Microphone Breath Problems

[whatsername100]

I just recorded a file, but I had a problem; there were some times that I accidentally breathed into the microphone, and it was recorded as very loud, and distracting. Is there any way to fix this in the Audacity audio editor? Or some other program? I don't want to have to re-record the file.

[cardigan]

Well, I don't know about Audacity in particular, but whenever I am recording a file and I make some kind of a mistake, I know it immediately after it has happened, and I stop the recording, go back one sentence or more in my script, edit out the faulty bit in the soundfile and continue the file where I left off. Can't you do that with Audacity? I can make perfect edits with Cool Edit Pro. When I'm done nobody can hear where the mistake was taken out.

Cardigan

[whatsername100]

Well, the problem is that I don't know where I made the breath until after I've recorded it. Isn't there some kind of noise removal function?

[cardigan]

No, I don't think a noise removal would work. But if you make a note of where the unwanted noise is - at how many minutes into the file, then you should be able to open up the file, go to the spot and delete the thing - if you are not speaking at the same time. If you are speaking while making the unwanted noise, then - too bad.

(You have no idea how many times I've had to re-speak something because of things like that!). Be very careful to have your microphone in a way, so that you cannot in future blow down into it. Place it a bit further away from the mouth and beneath the mouth, so that you blow over it rather than blow into it!

Cardigan

[whatthe75]

Or you can cheat like me and wrap a couple of sheets of tissue paper around the mic and it cuts out annoying breath sounds.

[MN_FriendlyGuy]

Welcome to the world of audio editing, whatsername100. When one considers all the steps that go into production of a recording, I believe editing is the most time-consuming.

On the chance that it might be useful, here are the alternatives I use:

1) When I'm reading the script (recording) and realize I've just made a mistake, I pause in reading (without pausing the recorder). Then, I refer back to an earlier part of the script and resume re-reading. After the recording step is finished, I listen to it and cut the sections containing mistakes. This same method works well for unwanted & unexpected noises that occur while recording.

2) If the unwanted noise/breath occurred between sentences and silence is wanted, I highlight the unwanted noise and use one of features of Audacity (program) to generate silence. (On the menu bar, click 'Generate'. A dropdown list appears. On the dropdown, click "Silence...". A new window appears. Click the button "Generate Silence".)

3) If the unwanted noise occurs as part of a word (a noisy plosive for example), there are two correction methods I use.


A) Carefully cut a few milliseconds from within the word. I do this by zooming-in on the area of the unwanted noise, using the 'Waveform' view to identify the milliseconds of unwanted noise, highlighting just those moments and then using 'Cut'. If I cut too much, the 'Undo' feature allows me to try again.

B) If I'm unable to cut the moments of unwanted noise, I re-record a few seconds and splice-in. This requires using the "Silence" feature for the words that need to be erased (see #2, above) and then import/align the the re-recorded snippet.

And of course, there's the option of forgiving yourself. Often, we are our own worst critics.

[Django]

A couple of things that may help:

First, experiment with mic positioning. Try recording from further away from the mic, or at a slight angle to it. If this doesn't give you the warm speech sound you are after, try recording in a different room - they all have different acoustic properties.

Second, invest in a pop filter (or some pantyhose stretched over a coathanger if you're poor!). The pop filter should be placed roughly halfway between your mouth and the mic - this will help with plosives and sybillance.

Thirdly, if your audio software allows it, apply a gate filter to the recording - you will need to experiment to get the right level. Basically this eliminates sounds below (or above) a certain threshold, so helps with quiet background noise, as well as breath. Then you can tweak the eq and apply some gentle compression afterwards to warm the recording up a little.

As with all sound recording, don't be afraid to experiment and trust your ears - if it sounds god, it is good.

Hope that helps a bit.