Improved Microphone (Male voices, with Noise Reduction) EasyEffects preset

An EasyEffects preset created for input devices (intended for Microphones). Created with version 6.1.5.

Based on this article from Fedora Magazine, written by Paul W. Frields for PulseEffects. This preset follows most of the recommendations on the "Tips from a mix engineer" section plus adding Noise Reduction.

Please read the "Notes and troubleshoot" section below about non-male voices, and some details about Noise Reduction.

DISCLAIMER

I know basically NOTHING about audio, so this was mostly created following the recommendations of the Fedora Magazine article. Even after following the tips, I still had a bit of a small background noise, which is why I added Noise Reduction as an extra.

All of this improved my microphone (the microphone from one of those cheap smartphone headphones, which came with a Moto G), so I decided to create a preset which might be useful for others.

If you do know a lot more, please consider creating a better preset and sharing. If you don't, please read the Notes and troubleshooting section below for problems you might hit (mostly because I don't know much, so I probably won't be able to create defaults that work for everyone).

Notes and troubleshooting

Noise Reduction

On some of my recording testing I had a bit of problem with my voice, which I believe was related to the Noise Reduction plugin (either the plugin or its ordering among the other plugins), so I reordered the plugin to try and get it fixed. It seems to have solved the problem. if you do have some problems with your voice, consider first disabling this plugin (the Bypass button) or removing it altogether.

Non-male voices

The article recommends, in case you are fine with not using an Equalizer, to use a Filter instead. It recommends a high pass filter and says that you should use something between 80-100 Hz for male voices and something higher for female voices. Since I am male, and wanted to play it safe, I just set it to 80 Hz. If you don't have a male voice or just don't want to bother with figuring out how to make this plugin work, consider just disabling it (Bypass button) or removing it.

Deesser plugin

The Deesser plugin was the one I tested the least since I only added it just before deciding to share the preset, it apparently deals with the sound of the "s, z, t, and f" letters, according to the article. Since the article is in English, I assume it considers only the English sounds, so please check for the equivalent sounds or class of sounds in your language, if you are not using your microphone for English. So, consider disabling (Bypass button) and removing the plugin if it causes you trouble.