how to fix a "P-Pop" in your audio recording

If you do any voice recording, you’ve probably noticed that no matter how hard you try, the “P” sounds will sometimes sound like a small explosion, distorting the audio recording for a second, sounding a bit like a low frequency “splat.” . It’s what happens when a gust of wind hits a microphone. There are things you can do to minimize or prevent (shya!) them (like a pop filter), which is the best medicine. But when they do get recorded, you’ll want to know how to fix it after the fact.

One of the wonderful things about audio editing in the computer age is that you can use your eyes as well as your ears. I’ve edited so many P-pops (which linguists call “explosives”) that I can recognize what they look like on a computer screen before I even hear them. To my voice, the result looks like a capital “N” in the waveform. So what can you do once the plosive is recorded to fix it?

Since the plosive problem is basically caused by a puff of air from your lips hitting a microphone capsule fast and hard, what you have is a volume problem. The plosive was too strong compared to everything around her. Not only that, but most of the overly loud bits are on the lower end… the low frequencies. So the solution would be to lower the volume of your voice when you are pressing the “P”. In an audio editor, like Audacity (which is open source), you zoom in on the plosive and select everything until the voice actually becomes audible. In other words, if the word was “pot”, try not to get any of the -“ah” sounds in your selection. You just want the “P” sound. Then just use a volume reduction tool to lower JUST the “P”. You may have to experiment (“undo” is the magic wand of computer audio editing!) with how much you turn it down, but that may be all you need to do.

If adjusting the volume doesn’t get you there, you may just need to turn the volume down for PART of the plosive, the bass part. You do this using equalization (EQ), which is the same as volume, only you control which frequencies are turned up or down. Try reducing the volume of the frequencies below 100 Hz and leave everything else alone. Again, experimentation may be required.

Just lather, rinse, and repeat for each pesky “P,” and you’re done. It’s so easy to fix that it baffles me that some voiceovers still have them. At least you don’t need to anymore.