Make a Microphone Sound Better on Stream – Reaper Plugins
One of the most important aspects of streaming is tuning your microphone with decent settings. People might not care that much about a 720P webcam since it is a tiny window in the corner of your stream, but if you sound like you are speaking through a tube, do not expect your viewership to skyrocket.
OBS itself offers you a solid array of microphone filters you can use, but these are basic and limited in what they can do for your mic quality. There is a simple solution to this problem and that is using VST plugins provided by ReaPlugs.
ReaPlugs vs OBS Filters
OBS Filters are pretty basic but they can get the job done when used properly. Their simplicity is nice but is also their downfall since once you start fiddling with your mic settings you will soon realize that you will need a more sophisticated tool.
ReaPlugs on the other hand offers you a clear visual representation of what is going on with your microphone with a neat interface and monitoring built into the plugin. It is clear from the sheer difference in sliders that ReaPlugs will allow you to customize your microphone a lot more than a standard OBS filter. Installing ReaPlugs is also extremely simple so there is no reason for you not to try them out.
What Filters to Use
As explained in this EposVox video there is a certain chain of filters you need to use in a specific order to get the most audio quality from your microphone.
Going crazy and adding too many filters or turning the filters to 11 will usually simply introduce more distortion and reduce the audio quality instead of increasing it. You should start with a compressor and a noise gate filter since these are the bare minimum you would need for streaming.
A noise gate is useful because it will keep out unwanted sounds under a certain dB threshold from activating your mic. A compressor meanwhile will smoothen out your audio level so your low dB and high dB will be closer together. The compressor plugin is especially useful for shouty people since it will not allow your audio to clip (you will also not give your audience ear bleeding).
If you are feeling fancy you can also add an EQ to your microphone sprinkling some more warmth to your voice, or add a gain filter in case your compression is making you too quiet.
Each setup is different depending on your voice and background noise so you should spend 30 minutes to an hour figuring out the best setting for your microphone before starting your stream. This way you will not need to adjust your settings mid-stream all the time.