Updated October 2026 · Voiceover and narration
Mouth clicks come from dry mouth, tongue movement and lip sounds. Drink water before you record, keep the mouth moist, and stop each take for a moment between phrases. Remove the few that remain by cutting or lightly reducing them in a clean section.
Mouth clicks and saliva sounds are easy to miss while you speak and very obvious on playback. A close microphone picks up every tick of the tongue and every small smack of the lips. Most of them are prevented before the recording starts, and the few that remain can be edited with care.
A dry mouth makes the tongue stick and release, which makes a click. Some people produce more saliva when they speak for a long time, and the sound becomes a crackle. Tight lips and a clenched jaw add to the problem. A close microphone exaggerates all of it.
Drink water before the session and keep a glass nearby, then sip between takes rather than during one. Some voice users avoid dairy before a long session because it can feel like it thickens saliva, so test whether it matters for you. Relax the jaw and tongue before you start, and speak from the throat and chest rather than tightening the mouth. Short breaks help more than any single trick.
A microphone placed directly in front of the mouth picks up more mouth sound. Angling it slightly off-axis, or moving it a few centimetres further away, can reduce the clicks without changing the voice too much. Keep the position the same once you find it.
Zoom in on the click and cut it, leaving a little room tone on each side, so the join does not sound abrupt. If a click sits in the middle of a word, a very short crossfade often hides it. Do not reduce the clicks so hard that the consonants lose their edge. The room tone guide explains why a short sample of silence helps the edit.
Some people produce clicks no matter what they try, and a few cuts are normal in any voice. Do not chase perfection at the cost of a natural performance. A voice with a faint click is still easy to listen to, and a dry, tight read is not.
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Water helps. Avoid very sugary or dairy drinks just before a long session.
Usually you can reduce most of them. Some natural mouth sounds will remain, which is normal.
No. Lower gain reduces the voice, not the click. Move the microphone or relax your mouth instead.
Basic editing is enough for a few clicks. A clean recording reduces the amount you need to fix.
