How to Capture Game Audio, Voice Chat and Microphone on Separate Tracks

To record game audio and microphone separate tracks, treat each sound source as its own input: gameplay, your mic, and voice chat. Then send those inputs to a combined track for easy playback plus individual tracks for editing. The combined track lets you review the clip normally; the isolated tracks let you mute Discord, clean up your mic, lower a loud teammate or replace music without damaging the rest of the audio.

For most gaming creators, the simplest reliable layout is: Track 1 = full mix, Track 2 = game audio, Track 3 = voice chat, Track 4 = microphone. You can use the same idea in OBS Studio, recording software with source-level audio capture, or a replay-capture workflow that preserves separate sources.

Why separate audio tracks are worth the setup

A single mixed audio track locks every sound together. If a teammate says something you need to remove, your microphone peaks, a Discord notification fires, or the game is too loud, the only option is to alter the whole mix. That is fine for a quick upload, but it becomes limiting as soon as you want to turn a highlight into a polished Short, TikTok, Reel or YouTube video.

• Mute voice chat from a clip without losing gameplay sound or your reaction.
• Turn game volume down while keeping commentary clear.
• Apply noise reduction, compression or EQ to the microphone only.
• Remove music or browser audio from an edit when you do not have rights to use it.
• Create different mixes for a long-form video, a vertical highlight and a clean gameplay montage.
• Keep a normal all-in-one audio mix for fast review while retaining isolated sources when you need them.

Separate tracks are not a magic fix for every audio problem. If your microphone is distorted at the input, or game audio and Discord are already merged before they reach your recorder, you cannot fully separate them afterwards. The important job is making sure each source is distinct before you start recording.

Choose a track layout before you touch the settings

Start with a small layout you can remember. Four tracks are enough for most creators:

1. Track 1 — Full mix: game, voice chat and mic together. Use this for quick playback, simple uploads and checking that the recording has sound.
2. Track 2 — Game: gameplay audio only, including game effects, dialogue and ambience.
3. Track 3 — Voice chat: Discord, party chat or another communication app only.
4. Track 4 — Microphone: your voice only.

If you use background music, alerts or a browser source, give them their own tracks as well—or leave them out of the recording and add music later in the editor. Avoid creating a separate track for every tiny source just because you can. More tracks mean more routing to check, and a simple setup that works every time is more useful than an elaborate one you do not trust.

The key problem: game audio and voice chat must be different inputs

Your microphone is usually straightforward: add or select your mic as its own audio input. The harder part is separating game sound from Discord or party chat. If both are captured as one general desktop-audio device, they arrive at the recorder already mixed together. Assigning that one source to several tracks does not split it; it simply makes copies of the same combined sound.

Instead, capture the game and chat application independently. In OBS, that generally means using separate application-audio capture sources where your operating system and OBS setup support them. Select the game for one source and Discord or the relevant chat application for another. Keep your microphone as a dedicated mic input.

If your current setup only offers one desktop-audio source, you may need to change your audio-device routing. Common approaches include sending the game and chat app to different output devices, using an application-routing utility, or using a capture method that can select individual application audio. The best option depends on your operating system, hardware and recording app, but the principle remains the same: one source per sound you want to edit independently.

Set up separate tracks in OBS Studio

OBS is a useful example because it makes the two required steps clear: first enable the recording tracks, then decide which source goes to each one. OBS supports multitrack recording in Advanced Output mode; its own guidance also recommends keeping a full mix on Track 1 because standard media players commonly play only one audio track at a time.

1. Add and name your audio sources

In the OBS Audio Mixer, make sure you can identify each source at a glance. A clean starting list might be Game Audio, Discord and Mic. If you see both a general Desktop Audio source and separate game or Discord sources, be careful: leaving all of them active can record the same sound twice.

Speak into the mic, play game audio and have a friend talk in voice chat. Watch the meters one at a time. Each activity should light up only the source you expect. This simple check catches most routing mistakes before they reach your recording.

2. Enable the tracks you want to record

Open Settings → Output, change Output Mode to Advanced, then open the Recording tab. Enable the recording audio tracks you plan to use: normally Tracks 1 through 4 for the layout above. Check that you are configuring recording rather than only your stream audio.

For local multitrack recording, MKV is usually the safer working format because an interrupted recording is less likely to make the whole file unusable. If your editor or upload workflow needs MP4, remux a completed recording afterwards. Before committing to a format, make sure your editing software imports every embedded audio track properly.

3. Route each source in Advanced Audio Properties

In the Audio Mixer, open Advanced Audio Properties. You will see a routing grid with your audio sources on the left and track numbers across the top. Use it to make this assignment:

• Game Audio: tick Track 1 and Track 2.
• Discord or voice chat: tick Track 1 and Track 3.
• Mic: tick Track 1 and Track 4.

Track 1 now contains a complete listenable mix. Tracks 2, 3 and 4 contain the isolated sources. Do not send every source to every track: that defeats the purpose and makes troubleshooting needlessly confusing.

4. Record a short test and inspect it in an editor

Record 20 to 30 seconds with all three sources active. Open the file in your video editor, not only in a media player. You should see the full mix and the individual tracks available separately. A normal video player may only play one selected track, which can make a perfectly good multitrack file look as though it is missing sound.

If the editor shows the tracks but they are silent, revisit the routing grid and the recording-track checkboxes. If the editor shows only one track, check its import preferences and test an MKV or remuxed MP4 file before rebuilding your whole setup.

How to avoid doubled game audio and echo

The most common mistake is capturing the same audio twice. For example, Desktop Audio may collect game sound and Discord while separate application sources collect them again. The recording then sounds louder, hollow or slightly delayed.

• Use either broad Desktop Audio capture or separate application sources for a sound—not both—unless you deliberately understand the overlap.
• Disable unused global audio devices in OBS if they duplicate sources you added manually.
• Wear headphones while recording. Otherwise, speakers can feed game or chat sound back into the microphone.
• Do not monitor a source through speakers if it is already audible through your normal system output.
• Check your Discord input device is your microphone, not a loopback, stereo-mix or virtual output device.

You should also watch levels before recording a long session. Keep your voice consistently audible over the game rather than trying to rescue an extreme imbalance later. Separate tracks give you room to adjust; they do not create clean speech from a mic that was buried beneath explosions.

What to do with in-game voice chat

In-game voice chat is sometimes the awkward exception. If the game mixes team chat into the same application output as its effects and music, recording the game as an application source will usually put both on the game track. You cannot separate those elements later unless the game itself offers separate output devices or audio channels, or you route the chat through a different app or device before capture.

When this matters, check the game’s audio settings for separate voice-chat output, voice volume and output-device options. If it cannot split chat from the game, decide whether a game-plus-chat track is acceptable for the content you make. For many quick highlights it is; for heavily edited content, Discord or a separate party-chat app may give you more control.

A practical replay-capture workflow

Replay capture is useful when you do not want to store every minute of a session as a full recording. A replay buffer keeps only a rolling window in the background, then saves the recent moment when you press a hotkey. For the basics of saving moments after they happen, see how to record the last 30 seconds of gameplay on PC.

The audio principle does not change with a replay buffer: the game, mic and voice-chat signals must be separate at capture time. A creator-focused setup can then save a highlight with a ready-to-use mix while retaining individual source files for the clips that need a more careful edit. Cutscene Replay captures gameplay, webcam and audio sources, with optional separate source files for creators who need that extra post-production control. You can see the workflow on the Cutscene Replay product page.

This is particularly useful for short-form editing. You might keep your reaction loud for a TikTok, remove a friend’s off-topic voice chat for a YouTube Short, or lower the game slightly so captions and commentary carry the clip. Once the sound is separated, those are quick editorial choices rather than irreversible compromises.

Troubleshooting checklist

• Everything is on one track: enable multiple recording tracks in the output settings, then route sources in Advanced Audio Properties.
• Game and Discord are still together: they are likely entering through the same desktop-audio source. Capture or route them as separate inputs.
• You hear an echo or a louder-than-expected mix: remove duplicate Desktop Audio or application-audio sources, and check speaker monitoring.
• Your editor only finds one audio channel: verify the file contains multiple tracks, test a different container or remuxed file, and check the editor’s audio-import options.
• One isolated track is silent: confirm its checkbox is enabled both in the recording output settings and beside the appropriate source in Advanced Audio Properties.
• The stream sounds right but the recording does not: remember that stream and recording routing can be configured separately. Test the saved recording itself.
• Voice chat is too quiet: raise it at the source or in the app, but leave headroom and make a test recording before a real session.

Keep the system simple enough to trust

The best separate-track setup is the one you can verify in under a minute. Name sources clearly, keep a full mix on Track 1, isolate only the sounds you will realistically edit, and make a new test clip whenever you change hardware, games or chat apps. Once it is working, you gain the freedom to make cleaner edits without turning every captured moment into an audio-repair job.

Capture the moment, then choose the mix

Try Cutscene Replay when you want fast local replay capture with a practical path from saved highlight to an editable clip.

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Final setup to copy

If you want one configuration to start with, use this: Track 1 full mix; Track 2 game only; Track 3 voice chat only; Track 4 microphone only. Capture game and chat as different inputs, record a 30-second test, and inspect it inside your editor. That one habit gives you far more control over the clips you decide are worth publishing.