Hickups and gaps in sound

[Mabel]

I made my first livestream from home, using YouTube services. It all seemed to go pretty well but afterwards it appeared there had been problem with sound: hickups, gaps. Not many, but enough to irritate my viewers. I am at a loss to know the reason let alone the remedy.
Here is my setup. My (rather old) laptop running Windows 10 and OBS Studio. A Canon videocamera, connected over USB, providing video as well as audio. Laptop connected by cable; upload speed 50Mb (as measured).
Initially I didn't think my old laptop would have enough 'power' for the job, but when I tested the processor hardly worked over 50%. But what is really baffling me: there are NO gaps in the video! This fact also seemed to rule out interruptions by any services running. The camera providing both video and audio rules out causes like 'faulty connection', I'd think.
I do hope that someone has a suggestion where to look for the cause of this specific audio problem.

[MJKlein]

Hi Mabel, and welcome to the forum. Typically when that happens, it’s a reflection of the Internet connection to YouTube more than anything else. While it’s possible that your PC may have been struggling a little bit, it doesn’t sound like your set up requires a lot of horsepower for encoding. I have these type of gaps also when I live stream out in the field and I have spotty mobile coverage. It might be a good idea to reboot the modem before each livestream and if possible, reduce the number of connections, taking up bandwidth so you can maximize the available bandwidth for your live stream. Be sure and let us know how you make out.