Mouth noise - tongue clicks, lip smacking, swallowing, teeth clacking … are as I understand it, the bane of the industry. Now, how do I avoid it.
Apart from employing some of the arcane solutions that abound out there… Although probably the best one is eating a Granny Smith apple! Could improve my health no end.
I am on a mission to solve this to my own satisfaction, and have read lots of interesting things from very experienced people. The bottom line seems to be.
You can’t avoid it. You just have to edit it in post recording. Pre recording, apply the usual, make sure the narrator is well hydrated up to two hours before the session - with water… eat a Granny Smith, don’t under any circumstances drink coffee or tea. Natural Apple Juice is fine…
As I said … You just have to edit it in post recording
Difficult and time consuming. Here’s a good example.
This is the waveform view of a tongue ‘click’. I can hear it, but I can’t see it. Not in this view. Not even on great magnification.
This is the spectral view. And presto bumpo - there it is. So I should also ask, how do I tell what frequency this actually is?
I can go through - slowly, and edit out those that stand alone - much like this. Some are even more clearly defined, making it relatively easy. If still time consuming, which I don’t mind really because it’s al lpart of the process. If I want someone to be happy with my recording, I need to take the time and patience with it.
I can’t apply overall filters, like click and pop removers - because on an audio - voice - track, that removes the “sound” of the voice as well in some areas. In other words, it can trash the recording.
I don’t think I can apply a filter for exactly that part of the spectrum, because each noise is a little different, and still within range of the human ear.
So, from one of the great licking and slurping masters of the art, I’m also all ears…