Plosive Sounds

It turns out that these pops and thumps occur mainly on what are known as 'plosive' sounds, prime examples being words that start with the letter 'B' or 'P'. If you were to hold a lighted candle in front of your lips while speaking or singing 'plosives', you'd see the flame flicker, because we tend to expel a blast of air when making these sounds. By contrast, if you sing a sustained 'Ahh' sound, the candle will barely flicker at all, because you're mainly just producing sound vibrations with your vocal cords and expelling very little air in the process.

Sibilant Sounds

In addition to above problem letters, there's also the sneaky sounding S - and also Z. The S can produce a hissing sound that's difficult to edit out as well. Professional voice actors have training on how to deal with such things with various facial exercises. Like the above, the reason for this occuring is once again air. In this case however, the harshness of the sound is usually due to the exhaled air hitting the teeth,

However, if you're reading this - and you're making a mod - you probably don't have the budget to hire a professional voice actor or actress. What is one to do? The answer is three words is . . .

A Pop Filter

A pop filter is a nylon-mesh screen that clips onto the microphone and is placed between the speaker and the microphone. It lessens the aforementioned air issue by filtering it out. Pop filters are commonly used in music studios. Of course, you could buy one . . . but what fun would that be? I'm going to link you to a video that will show you how to make your very own for under 10 (U.S.) dollars. (No, it's not me in the video.)

If you need more than one pop filter, this might be the best way to go. The savings will be quite apparent.

A few hours ago, I ordered a pop filter from Amazon. I decided that for my next blog, I'll describe my set up and perhaps give a layman's review of the filter. I'll probably re-record lines from the original M4-78 mod by Darth Stoney - so I don't "spoil" anyone waiting for the "M4-78 Enhancement Project" stuff. (I'll probably have links to YouTube videos for that.) A note: I'm no audio engineer so hopefully I'll satisfy the curiosity for our standard viewers without going overboard. I will provide links where I acquired my equipment and have prices and more information on my microphone, computer, and pop filter for those that crave that sort of thing. Oh yeah, I'll have pictures too but I might just grab those from the ever popular Google.

Until next time . . . whenever that might be