click and breath sounds, insert of new audio clip

[NicholeKristen]

Hello everyone,

After watching few videos on YouTube (Thank you philchenevert for the wonderful tutorials), I do manually zoom in and try my best to remove clicks, pops, breath sounds but it is time consuming.
I would like to know if there is an easier way to select the entire audio and do it or some plug-ins that I have missed?

Secondly, I don't have a designated recording area so when I set up, I try to record an entire chapter and hope I haven't made any mistakes because If I have, and have to insert a bit of recording to the original one, it always sounds alien and I can tell the difference. Is there a way to fix that and uniform the 1st recording and the 2nd recording? So that they sound same (though the mic/the background sound/the gain has changed)

Thank you and appreciate your help.
Regards,
NK

[Penumbra]

Secondly, I don't have a designated recording area so when I set up, I try to record an entire chapter and hope I haven't made any mistakes because If I have, and have to insert a bit of recording to the original one, it always sounds alien and I can tell the difference. Is there a way to fix that and uniform the 1st recording and the 2nd recording? So that they sound same (though the mic/the background sound/the gain has changed)

The short answer is no, there is no magic bullet or secret effect to make recordings consistent (well, audio engineers may have some tricks but I don't know them). The fact is that peoples' voices change a little bit from day to day depending on vocal chord tension, how well they slept, what's on their minds, allergies, etc. I have found only three things to help with day-to-day variations:

1) Warm up your voice (like singers do) before each recording session. My voice changes not only from day to day but from the start of the recording to several minutes into it unless I warm up first.

2) Record often. Experienced readers seem to have less of a consistency problem than new readers Getting a number of sections under your belt will make it more of a habit and allow you to focus more on the reading itself and not so much on what you sound like.

3) Don't worry about it. What sticks out like a sore thumb to you sounds like a minor variation (if it is noticed at all) to other people. That patched phrase lasts for only a second or two (if that) and then the story moves on.

[TriciaG]

Some minor clicks can be removed using a plugin called De-Clicker. But be careful; it can be aggressive and remove some of your T, K, and such sounds that you want!

Here's an old link to the thread about De-Clicker. I don't know if all the info is still current. viewtopic.php?f=23&t=52753

I run it on very short bits of audio in my file (the spot with the click) rather than running it over the whole file, so I don't lose my wanted clicks.

Regarding breath sounds: I don't worry about them unless they're really loud, and then rather than cutting them out, I make them quieter on a breath-by-breath basis. Breaths are natural, and I think recordings sound weird without ANY breath sounds.

[NicholeKristen]

Secondly, I don't have a designated recording area so when I set up, I try to record an entire chapter and hope I haven't made any mistakes because If I have, and have to insert a bit of recording to the original one, it always sounds alien and I can tell the difference. Is there a way to fix that and uniform the 1st recording and the 2nd recording? So that they sound same (though the mic/the background sound/the gain has changed)

The short answer is no, there is no magic bullet or secret effect to make recordings consistent (well, audio engineers may have some tricks but I don't know them). The fact is that peoples' voices change a little bit from day to day depending on vocal chord tension, how well they slept, what's on their minds, allergies, etc. I have found only three things to help with day-to-day variations:

1) Warm up your voice (like singers do) before each recording session. My voice changes not only from day to day but from the start of the recording to several minutes into it unless I warm up first.

2) Record often. Experienced readers seem to have less of a consistency problem than new readers Getting a number of sections under your belt will make it more of a habit and allow you to focus more on the reading itself and not so much on what you sound like.

3) Don't worry about it. What sticks out like a sore thumb to you sounds like a minor variation (if it is noticed at all) to other people. That patched phrase lasts for only a second or two (if that) and then the story moves on.

Thank you Tom. Appreciate the time you took to share your thoughts!
NK

[NicholeKristen]

Some minor clicks can be removed using a plugin called De-Clicker. But be careful; it can be aggressive and remove some of your T, K, and such sounds that you want!

Here's an old link to the thread about De-Clicker. I don't know if all the info is still current. viewtopic.php?f=23&t=52753

I run it on very short bits of audio in my file (the spot with the click) rather than running it over the whole file, so I don't lose my wanted clicks.

Regarding breath sounds: I don't worry about them unless they're really loud, and then rather than cutting them out, I make them quieter on a breath-by-breath basis. Breaths are natural, and I think recordings sound weird without ANY breath sounds.

Hi TriciaG,

Just found the De-Clicker tutorial on YouTube yesterday and tried it on few audio files with the defaults.
It seems to be okay but yes, I agree with you. I think I would probably use it only on really noticeable clicks.
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with me.
NK