Tips for Reducing Mouth Noise

Hi folks,

I record a bunch of guided meditations using Audacity. My mic is the Apogee MiC. I always get a ton of mouth noise. I can use RX 8 to remove most of the mouth clicks, but several always remain. Audacity’s de-click feature hasn’t been helpful.

Post production aside, I’m looking for tips on how to avoid recording it in the first place. I experimented with swishing lemon juice in my mouth today before recording each track (I’ve heard acid can reduce saliva, which may be causing the noise). I don’t think it helped. I notice that I get more mouth noise as the recording session goes on. Which makes me think that maybe I have too little saliva?

Any tips for reducing mouth noise while recording? Thanks!

Toby

That’s what killed my audiobook career. And yes, they have a whole process for sloshing lemon juice and special teas.

https://blog.acx.com/2020/12/18/warm-up-your-voice-with-caitlin-kellys-recipe-for-success/

If I was going to do this for real, I would go to great effort to change my “acting” to suppress the noise. I find myself adding theatrical emphasis by constricting my throat and tongue. Bad idea.


That does crank your post-production time out to billions of years, doesn’t it—and you can’t miss any noises.

You could try Oblique Placement of the microphone (B), but I don’t expect it to help much.

Koz

I know a lot of voiceover people who swear by tart apples, but note that that is temporary, so you’ll have to eat a slice every 10-15 minutes maybe.

I think RX is a pretty good solution. I run everything through both the de-click and mouth de-click options.

It should be, considering that the current list price ranges from $129 to $1199. (We do not condone the use of pirate software)
(I have not used RX as it is incompatible with my machine, and I prefer open source software.)

Where possible, please provide solutions using Audacity software (this is the Audacity forum).
When additional software is required (such as plug-ins) free and open source software that is compatible with Audacity is much preferred to commercial products and services.

Thanks! I tried the angles, but it didn’t help. I’m also trying to speak differently, but it’s hard. None of the lemons, apples, etc. have been helpful. I actually went to my local recording studio on Wednesday to troubleshoot with a professional. We tried a bunch of different mics. No easy/obvious solutions. He showed me a bit about how to use RX 8, which I think is my best option. I just crank the sensitivity all the way up, and it miraculously removes most of the clicks. Hurrah!

Thanks David! Yea RX is definitely proving to be the best solution to this. Cheers

I have had the same annoying issue also… And what has helped me are sparkling water sodas…

I shop at [Advert removed] and I purchase their [Advert removed] drinks great…

I think the carbonated water tends to break down saliva and perhaps residue left from dairy foods like milk or yogurt or even coffee with creamier. Obviously going without saying a good mouthwash gargle helps also.

If you try this method I’d love to hear from you if it’s worked. :wink: or any other tips!