How do you remove mouth sounds? – Deity Mailbag Q&A

May 15, 2023

Your film questions. Our professional answers.

What are the best ways to eliminate cloth noise when hiding a lav under a shirt or other clothing?

Question #1

Robert Parker asks “What are the best ways to eliminate cloth noise when hiding a lav under a shirt or other clothing?”

Different materials require different setups

The answer to this question varies depending on the material you are trying to attach the microphone to.

Luckily, we have a lot of videos on this topic located on our youtube page.

hand rubbing leather creating cloth noise
Moleskin sandwich demonstration with Deity lav

Use purpose-built expendables

The short answer is that you must create a shock absorber for your microphone using expendables like Moleskin, Foamies, Undercovers, and Overcovers.

These will isolate your microphone and prevent the cloth from rubbing against it.

Question #2

Lblbates asks “How does the inverse square law relate to how close your mic should be to an actor’s voice?”

How does the inverse square law relate to how close your mic should be to an actor's voice?
Inverse-square law for audio

Double the distance = 1/4th the loudness

There is a science stating that the moment you double the distance between your sound source and the capturing device, it will lose 1/4th it’s loudness.

This may sound confusing since you’d think it is half as loud, but nope. Science is a mystery.

You want the best Signal-to-noise ratio

This is to say, inverse-square law doesn’t really matter.

You will always want to get your microphone as close as possible without breaching the frame to get as clean a capture of the voice as possible.

This will allow you to be flexible in post without worrying about the noise floor of your files.

Operation Fortune BTS. Aubrey plaza
How do you guys prevent those unwanted mouth clicks and pops when interviewing people with either shotguns or lavs?

Question #3

Indiejacob asks “How do you guys prevent those unwanted mouth clicks and pops when interviewing people with either shotguns or lavs?”

What are mouth clicks?

Mouth clicks are created by sticky saliva in one’s mouth. Pops are the breaths of air on certain syllables like “B” and “P”

They are a natural part of speaking and not much can be done to remove them from speech.

close up of mans mouth
Woman with Deity VO-7U

Pop filters and hydration

To deal with pops of air, the best solution is to use a pop filter over your microphone. Luckily all of our microphones ship with one.

Funnily, to deal with clicks, get dehydrated. I’m not joking, the less water you have in your mouth the less saliva you will produce.


Use the right tools

Adobe Audition has a great plugin called “Auto Heal.” simply highlight the click or pop and apply it to redraw the waveforms and cleanly remove it.

Izotope RX‘s “Mouth De-Click” is also another great option for this.

Adobe audition auto heal plugin
When should you use a Lavalier mic or boom mic for interviews?

Question #4

Clark Cabus asks “When should you use a Lavalier mic or boom mic for interviews?”

Different microphones capture the environment differently

Boom microphones are much more focused, blocking out any sounds that are off their axis.

Lavs on the other hand capture sound all around them.

Both of these microphones will give a different perspective on the environment.

Nightmare alley BTS
Night time film shoot

What does the story call for?

Do you want to hear the sounds of nearby people and objects, or is it crucial that the interviewee sounds isolated?

Either way, bring both microphones just in case you need a backup plan.

Question #5

James asks “What would you recommend for on-set ADR performances when the actors are unable to make a separate studio date in a controlled environment?

Blankets? Portable booth etc?”

What would you recommend for on-set ADR performances when the actors are unable to make a separate studio date in a controlled environment?
Blade runner ADR example

These are called “wild lines”

Wild lines are any clips of audio recorded without a video element at the location the scene takes places.

The benefit of recording wild lines at the location is that they’ll automatically sound the same as the other audio clips from your shoot.

Avoid the dead sound, unless…

If you use a booth or blankets on the day, it’ll require your post person to adjust the audio to make it match the environment which will cost you time.

If you ARE looking for that voice-over sound, we have a portable booth-build video here.

DIY vocal booth
Deity V-mic D4 held by young filmmaker

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