this link.
To start recording with Streamlabs Desktop, follow these steps.
- Open the Streamlabs desktop
- Make sure you have your microphone, webcam (optional) and game capture set up. If you’re recording anything other than gameplay, you might want to capture your desktop or window instead. Keep in mind that Streamlabs Desktop will only include the scene you selected and the sources you added to the setup. You can switch between scenes and add new sources, but the recording will pick it up as it goes. For this reason, it’s best to make sure everything is set up before hitting the record button.
- Set up recording options (more on this below).
To access the Streamlabs desktop settings, click the gear in the lower left corner of the app’s main screen.
The round record button is hard to miss
- Click the RECORD button located next to the Go Live button in the lower right corner of your app’s main screen. To stop recording, simply press the same button again.
Once you’ve finished recording, the file will end up in the output folder you specify, ready to be edited or uploaded.
IMPORTANT ADVICE. The file size of your recording will depend on the settings you choose and the length of your recording session. Before you click “Record”, make sure you have enough space to record. Some content creators even have dedicated drives (internal or external) on which they will save their recorded files. If you want things to go a little faster, consider an SSD.
Setting up Streamlabs Desktop recordings
Setting everything up for streaming or recording can take a long time, but if you do it right, it should be a one-time process (barring a few tweaks here and there). Expect a lot of trial and error and experimentation – and ask others for feedback a lot!
Audio
It’s not enough to be interesting and have a nice setting for your screen and your overlay. It is very important for a content creator to have a good sound – otherwise no one will be late to finish your video. No one wants to hear tons of background noise, static, peaked microphones, or soft whispers.
When setting up audio for recording, first make sure you’re capturing the correct audio sources . If a microphone is connected to your system, Streamlabs Desktop will automatically detect it and you will see it in the audio mixer.
Your broadcast application should automatically detect your microphone.
If it doesn’t capture the correct microphone, change it to the correct one in the settings. Click on the settings gear/cogwheel icon (bottom left corner), go to audio settings and select the correct microphone.
Select the correct microphone as one of your microphone/auxiliary devices.
Audio tracks
Streamlabs Desktop has a built-in feature that allows you to choose which audio tracks you want to include in your recording. Up to six tracks are available, and you can assign audio sources to each of them. You can also assign multiple sources to the same track.
IMPORTANT TIP: To use the multitrack recording feature, make sure you change the recording format of your audio to .mp4 or .mkv. .flv, the default file type, does not support multitrack audio.
If you want to use multitrack audio recording, you can read the quick guide below. You can also check out the Streamlabs guide here.
Let’s take a look at each function with a link to the image above. To get to this settings window, go to Settings > Output. Don’t worry if this isn’t the window you see right away.
- Change the output mode to advanced to bring up other settings as shown in the image. Click on the “Record” tab .
- Change the recording format to .mp4 or .mkv if you want to use multitrack audio.
- These numbers 1 to 6 are the audio tracks in your recording. You can select and deselect tracks as you like, so if you only want audio tracks 1 and 2, you can select just those two and deselect the rest.
To route audio sources to audio tracks, go to the audio mixer and click on the gear in the panel to open advanced settings .
Click the gear on the mixer panel on the main screen of Streamlabs Desktop.
In this advanced settings window, you can choose which audio tracks to send audio sources to. You can set this for any number of audio sources.
Choose which audio track to send the source to
Why is it useful to use multiple audio tracks? It doesn’t affect your actual recording as much, but it does make your life a lot easier when editing. Let’s say you record your gameplay and your comments. You can send the desktop audio (gameplay) to track 1 and your commentary (from the microphone) to track 2. When you put the file into the editing program, you will have two separate audio tracks that you can edit separately. This makes it much easier to mute certain parts, increase or decrease the volume for one source and mute another, and so on.
Wash bitrate
You can set the bitrate separately for each audio track by clicking the Audio tab in the output settings window.
160 is a decent setting, although you can increase the value to 320 for better quality.
video
Once you’ve got your audio set up properly, the next thing you can look at is your video. We probably don’t need to tell you at this point that you should set up your scene to include whatever sources or assets you want. Specify the overlay, webcam, and game or window capture source here.
With all of this set up, you can navigate to the video settings by clicking the cogwheel in the bottom left corner and selecting Video.
Video settings
Let’s go through each setting one by one.
- The base (canvas) resolution must match the resolution of your monitor. If it’s a 1080p monitor, you should set it to 1920×1080. If you have a 1440p monitor, set it to 2560×1440 and so on.
- The output (scaled) resolution only really matters if you’re trying to reduce the resolution for streaming. For example, if you want to output 720p on Twitch even if you have a 1440p monitor. For recording, select the resolution of your monitor. However, keep an eye on your computer’s performance while recording to see if you need to lower this number.
- Streamlabs recommends using Lanczos in the downscaling filter settings. This filter gives you the highest possible quality, but requires more CPU power. Experiment with these filters to find the one that works for your system (this may involve trial and error, as well as constantly monitoring your PC’s performance during recording sessions).
- The FPS type must be a generic FPS value and you must set the FPS to 60 . 60fps is best when you are playing a game with tons of action and fast movement. In this situation, 30 fps will feel slow and even stutter. However, you can use 30fps if you’re just playing something slower like a board game or a more relaxed game.
The next thing you need to do is check the output settings in the same settings window.
Again, to see the window above, you must switch the output mode to extended . Click on the Recording tab to open these settings. Now let’s look at everything in order.
- The write path is where your write file will be saved after the session ends. You can check or uncheck the box that says “Create file name without space” – it’s a matter of preference.
- Recording format is the type of file in which your recording will be saved. Streamlabs recommends using mp4, but you can also choose .flv or .mkv. Please note that if you are using multitrack audio, you cannot use .flv.
Streamlabs desktop recording uses some of the same settings as the streaming setup. So click on the Streaming tab to change the settings below.
- The encoder is the encoder that Streamlabs Desktop will use to encode your video. There are usually two: x264, which is software based and uses your CPU, and NVENC, which is hardware based and uses your GPU (graphics card). If you have a powerful enough NVIDIA GPU, NVENC is usually the encoder of choice. By moving the encoding to your graphics card, you can also free up more CPU resources for gaming. Choose x264 if your CPU is more powerful than your GPU.
- Rate Control – According to Streamlabs, select CQP for NVENC and CRF for x264.
- The bitrate depends on your resolution as well as the specifications of your computer. If you’re recording in 1080p 60fps, you probably need a bitrate between 5000 and 10000. The higher your resolution, the higher this setting will be. You can go up to 60,000 if you shoot in 4k.
- According to Streamlabs, the interval between keyframes should remain zero.
- According to Streamlabs, the CPU usage preset should be at maximum quality or at the highest level. of course, make sure you monitor your computer’s performance and correct if you notice that it is having difficulty.
- According to Streamlabs, the profile can be set to high.
The other settings on this screen do not need to be changed, as they have little effect on the quality of your recording.
Once you’ve got it all set up, the fun begins!
Test, test and test again!
The next thing you need to do is test your setup and make sure everything is working optimally without causing too much trouble to your computer. You can check the CPU usage in the performance tab of your task manager. Monitor CPU usage while playing and record a sample. Make sure you’re talking so you can check the volume and audio tracks. Tweak things as you go to find the right balance for your setup.
You can also check if your multiple audio tracks are working properly by opening the sample recording file in your editing software.
If you don’t already have editing software, you can try Davinci Resolve, which is available for free. You can also check out our article Best Video Editing Software for Streamers [Complete Guide]!
Summarizing
Streamlabs Desktop has many features available not only for streaming but also for recording. There are even other features like Replay Buffer and Highlighter that we didn’t cover today. There are no limits to what you can create with a reliable software like this!
Initially, setting up Streamlabs Desktop for streaming and recording takes a long time. It takes some effort and trial and error, but once you get it all up and running, you’ll find that you never have to fiddle with settings again, ever. We hope this guide helped you figure it out!
