Stop Sabotaging Your Dialogue!

Imagine this: you've painstakingly captured a powerful interview, only to be haunted by the relentless click, click, click of mouth noises.

It disrupts the flow, screams amateur, and makes you question your editing skills.

Fear not, we're here to unveil the secret weapon in Izotope RX – Mouth De-click – and banish those pesky clicks to oblivion.

But hold on a second –not all clicks are created equal.

Just like that awkward silence before a bad joke, you need to know the difference between "good clicks" and the ones that deserve the boot.

P's, B's, and other consonants are essential parts of speech, and RX is smart enough to leave them alone, but not if you're using the standard De-Click module.

Our target is the rogue's gallery: spit clicks, lip smacks, and those random pops that sound like popcorn in your microphone.

Separating the Good from the Bad: Identifying Clicks for Removal

For these unwanted guests, let's turn to RX's trusty De-crackle tool.  

Think of it as a sonic vacuum cleaner, specifically designed for high-frequency clicks.  

Here's the beauty: with conservative settings (Quality: High, Strength: ~2.5, Amplitude Skew: -7 to -10 dB), De-crackle can often work wonders, removing clicks transparently without harming the dialogue itself.

It's like using the "whisper mode" on your vacuum – powerful yet gentle. Before Mouth De-click, De-crackle was actually my go-to de-clicker since De-Click was too aggressive (even in conservative settings) for my tastes.

So if you're on an older version of Izotope RX where Mouth De-Click hasn't been introduced, try De-Crackle!

Mastering Mouth De-click: A Targeted Approach

However, sometimes those clicks are a little more stubborn, and you need an algorithm tailored specifically for those bad mouth clicks. That's where Mouth De-click shines.

This tool takes a more targeted approach, allowing you to adjust Sensitivity and Click Widening to home in on the offending noises.  

Imagine Sensitivity as a spotlight, narrowing down the range of sounds RX analyzes.

Click Widening determines how much surrounding audio is captured, ensuring the entire click (including its tail) gets zapped.

By tweaking these settings, you can become a click-removal ninja, eliminating those distracting pops with surgical precision.

Remember, the key is to find the sweet spot – strong enough to banish clicks, but gentle enough to preserve the natural flow of dialogue.

The more surgical your settings for Mouth De-clicking, the more it impacts what you don't want affected.

As someone who works in Hollywood, the amount of vocal fry I encounter that is mistaken for clicks is absurd.

As a starter, here is my Gentle setting:

And here is my Surgical setting:

So there you have it! The bane of every dialogue editor's existence - clicks. I hope you weren't taking a shot every time it was mentioned, I'm not responsible for the outcome.