Gasping for air in recordings?

[Cindereffa]

Hey everyone,

I'm really interesting in producing gaming content on YouTube. I had a Snowball iCE but returned it for a weird static noise it in my recordings (I think it was a defect in that particular mic itself), and I decided to try out a different brand which was the meteor mic by Samson. It's a pretty good microphone as well.

With both I can hear a lot of my "breaths" between words. It's a little bit distracting! Not quite darth vader, or like I just finished working out, but I don't notice this subtle breathing in other YouTuber's videos so it bugs me!

I use audacity to edit my recordings. I've followed different YouTubers "guides" to make the recording sound better. They definitely improve the talking, but I can always hear the breathing.

I'm considering that a way to fix this would be to reduce volume exactly at the air gasps. but I feel like this would be very time consuming lol!

I've also tried moving it backwards but doesn't help. I am planning to get a pop filter as well, but have tried with a few socks to mimic one which didn't improve the breathing problem.

I'm curious if anyone else notices this when they record? If they maybe figured out a way to fix?

I appreciate any help Thanks!

 

[Kate's Adventures]

is it possible that you're noticing it because it's your voice and a recording that you're paying particular attention to? I know I've been overly critical of my own voice in the past and paid attention to details that most people probably wouldn't notice.

If it is excessively loud and it's not your recording equipment, you could try working on your breathing and your vocal patterns so that it sounds more natural.

 

[GamingRack]

It's the problems with those kind of mics I have the same problem with my yeti pro, they are very sensitive to sound so it's just a b*****d to set up without having breathing noises i just need to figure out how to do it haha.

 

[Mirandapanda]

Pop filters can help, and maybe reducing the gain on your mic. It's hard to completely eliminate breathing sounds though since you, you know, have to breathe. People probably won't notice it anyway unless you're really literally gasping for breath.

 

[sir.penguin]

do what tay zonday did with his Chocolate Rain video, move away from the mic.
its not something to fix in post, you have to set up your mic in a way where you can talk into it while having good body posture.

 

[Cindereffa]

is it possible that you're noticing it because it's your voice and a recording that you're paying particular attention to?...

It's the problems with those kind of mics I have the same problem with my yeti pro, ...

Pop filters can help, and maybe reducing the gain on your mic. ...

do what tay zonday did with his Chocolate Rain video, move away from the mic...

Thank you all for your input I'll definitely try reducing my gain and work on moving my head to the side when i breath in lol. Maybe try moving the mic to the side instead of directly in front of me as well.. I may follow up with another post if I find what works for me.
I did exaggerate a bit in the title to pull people in haha, so you might be right Kate, and I'm just being too critical of myself But I definitely hope these inputs help, thank you again

 

[Tarmack]

You're dealing with a problem that is primarily gear related. Breathing noises can be hidden as you've mentioned by manually editing them (select the portion of the track in Audacity, amplify by -20db, etc.). Mic positioning can help a bit as can consciously speaking slower and taking breaths in a less sharp fashion. If you're doing scripted audio, you can also break up your script into chunks which maybe only have a breath or two in each paragraph. Though if you're doing unedited long form content, that doesn't help you.

At the end of it all, there is a tool that you can use to fix this problem but it will involve some monetary investment.

For my recording (any video on my channel in the last 4 months or so), I have essentially eliminated breathing noises for the most part. And it was done with a noise gate. A noise gate is a piece of hardware that limits the audio being recorded to only sounds above a certain decibel level. So in my case, I set it at -25db. Nearly all of my own personal breath noises were below that threshold and as a result the noise gate cuts them out while I record.

The reason I say it needs some kind of investment is that in my opinion, hardware designed with this capability is superior to a software plugin for Audacity or other DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). So you can take a look and see if you can find a good plugin for that function, but it may mean that it's time to buy a dedicated audio interface and a proper XLR mic instead of USB mics. The interface I use is the Roland Quadcapture with a Shure SM7B attached to it and a mic kill switch as well just in case I need to sneeze or cough. This rig works really well for what I need.

 

[Mike.N.Kamera]

As well as looking into the microphone and gear you use, practicing how you breath will help in improving those irritating breathing noises you hear. As silly as it sounds, when I used microphones on stage many years ago I had crafted how to breath properly - almost silently - between words. You don't need to exclude every breath, as this would sound unnatural and too clinical, but much can be achieved in editing, as you said. Practice, practice with the breathing! It will become natural to you in time. Pace yourself and don't rush what you are saying - relax, and slowly your focus will change to other elements you want to improve. I hope it's going well for you!

 

[Fighting4EXP]

I use to have this problem, buy a air guard thingy xD I forget what they are called, the circle foam things people put infront of mics.
I brought one and it solved the problem

 

[LucasJacob23]

Yes, breathing is definitely a problem. I would suggest not breathing as much or using a program like Adobe Audition and do something in that.