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Audio Problems with Facebook Live or Mobile Devices
Audio Problems with Facebook Live or Mobile Devices

In some cases – commonly reported by Facebook Live or mobile users – audio can sound distorted. This guide assists in troubleshooting.

Mindy Worley avatar
Written by Mindy Worley
Updated over a week ago

"My stream’s analog audio inputs sound okay on my website, BoxCast.tv, or YouTube, but it sounds terrible on mobile devices and/or Facebook Live!"

This happens when the positive and negative sides of a balanced mono source are connected to the L/R (white/red) channels of the BoxCaster’s analog (commonly known as RCA) audio inputs.

If you’re not sure what the difference between balanced and unbalanced audio is, learn more by reading our blog post.

The BoxCaster has stereo, unbalanced RCA inputs (meaning that there are two unbalanced RCA audio inputs; white/left and red/right). It isn't designed to take in balanced signals. Splitting a balanced signal into the left and right inputs of the BoxCaster may result in a lack of audio due to phase cancellation when the stream is summed to mono on some devices or platforms.

How do I fix it?

  1. Try unplugging the red (right) audio connection from the BoxCaster. This may solve the problem immediately.

  2. If you're outputting your audio from an audio mixer, try to use a RCA-to-RCA cable if at all possible. If you're converting from a XLR to RCA, ensure that you're only converting to a single RCA plug. If you’re using a cable or adapter that converts from a single XLR to both red and white RCA plugs, this is likely the root cause of the issue. XLR only carries a single channel of audio — it can't be broken out to stereo without adverse audio issues arising. If you're using XLR outputs from your board, be sure to use one XLR per channel for a true stereo output.

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