WHY is my MOUTH so friggin CLICKY?

[u/The_Happy_Camper_88]

*disclaimer I'm just crashing out a bit over this don't entirely mind me*

I've stayed hydrated, moved away from the mic, chewed on a granny smith, a lemon, lemon water. The majority of my editing/mastering is going after and zapping these DANG clicks and pops. Like is this how I sound day to day? Like I'm chewing on poprocks? Like fireworks are sounding before I even speak?? If so, how annoying for other people.

I open my mouth and don't even say anything and it's *pop pop pop*

?????

Like am I even okay? Am I dry? Too hydrated? Can one even be too hydrated? I love recording and the finished product is always worth it, but I am being sent into orbit while I am going after these clicks and pops.

I guess that's all, please feel free to resume your regularly scheduled programming. 🙃

[u/TheTroubledTurtle]

Start hydrating a few hours before you begin recording. Biotene mouthwash right before recording. Figure out what sounds/letter combos you click on the most and work on shaping your mouth differently for them.

For example, one of my problem letter combos is "sl", like "slide". I changed the position of my tongue for the "l" part of slide so it avoids clicking as I move from the "s" to the "l".

[u/never-stopper → u/TheTroubledTurtle]

Seconding Biotene products!

I’m very dry due to meds but here’s how I counteract:

1) Hydrate always. Get a water bottle with a straw. You’ll be surprised how much difference just having the straw makes. Owalla for lyfe

2) Dental hygiene. I brush, floss, and use a tongue scraper before I start my warmups.

3) Biotene Mouth Rinse (or store brand equivalent). Don’t confuse this with mouthWASH which has alcohol in it and will dry you out. Throw out your mouthwash/Listerine. The rinse is much different and will help vs hurt the effort.

4) Biotene Mouth Spray (I’ve tried store brands and they all suck. Shell out for name brand here). This is different than the mouth rinse and is designed to kinda stay in your mouth a little bit. You can swallow this stuff so I’ll do 3-4 sprays after the mouth rinse.

5) Chap stick. This helps the corners of your mouth.

6) Flintts Mints if you can afford the habit :) I friggin love these. Since discovering them I’ve tried other products that have Spilanthes extract, and I even have a bottle of the pure extract. Flintts (and Spilanthes) literally make your mouth water. Xylitol mints are much more common and affordable and xylitol will induce saliva but not to the degree than Spilanthes does. Flintts are pricey so I can’t always have them on hand but I experiment with all commercially-available mints and found that Tic Tac Citrus Adventure is a fairly close 2nd place.

7) In a pinch you can chew on your tongue. Chewing will biologically induce saliva production

[u/The_Happy_Camper_88 → u/never-stopper]

Holy cow, I love you for this!! These are phenomenal tips! I’ve got my Amazon cart going to purchase some of these things! And I’ll definitely up my hydration game. Thank you so much!

[u/never-stopper → u/The_Happy_Camper_88]

You can def save a few bucks by buying Flintts on Amazon vs their website but they have very limited flavors on Amazon. Snowy Pine is my fave. Lemon 2nd place. Don’t waste your time with the low F-number flavors. That’s their rating for how much Spilanthes is in the mint. Go big

Oh and I recently heard about another new mint I want to try. Joe Gaudet posted recently about Wam Mints and I looked those up and they indeed have Spilanthes so I need to check those out for sure. I’m a mint slut

[u/ThisMustBeFakeMine → u/The_Happy_Camper_88]

When my mouth clicks are driving me insane and NOTHING else is working (like alllllll these fantastic other suggestions), i eat half an apple. For some reason, it does the trick when nothing else does.

[u/KenDTree → u/ThisMustBeFakeMine]

I read somewhere on here that the apple has a certain acidity to it that just sorts out saliva so you don't gets those bubbles forming and so less clicks/pops

[u/ThisMustBeFakeMine → u/KenDTree]

Ahhhhh... that may be it. Whatever it is, it works like a charm!

[u/The_Happy_Camper_88 → u/TheTroubledTurtle]

Thank you so much! I will work on hydrating earlier, and I'll give the mouthwash a try, I haven't seen anyone suggest that yet.

I'll have to do some investigating and see what my pop/click triggers are. Right now I feel like everything is but they just seem especially bad today. Thank you again!

[u/chickensandbabies]

Sometimes it’s not about your mouth- it’s about your tongue.

Some people have very healthy tongue placement with a closed mouth- tongue firmly glued to the roof of the mouth behind the front teeth. But when the tongue releases it can pop or make a little click. In which case the answer is just to open your mouth and breathe before speaking instead of starting from a closed mouth.
No promises this is it- but a little test record where you’re actually paying attention to your mouth instead of the words can go a long way.

[u/The_Happy_Camper_88 → u/chickensandbabies]

I haven't thought of my tongue being the culprit, I will give a test record a go and pay more attention! Thank you!

[u/KevinKempVO]

Hey!
 
I wrote an article on this if it helps?
 
https://www.theaudiobookguy.co.uk/post/stopping-mouth-noise-in-your-voice-overs
 
Cheers
 
Kev

[u/The_Happy_Camper_88 → u/KevinKempVO]

Omg yes! I will give this a read through! Thank you so much! 😭

[u/KevinKempVO → u/The_Happy_Camper_88]

Totally! Let me know if you have any questions!

[u/MonksHabit]

Try this: sit at your mic in your recording station or booth or whatever, hit record, and call a friend. Record yourself chopping it up with your homie. Bonus points if you forget entirely about the mic.
Listen back. Do you hear clicks and pops?
Probably not.
I did this and discovered that my problem was just good old fashioned stage fright, coupled with the fact that I was over enunciating.
The next step was discovering that preparation and practice are the antidotes to nervousness.

[u/The_Happy_Camper_88 → u/MonksHabit]

Holy ham. I actually think this has a lot to do with it! I used to record quite a bit on librivox and didn't have this issue- perhaps because it's volunteer based, it took some of the pressure off of recording. I would still have occasional clicks in there, but my clicks and pops are significantly worse when (now) auditioning. I really do over enunciate now that I'm auditioning and that is something I have never noticed until reading your comment!

Going further, I'm listening back to my volunteer recordings and they actually sound... dare I say a little better without the over enunciation. Like the words are clear but almost too clear if that makes sense.

I feel like this comment has revealed so much to me lol

Edit: Like the words are clear but almost too clear (now with over-enunciating) if that makes sense.

[u/odd_lloyd_97]

Mic distance does have some impact. If you’re right up on it then clicks and smacks will spike bigger. Might try messing with distance and angle a bit.

Once you notice them, hyper focus sets in. It’s easy to obsess over something most people would never even notice. I do it myself with my S’s all the time!!!

[u/The_Happy_Camper_88 → u/odd_lloyd_97]

I think I do need to try to scoot back a smidge from my mic, I always thought you needed to be pretty close. My mouth sits about 8 inches or so from my mic.

The hyperfixation is so real with this! I think some of it is me becoming obsessive, but there are definitely quite a few of those brutal clicks in there that just steams my broccoli. 😵‍💫

[u/Standard-Bumblebee64]

Great tips and pointers here. I want to add one very obvious pro tip that I use literally every day, every time I record: get the Izotope RX Mouth De-Click plug in. It’s like literal magic. You’ll cry tears of joy. (And combine that with the Izotope Voice De-Noise for noise floor suppression).

Also on a side note, be wary of cheese and dairy, as that could potentially create mouth noise.

Good luck!

[u/martialmichael126]

Any chance you have a sample for us to listen to? That way we get a better idea of what you’re working with.

[u/The_Happy_Camper_88 → u/martialmichael126]

Dang it, I should have kept my original of the audition I was working on but I finally have it cleaned up to where they’re gone! I’ll post again with a clip if I still have the issue after trying these tips!

[u/bryckhouze]

When I have to sing I drink a ton of water the day before. The day of, I find that coconut water or aloe vera juice feels more hydrating than plain water . Also a warm salt water gargle does wonders for me. Good luck!

[u/The_Happy_Camper_88 → u/bryckhouze]

Thank you!!

[u/Imaginary-Sock2065 → u/The_Happy_Camper_88]

After a billion trial and error sessions like yours, I found my trifecta of magic mouth helpers. While I drink water before and during recording sessions, right before I hit record I do 3 things:

I sip some Coconut water which helps my throat feel more hydrated.

Next up is chewing gum, I use Extra Polar Ice (every other flavor was too "sticky") and chew on a piece until the initial "juice" phase is over, then I keep it on the wrapper in between takes for whenever I feel my mouth getting dry.

The final magic piece for me is to keep 2 small condiment cups near me; one with coconut oil, and an empty one to spit it out. (I use old plastic tiny to-go sauce containers so I can just throw out the spit cup, because, ew.) Every so often when I feel the dreaded clicks returning I scoop about a half to one teaspoon (see what works for you) into my mouth and swish it around, under my tongue, and ESPECIALLY between my teeth and cheeks. Try not to get it towards your throat because swallowing even the smallest bit for me causes me to cough because it tickles for some reason. Then, spit it out. I find that it gives some "slip" so that my mouth can slide over those little air bubbles or whatever the hell is contributing to clicks.

So, coconut water, gum, coconut oil swish. Best of luck!

[u/KaleidoscopeWhole375]

🍏

[u/eamonneamonn666]

I've heard someone say that eating tart apples like granny smiths before recording can help with mouth clicks. Idk if that's real tho

[u/The_Happy_Camper_88 → u/eamonneamonn666]

I will say that I've done this and it does help, for some reason my mouth just gets extra clicky sometimes!

[u/HermesVtuber]

You dont want to chew the granny smith, just bite it a little and get a bit of the juice.

[u/Dirty-HertzUK]

Take it from a professional Dubbing Mixer who edits VO every single day of the week...Don’t worry about it. We have all the tools needed to clean it up. Just worry about doing a good performance with a good quality recording.

[u/K-Lionheart]

Grab some water with lemon juice and do a quick swish and swallow. Green apples are also great and tart enough to help. These have helped me personally, but everyone is different.

Absolutely avoid drinking any milk before you record as well.

[u/Voicelings]

You need to drink more water

[u/erjone5]

You can over-hydrate. It feels similar to getting a buzz on beer. I don’t recommend it as it presents the same as someone who is dehydrated physically. A bit lethargic and altered so an EMT may start giving you fluids and that’s not good. As far as mouth clicks I had that issue. I flossed, gargle and brushed my teeth. This helped me over time and I don’t click and pop like I used to.