Hard P sound...

[terrygail]

Hi there - I'm using Windows 10 and Audacity 2.2.2 and am still learning everything. When I play back my recording, there is definitely a very hard "P" in my voice and I'm having a hard time trying to regulate it. Is there a way to make it sound softer by editing?

[DVDdoug]

These are called "plosives".

I'm not sure if you can fix these or not... Maybe high-pass filtering (maybe ~100Hz) will help, or maybe you can remove them with careful-tedious spectral editing or something like that..

It's best to prevent the problem by using the correct microphone distance and a sometimes a separate pop filter.

[kozikowski]

There are ways to not make the error in the first place.

That's "P-Popping."

http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/clips/PPopping.mp3

You can record further from the microphone. Chase in this example is way too close to the microphone and all his breath sounds are recorded. You should stay about a Hawaiian shaka away from the microphone.



You can use a pop and blast filter. That's the black tennis racket thing in front of the microphone.



Last is a solution nobody likes but me. Don't put the microphone in front. Point it at your lips, but place it half-way between your nose and your ear. Most plosives go straight out from your lips and will miss the microphone. This technique also means you can get closer than normal and record louder.


I don't know a good way to fix popping in post without affecting everything else. You can try Effect > Equalization: Low Rolloff for Speech, Length about 5000 > OK. That's the rumble filter for audiobook reading.

Koz

[terrygail]

Thank you both - I will definitely try to work it out so that I don't make the sound in the first place. Yes, my mic is too close to my mouth, I can see that. I will try those ideas. Thanks, again!

[kozikowski]

She's about a power fist away from the wind screen.

If the volume drops down too far if you do that, you might try the off-center thing.

Koz