13303: The Best Solution For Reducing Mouth Noise
Hey there, hero!
One of the most frequently asked questions about the physical nature of voice and on-camera performance is what to do about mouth noises.
And when people offer potential solutions, I will reply “Fantastic! So glad that’s working for you.”
With a biiiiiiiggggg caveat…
…what works for someone else may or may not work for you. Why? Because everyone has a slightly different biology when it comes to saliva production (and reduction).
For example, green apples don’t work for me (they actually make things worse), but they may work for you, and maybe even better than it does for someone posting in a group that this is THE solution.
The point is to try it out, and if it works, great. Try more things out whether green apples work or not.
Let’s start a list of the things you’ve tried and rejected, or tried and succeeded with. Maybe someone else will be helped by one or the other.
What works (or doesn’t work) for you? Let me know in the comments below.
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Raw transcript:
Raw transcript:
Seems like every other week or so I see
a question pop up either in one of the
Facebook groups or on Twitter X whatever
uh or even in our own uh ProConnects um
about mouth noises and what to do about
them and saliva and goopy stuff. And
this is not a hard question to answer,
but there is a very strange answer that
I’m going to share with you in this
episode of the VO Heroes podcast.
First of all, we can be our own worst
enemy when it comes to mouth noises. We
notice our own mouth noises so much more
than other people do. I can’t tell you
how many times people go, “Oh my god, I
can’t stand listening to myself when I’m
recorded because of all the pops and the
clips clicks and the mouth noises and
all that.” No, I’m telling you,
99 times out of 100, unless somebody’s
dentures are loose or uh there there
there’s something going on biologically
that needs to be addressed, your mouth
noises are not nearly as awful as you
think they are, if at all. So, just know
that that’s the the case. But let’s just
say you’re going to ignore exactly what
I just said and you’re on a quest to
figure out how to reduce your mouth
noises. So, a lot of it revolves around
either the overp production or the lack
of saliva because you can get that sort
of watery sound. You can get that sound
when things are overly dry, when your
tongue and your your upper pallet
separates, when your lips separate.
And people naturally want to help. So
people will post, “I’m having problems
with mouth noises. What should I do?”
And people are like, “Oh, you should do
green apples. Oh, you should do, you
know, entertainer secret. Oh, you should
do throat code. Oh, you should like make
sure you drink a lot of water.” And the
real answer is yes, all of those things
may work,
but the real answer is it depends on you
and your biology. Here’s a great
example. Uh, one of our pros in Vio
Heroes posted and said, “I’ve been
seeing all this stuff about green
apples. Should I use green apples? My
mouth noise is crazy. It’s driving me
nuts.”
And a lot of people were going, “Yeah,
it works for me. It’s awful. It’s It’s
awful to have that happen, but this
won’t fix it.” The real answer is, it
depends. It may work for you, but for
me, if I do green apples, I get that
tart kind of thing going, and it makes
my saliva get worse rather than better.
I’m I’m swallowing a lot. And you don’t
want to be swallowing when you’re doing
anything around performance, unless it’s
part of the job, right? But in terms of
reducing mouth noise, in terms of
reducing saliva, green apples work in
the opposite direction for me, the way
they work for most other people. So,
what you want to do is get some
suggestions and then take a moment or a
series of moments and try each one out
to find out what works best for you. Uh,
it could be just sipping water more
often. It could be it could be green
apples. It could be red apples. Who
knows? Something less tart than green
apples. Um, and it also might be
something that you just didn’t even see
coming, like, you know, brushing your
teeth and and rinsing out and and doing
some mouthwash or whatever. But whatever
works for you is the right answer, not
necessarily what everybody else swears
by. Just know that that’s the case. The
real answer is it depends and you have
to figure out what works for you. So
tell me in the comments below what works
for you and h how did you arrive at
this? And do you know for sure and you
know what how do you feel when you’re
able to deal with it? I’d love to know
what you do when it comes to this one
little hiccup speed bump kind of thing
that goes on for people not only for
voice over but also on camera. Can you
imagine having to swallow when you’re
trying to do a really treacherous evil
villainous uh scene?
I’m going to blow up your planet. Yeah,
that doesn’t that doesn’t really land
that doesn’t strike fear in the hearts
of a of a of a race. Anyway, uh let me
know in the comments below. And by that,
I mean on vioheres.com.
Uh that’s where these episodes live,
both the video and the audio. Hit the
like button if you like what you’re
hearing. If this has helped, uh you can
subscribe to the channel. You can click
the notification bell and be notified
when a new episode comes out. We’d love
to have you. You can also join the
mailing list. We tell everybody when the
new episodes come out with that. Just
scroll down to the bottom of the page,
join the mailing list. We’d be we’d be
we’d be thrilled to have you. We would.
Uh, all right. So, there you go. Thank
you so much. I appreciate it. Uh, I’m
David H. Lawrence 17th. I thank you for
watching and for listening, and I will
see you in the next episode of the VO
Heroes Podcast.
(from YouTube)
After being extremely O.C.D. about mouth noises early in my narrating, and trying EVERYTHING to reduce them, I discovered one of the BEST solutions was to stop worrying about it and keep narrating, because the more relaxed and focused I am when I’m narrating, the less mouth noises. I realized, in my mouth noise fear/obsession, I was forcing myself to swallow more than nature intended — which made MORE mouth noises!
Yes!
Again, thank you, David. Every tip or suggestion you send our way is much appreciated!
Lip gloss helps a bit
Drinking lots of water during the day is helpful (and also beneficial in a lot of other ways.) Brushing my teeth helps. Sometimes a hot drink helps. The remedy changes from time to time – not just from individual to individual.
But I too was obsessive about mouth noises. The first VO commercial I ever did years ago was in a studio, and the producers kept saying they were noticing a “click,” and kept asking me to take a drink of water. So ever after I’ve been watching and listening for those [awful, unacceptable – only being slightly sarcastic here] “clicks!”
I agree, David, that the answer is whatever works for you. I have tons of clicks and mouth noises. I am afraid people will hear them and be annoyed by them. I haven’t tried everything to stem the clicking tide. But, I will try some of the suggestions which I truly appreciate you listing. Thanks for this one David.
Mare
Glad to hear it’s not as big an issue as we make it! I used to use of a splash of lemon or lime juice in some room temp water. But lots of clicks. Then I read fruit adds a coating of sugar to your mouth that can cause sticking and clicking. I tried without and started brushing and rinsing well before, and sipping water during. Noise not gone, but less. As you say, your mileage may vary.