Reduce plosives

In recording, a plosive problem usually means a short bassy pop or boom when a puff of breath hits the microphone. It often occurs with consonants such as “p” and “b.” The consonant belongs in the word; the excessive thump is the part you are trying to reduce.

Listen to the whole sentence before selecting anything. Does the burst follow a particular consonant, or does the disturbance continue between words? A waveform can help you find the moment, but its shape alone does not identify the cause.

These are listening clues, not a diagnosis. Several problems can occur at the same instant. A breath burst can also overload the recording path, leaving more than a low-frequency bump to address.

Leave the earliest available recording unchanged. Open a separate working copy and mark a short passage containing the pop, the word and enough speech on either side to follow the meaning. Keep the full video too if that is where the audio came from.

Use a comfortable listening level and a playback device that lets you hear the thump. Note what needs to improve before changing anything: perhaps the burst distracts from an answer, or the following syllable is difficult to hear. Avoid supplying a guessed replacement word as the test of success.

Save different attempts separately. If a change makes speech thinner or creates a new click, you can compare it with the original and undo it without losing your starting point. For sensitive material, confirm your organization's sharing requirements and discuss handling arrangements before uploading it to a service.

If there are only a few distracting pops, a local gain adjustment is a useful first test. Gain simply means level: you turn down the affected moment while leaving the rest of the recording alone.

1. Find the burst by listening. Zoom in around that word. Use the waveform or spectrogram to help locate it, while keeping the sentence available for comparison.
2. Lower the level a little. Use your editor's clip gain, envelope or volume automation across the short affected region. Avoid reducing the whole word when the burst occupies only its beginning.
3. Listen through the boundaries. Play from before the repair until after it. Smooth abrupt changes with the editor's envelope or short fades where needed, so the adjustment does not introduce a click.
4. Check the word. If the consonant disappears, the following vowel drops out or the speech sounds interrupted, undo or reduce the change.

You are balancing the pop against the wanted speech. Turning down the burst also turns down any voice in the selected interval. When that tradeoff makes the word less clear, a frequency-selective trial may be more useful.

A high-pass filter, also called a low-cut filter, reduces low-frequency sound. It can soften the bassy part of a plosive, but it can also remove useful body from the voice. For an isolated burst, preview the change on that moment rather than assuming the entire file needs the same filtering.

Begin with a modest change and adjust while listening. If the thump remains, increase the reduction carefully. Stop when the voice starts sounding thin, hollow or less intelligible. There is no universal cutoff that works for every speaker and every recording.

Some editors let you automate the filter so it changes only during the burst and returns to the previous setting afterward. Check both transitions: a sudden tonal change or click can become as distracting as the original pop. A dynamic equalizer can respond to selected frequency energy, but it also needs careful listening to confirm that it is reacting to the unwanted bursts rather than repeatedly changing ordinary speech.

If you intend to test RX De-plosive, use a fresh copy before high-pass filtering. Its detector relies on low-frequency information that a previous filter may have removed. Test these as separate approaches first, so you know what each changes.

A dedicated de-plosive tool can help when breath thumps recur or a simple level change removes too much of the word. It aims to detect and reduce the plosive content while retaining the dialogue. That purpose does not guarantee an unchanged voice in your file.

The RX 12 De-plosive manual explains three controls: Sensitivity affects what is identified as a plosive, Strength sets how much it is reduced, and Frequency Limit sets the highest frequency affected. Higher settings can also reduce wanted speech.

Preview a difficult word and a nearby clear word. Adjust gently and compare with the unprocessed copy. If a pop remains, do not automatically push every control higher. Check whether the problem is still a low thump, a damaged consonant, clipping or another sound that needs separate assessment. The same manual recommends using De-plosive before a high-pass filter because filtering first can interfere with detection.

Keep a result only when the sentence is easier to follow and the voice remains useful. Product demonstrations show what happened to those examples; they do not establish the recoverability of your recording.

Reducing bass does not reverse every kind of damage from a strong breath blast. If the microphone or another part of the recording path overloaded, the word may remain harsh or incomplete even after the pop becomes quieter.

Clipping repair is a different process. The Audacity Clip Fix manual describes reconstruction by interpolation and limits its likely effectiveness to lightly clipped audio. A reconstructed peak is an estimate, not a retrieved copy of sound lost during recording.

Stop increasing the processing when it changes useful speech without resolving the passage. Return to the original before trying another treatment, and record the timestamps that remain uncertain. For casework, keep the difference between easier listening and certainty about the words clear. An improved-looking waveform does not establish what was said.

Compare the same phrase at comfortable, similar listening levels. Check these separately:

• The burst: Is the pop less distracting?
• The word: Are the starting consonant, vowel and ending still present?
• The voice: Has it become hollow, dull, uneven or unnaturally interrupted?
• The boundaries: Do you hear a new click or an abrupt change before or after the adjustment?
• The task: Is the passage you needed actually easier to understand?

If the burst is softer but the word remains unresolved, keep that distinction in your notes. For video, also check synchronization after returning the processed track to the picture.

Use a suitable pop filter and test microphone placement before an important conversation. Place the microphone so the direct breath blast does not strike it, while keeping the voice clear. Listen to a short recording containing “p” and “b” sounds, then adjust and test again.

Shure's recording guidance describes aiming a speech microphone toward the mouth from above or below and using an external pop filter. Follow the guidance for your particular microphone and room rather than treating one distance or angle as a rule for every device.

Prevention helps the next recording. For the conversation you already have, work from the sound that was captured and judge each repair against the original.

An engineer's review is useful when pops cover important speech, distortion remains or a careful local repair makes the voice worse. Note the affected timestamps, what you need to hear more clearly and what you have already tried. Identify processed copies separately from the original and mention any deadline or handling questions.

Media Medic provides a free file review. An audio engineer listens to assess whether restoration can improve the recording before sending an invoice for the work. Restoration is paid work; transcription and authentication are available for additional fees. Ask about the scope you need rather than assuming cleanup includes either service.

Request a free file review or learn about audio enhancement.