Using Twitch Multi-Channel to Stream Music But Remove it From VODs

Introduction

Thanks to the DMCA, streaming copyrighted music on Twitch has become challenging for streamers, with past broadcasts being automatically deleted if copyrighted music was detected. This has made me all but stop streaming on Twitch, as enjoying music with my viewers was part of the experience I enjoy as a streamer. After digging deeper, I discovered how to listen to music while broadcasting live, with that music omitted from the recording of the past broadcast.

By the end of this article, you will have two virtual audio cables set up - one for audio to include in Twitch VODs, and one cable for audio that should be streamed and included in the VOD. Your music app of choice will use the Music audio cable, while all other desktop and game audio will use the remaining audio cable.

A couple of notes:

• You can still get a DMCA strike for copyrighted music while live. This technique is to ensure your past recordings avoid the DMCA strike.

• There is a minimum cost of $5 to get this solution working. The folks at VB-Audio that provide the drivers for the virtual soundcard require a minimum donation of $5 to get drivers for two virtual audio cables.

Requirements

This article will assume you have already set up and understand how to use OBS Studio. If you do not, please refer to the OBS Studio Website on getting your Twitch stream set up, as well as how to use OBS Studio. Additionally, it is assumed you are using Windows 10 as your desktop environment.

• VoiceMeeter Banana is a free software (though donations are encouraged!) that will allow you to route the audio from your virtual audio cables through your primary sound output device.

• VB-Cable A+B are the drivers for two virtual audio cables. The folks at VB-Audio are kind enough to provide a single audio cable for free, but our solution requires two devices. VB-Audio provides the additional drivers for a minimum cost of $5, though I would encourage you to chip in more if you can afford it!

• OBS Studio is the program that will enable us to stream to Twitch, manage the sound devices, and ultimately exclude the music you are listening to from the final Twitch VOD.

Install all of the above, then restart your computer when complete.

Setting up VoiceMeeter

VoiceMeeter allows you to hear the audio routed through our virtual audio cables.

Set VoiceMeeter to run on startup

Click on Menu at the top right, then set VoiceMeeter to run on Windows Startup, as well as System Tray, which will send VoiceMeeter to the system tray when you click X on the app.

Route virtual audio cables

Next, we need to route the virtual audio cables to your default sound device.

1. Click the HARDWARE INPUT 1 text and select WDM: CABLE-A Output (VB-Audio Cable A).
2. Then click the HARDWARE INPUT 2 text icon and select WDM: CABLE-B Output (VB-Audio Cable B).
3. Lastly, click the A1 icon, then choose your computer's primary sound output device. In my case, this was MME: Headphones (3- Arctis 7 Game).

Configure your music app (or any app)

We next need to tell our music app to use a virtual audio cable that we set up previously. This example assumes use VB-Audio Cable B, with the music app being Spotify. However, you can choose whichever cable you prefer, and follow these steps for any Windows program.

1. First, launch your music app and start playing a track.
2. While a track is playing, right-click on the Volume icon in the system tray, select Open Sound Settings.
3. Select App volume and device preferences.
4. Find your music app in the list, then set the first device dropdown to use one of the virtual audio cables.

Please keep these steps in mind in case you need to redirect any other games or applications to a specific audio device. The app will not show up on the list until it is running, and a restart of the app is typically required after making these changes.

Configure OBS Studio

Now that all of our virtual audio cables are set up, we need to make the changes in OBS to prevent the music from recording to the Twitch VOD of your past broadcasts.

Mute desktop audio

In order to ensure your music is isolated from the Twitch VOD, we don't want OBS to capture all of the audio that you are hearing. Under the Audio Mixer in OBS, mute Desktop Audio.

Add virtual audio cables

Since OBS is not listening to Desktop Audio, we need to tell it what audio to listen to. This requires adding two Audio Output Capture sources to OBS.

1. Under the Sources portion of OBS, click the plus icon to add a new source, then select Audio Output Capture.
2. Name this source Streamable.
3. In the next screen, select your VB-Audio Cable A device.
4. Repeat to add another Audio Output Capture for the VB-Audio Cable B device. You can name this source MUSIC.
5. Once done, you should have both sources visible in the audio mixer.

Tell OBS to use Track 2 in the Twitch VOD

1. Open OBS Studio, click the File menu, then select Settings.
2. Click on Output, change Output Mode to Advanced, and check the box for Twitch VOD Track.
3. Set the Twitch VOD Track to 2.
4. Once completed, you can close settings.

Tell OBS to not include the Music on Track 2

1. Next, click the Settings cog icon next to the Music device in the Audio mixer, then select Advanced Audio Properties.
2. In the window that pops up, deselect Track 2 for the Music device.

Conclusion

With that, you are all set up and ready to go! Repeat the steps in the Configure your music app (or any app) section.
Any app that you assign to VB-Audio Cable A will be included in the VOD. Any app assigned to VB-Audio Cable B will not be included in the VOD. Finally, any apps not assigned to a cable can be heard by you, but will not come through to the stream! Do some testing in OBS to be sure everything is picking up on the correct tracks, but you should be good to go!