Here are the exact OBS settings I use to film six YouTube videos a day and to live stream directly in OBS without any third-party plugins. This is the final piece after my gear-list and studio-tour videos — and it helps to understand my Stream Deck scene switching first.
Audio and sync
I keep the OBS mixer minimal — just the mic and the Cam Link — with a limiter on each source so you never hear clips or clicks. One crucial step people miss: in advanced audio properties, do a clap test and set the sync offset (about 75ms for me) so your lips and claps line up with the rendered video, because by default they don't.
Profiles and output
I use a separate profile per YouTube channel, each with its own streaming settings, and I paste the stream key directly (instead of signing in) so the chat doesn't pop up and I can switch channels instantly — I've streamed to five or six channels at once this way. For output I use NVIDIA NVENC at 2560x1440, 60fps, with a 30 Mbps constant bitrate for streaming (bitrate matters most for high-motion gameplay). I record to MKV and auto-remux to MP4 using H.264, so a power cut never loses the whole file, and I use constant-QP rate control, which targets a constant quality and scales the bitrate with how much is moving on screen.
Scenes, sources, and the green screen
The big principle: use scenes, not source toggling. Each Stream Deck button loads a scene with my face in a specific position (center, left, right) or a gameplay/Zoom layout, which is far cleaner than turning sources on and off inside one scene. My Cam Link sits on top with a chroma key filter — with proper even lighting on a real pull-up green screen, the default chroma key settings work fine. I watch the OBS stats on a side monitor to catch any dropped or skipped frames, and I skip transitions entirely because they look bad. If you ever need help with OBS, you can find more on my YouTube coaching playlist here.