Read the numbers this way
These are starting points, not correct answers. Gate thresholds depend on your room,
gain depends on your microphone, and compression depends on how loud you get. Set them,
then adjust by ear — the reasoning under each preset matters more than the values.
Streaming
Solo, live to an audience
One person, one PC, going out to Twitch or YouTube. Your voice has to sit clearly above game audio and music without you riding the faders all night.
Mic chain
- Gate
- Threshold just above your room floor — try −40 dB and raise it until the meter sits still when you stop talking. Fast attack, release around 200 ms so word endings survive.
- Compressor
- Ratio about 3:1, threshold set so loud moments pull back 4–6 dB. Add makeup gain to match your uncompressed level.
- EQ
- High-pass at 80–100 Hz to lose desk rumble. Small dip around 250–400 Hz if you sound boxy, gentle lift at 3–5 kHz for clarity.
- De-esser
- Only if your S sounds sting. Start low and stop as soon as they stop.
Why these numbers. Music at 45% is deliberate. It should be audible under you, not something you raise your voice over — if you find yourself talking louder, the music is too high, not your mic too low.
Gaming with friends
Party chat over game audio
Nothing being broadcast, but several people talking over a loud game. The job here is keeping your friends audible when the fight starts.
Mic chain
- Gate
- A little tighter than streaming — mechanical keyboards and a hand on the mouse both reach the mic. Raise the threshold until clicks stop opening it, then back off slightly.
- Compressor
- Ratio around 4:1. You will get loud when something goes wrong, and this is what stops that arriving as a shout.
- EQ
- Same high-pass at 80–100 Hz. A small presence lift helps you cut through explosions.
- De-esser
- Usually unnecessary here.
Why these numbers. Chat sits above Game on purpose. Losing a callout because a grenade went off is worse than the game being slightly quiet. Broadcast is empty because nothing is going out.
Voice chat and calls
Discord, Teams, meetings
No stream, no game. One clean voice into the other end and nothing else leaking in with it.
Mic chain
- Gate
- Tight. In a meeting, keyboard noise between sentences is the thing people notice. Set the threshold above typing, not above silence.
- Compressor
- Gentle, about 3:1. Conversation is less dynamic than streaming, so heavy compression only brings up room tone.
- EQ
- High-pass a little higher, 100 Hz. Cut around 250 Hz if you sound muddy on a laptop speaker — that is what most people will hear you on.
- De-esser
- Worth a touch if you are close to the mic.
Why these numbers. Only the mic reaches Chat Mic. This is the setup that stops the classic problem where your music quietly plays into a work call and nobody tells you.
Podcast with a guest
Two voices, one recording
You on the XLR, a second person in through Line In. Both need to reach the recording, neither should be chopped up by processing.
Mic chain
- Gate
- Off, or barely on. A gate is the enemy of conversation — it clips the start of a quiet interjection, and that is exactly what you want to keep.
- Compressor
- Light, around 2:1. Enough to even out the two of you, not enough to flatten how someone speaks.
- EQ
- High-pass at 80 Hz and then leave it alone. Fix problems in the room and the mic position before reaching for EQ.
- De-esser
- Set per voice, and only after you have heard a real recording.
Why these numbers. Line Out is on so a second machine or a recorder gets the same mix. Chat Mic is empty — your guest is in the room, not in a call, and routing them there only creates an echo.
Music and listening
Off air, just you
Nothing being recorded or transmitted. The mixer is a very good headphone amp with faders.
Mic chain
- Gate
- Irrelevant — nothing is listening. Leave it as it is.
- Compressor
- Same.
- EQ
- Same.
- De-esser
- Same.
Why these numbers. Everything to Headphones and nowhere else. Saving this as its own profile means one keypress puts you fully off-air, which is a better habit than trusting yourself to remember.
Singing and karaoke
Mic forward, processing back
The one case where the settings that make speech sound good actively make you sound worse.
Mic chain
- Gate
- Off. A held note fading out is exactly what a gate is built to cut, and it will cut it.
- Compressor
- About 2:1 with a slower attack, so the front of each note gets through before the compressor moves.
- EQ
- High-pass at 80 Hz. Resist anything else until you have listened back — singing needs the low mids that speech does not.
- De-esser
- Light. Heavy de-essing takes the air out of a voice.
Why these numbers. Music at 70% instead of 45%. You are performing with it rather than talking over it, and you need to hear it properly to stay in tune.
