One of the most frustrating parts while in the process of recording voice-over is dealing with mouth noises. Mouth noises or mouth clicks are sounds made by the mouth or sounds coming through the mouth from breathing. It is usually caused by dry mouth, poor pronunciation, breathing issues, improper warm-up before recording, poor speaking habits, and not using a microphone with a pop filter. 

Here are some helpful tips to avoid having mouth noises while recording voice-over:

Put some lip balm on

One of the easy tips of professional voice-overs in avoiding mouth noise is applying lip balm before you start recording.  Lip balm will keep your lips moisturized or smoothen the lip surface and lessen mouth noises. 

Keep your lips apart as much as possible

Keep your lips apart as much as possible when you start reading or recording your script. Usually, if your lips are not apart the beginning sound flaws that can be heard while you record are Mmm, Umm, Ahh, and Uhh. 

Keep your tongue away from the roof of your mouth as much as possible.

The tongue plays a significant role in producing a stable tone. To create a great sound your tongue must be relaxed.  To avoid some mouth noise, keep your tongue away from the roof of your mouth as much as possible. 

Drink plenty of water

Make sure that you stay hydrated so drink plenty of water. Water works very well, either at hot or room temperature. If your mouth gets dry, it will make noises like smacks, clicks, and pops that distract you when you record your message. Staying properly hydrated not only means having less mouth noise but it will also help in protecting your vocal cords. Our vocal cords are composed of two vibrating mucous membranes that rub together nonstop. If you are dehydrated, your mucous level goes down and it will cause the cords for more friction when they rub together and will cause you to have a sore throat. 

 Don’t drink milk before recording

          Be mindful not to drink milk or dairy products before recording. Dairy products have a tendency to produce more phlegm which is bad for recording. It also dries out the vocal cords and causes voice hoarseness 

x-Crackle (waves.com)

Crackles are low-level transients or small clicks and pop interspersed in the audio. Waves X-Crackle reduces crackle sounds while preserving excellent audio quality. X-Crackle is part of the Waves Restoration bundle, which restores vinyl records and damaged recordings. X-Crackle and the other Restoration plug-ins have a friendly interface that is easy to learn and use. 

Chew gum

Use chewing gum to get the saliva flow properly when having a dry mouth problem. Gum-chewing helps warm up the mouth and jaw. Just make sure to take the gum out of your mouth before recording or you will deal with the sound of gum-popping in your recording.

Breaths are ok to keep as long as you aren’t gulping air.

While doing the voice-over recording, you can breathe quietly or discretely as long as you aren’t gulping air. Voice-over needs to know proper breathing and its power to express emotions while delivering different kinds of voice-overs.

To breathe quieter, you can do diaphragmatic breathing which comes from the stomach area, rather than from the chest (thoracic breathing). When done properly, the entire torso expands, starting with the belly followed by the rib cage. It’s often an easy way to reduce stress and increase mental focus. 

For a voice-over,  belly breathing is more advantageous since they are taking in more oxygen, and they can read longer passages without having to gasp for air. Abdominal breaths are also much quieter than those coming from the upper part of our body.