Ep. 291: How To Fix Plosives In Voice Over

Summary

A VO's Journey: Voiceover and More Voice Over
Host: Anthony Pica
Episode 291: How To Fix Plosives In Voice Over
Air Date: August 25, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Anthony Pica (aka "Vo Daddio") and co-host Gabby dive deep into the perennial headache for voice actors: plosives. They break down what plosives are, why they happen, and—most importantly—how to fix or minimize them both with mic technique and performance skills. The episode blends technical know-how and practical advice, all served up with the duo’s signature wit and camaraderie.

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Key Topics and Insights

1. What Are Plosives? (02:41)

• Definition: Plosives are bursts of air produced when pronouncing certain consonants (like P, B, and sometimes T or H) that hit the mic diaphragm and cause a noticeable “pop” or “thump” sound.
• Technical Explanation:
  • Anthony: “When we explode air from our mouth...that hits that diaphragm super hard, okay. And you get this popping sound. All right? And that’s what we call a plosive.” (03:10)
• Affected Sounds:
  • Gabby notes that while P is the worst offender, B, T, H, and other consonants can also cause plosives. (03:42-03:52)

2. Pop Filters and Physical Barriers (04:20)

• Pop Filters Explained: The standard remedy for plosives—an external screen made from nylon or sometimes metal. Hosts discuss DIY hacks (pantyhose over a hanger) and commercial options.
• Important Note:
  • Gabby: “There are a plethora...pop filters on the market. There are the nylon discs, which you can actually make yourself with a pair of pantyhose.” (04:51)
• Debate:
  • Metal pop filters work well but can alter the sound quality and are expensive. Some brands, like Neumann/Sennheiser, don’t recommend them for this reason.
  • Gabby: “That metal is just another layer between you and the mic and it can significantly change your sound quality.” (05:49)

3. Mic Positioning and Technique (07:00)

• Off-Axis Speaking: Rather than talking directly into the microphone, angle your mic or your mouth so the burst of air doesn't strike the diaphragm head-on.
  • Anthony: “Put our microphone at an angle...so it’s not directly in front of where that explosion of air is coming from. So it’s a way to reduce plosives without having to add extra equipment.” (07:40)
• Check the Polar Pattern: Ensure the mic is still pointed at your mouth, even when angled, to avoid losing sound quality.
  • Gabby: “We call it speaking off axis...and you can even be slightly tilted, which can help.” (08:07)

4. Physical and Vocal Technique (08:23)

• Hand-on-Palm Exercise:
  • Gabby: “Take your hand...put your hand in front of your mouth and say words that are the problem children...The idea is to reformulate how you say it so you don’t get the big rush of air.” (08:23–09:20)
  • Example words: “Pour, Proper, Purpose, Perfect.”
  • Anthony: “That’s a really nice and fast and tangible way to feel and see, like, what a plosive is and how it feels.” (09:20)
• Consonant Handling:
  • Don’t overemphasize harsh consonants; practice rolling off the end of words. Use tongue twisters to build awareness and control.
  • Anthony: “It’s important to say it. It’s important to finish them...But we fade out. You know what I mean? Like, you start to work on that as a voice actor.” (11:04–12:11)
  • Gabby: “T, D’s, K’s, and X’s are your most important at the ends of words because they have to be clear and you don’t want them to...disappear.” (12:11)

5. Diction Extremes and Adjusting for VO (15:24)

• Practice the Extremes: Over-pronounce for practice (“almost British in its pronunciation”) then relax (“sound like Sylvester Stallone”) and find your natural balance.
  • Gabby: “Go to the extreme of...very precise diction...then go to the other end...You’ll find that happy middle by experiencing both sides.” (15:24)
• Theater vs. VO Adjustment: Stage diction and projection can actually hinder voiceover performance, where subtlety is key. Adjusting is essential.
  • Anthony: “The audience is right here. This is their ear. So that’s quite different than...reaching the back of an entire auditorium.” (16:22)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• The Plosive Police
  • Gabby: “I have become the plosive police. Right. I can’t listen to anything...I’m like, stop popping your B’s. I can’t stand it.” (02:03)
• DIY Pop Filter Hack
  • Anthony: “I took a metal coat hanger, and my wife gave me some old pantyhose. That was my first pop filter.” (05:08)
• On Physical Technique
  • Gabby: “Put your hand in front of your mouth...Every time you say a word, the air is gonna hit your palm...The idea is to reformulate how you say it so you don’t get the big rush of air.” (08:23–09:20)
• On Stage vs. Booth
  • Anthony: “The audience is right here. This is their ear. So that’s quite different than...reaching the back of an entire auditorium...” (16:22)
• Age and VO Opportunities
  • Robert (listener): “I’m 82. Am I too old to start a VO business?”
  • Gabby: “What’s too old, Robert? What does that even mean?” (21:56)
  • Anthony: “Never. I plan on doing this until, you know, until the wheels come...” (21:58–22:09)

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Listener Q&A (17:00–21:00)

• Using Pseudonyms in VO
  • Advice: It’s fine to use an alias, and on platforms like ACX you assign the pseudonym per project, but payments must go to your real name or business name.
  • Gabby: “Does it need to be close to your...No. It could be completely unrelated to your name.” (17:20)
• Managing Multiple Genres
  • If you work in both children’s books and erotica, separate branding under different names is recommended.
• Starting Late in VO
  • Age is not a barrier; voice acting is open to anyone willing to learn and try.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• What is a plosive? — 02:41
• Pop filters & DIY hacks — 04:49–06:50
• Mic technique (off-axis) — 07:00–08:23
• Physical exercises & diction tips — 08:23–12:11
• Diction extremes & theater background — 15:24–16:57
• Pseudonyms & business considerations — 17:00–19:46
• Encouragement on starting in VO at any age — 21:46–22:09

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Tone and Takeaways

The episode is lively and humorous, packed with practical advice but never too technical for beginners. The main message: plosives are a universal struggle in VO—but with the right mix of gear, mic technique, and vocal practice, anyone can master them. And perhaps most reassuringly, no matter your background or age, the world of voiceover awaits.

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Next Episode Preview:
Tomorrow’s topic will be sibilance, another common vocal challenge for VO artists.

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Memorable Note:
Anthony, responding to Robert (82) asking if he's too old to start a VO business:

“Never. I plan on doing this until, you know, until the wheels come...” (21:58)

Transcript

[A]

Oh, wait. Hello. I had said hello way too fast, but it doesn't ever hurt to say hello a bunch of times. Take two does. That's right. Hello. Welcome to VO Journey Academy Live. My name is Vo Daddio and I'm your mom.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

That's right. You gotta say I'm your mom. Damn it.

[B]

Damn it.

[A]

This is vo's Journey. With your host, the incomparable Anthony Pica. Listen to your mother and look at. You don't have a mom. So I have dad fuel. You need, like, a mom fuel.

[B]

I do, I do. I have death before decaf today, which is fine. It's totally acceptable any day of the week.

[A]

I love it. I love it. Well, thank you guys for if you have. If you're still here with us, it's so good to see you all. Make sure you hit that like and subscribe channel button and hit that bell notification so that when we do go live or share video. Yeah, you know about it. We also have a live chat. So chat. Tell us where you are, tell where you're from, what you're doing, and if you have any questions. I love it. I don't know. This bird says I have early questions.

[B]

D.J. rick.

[A]

That's right. If you've got questions, we take them. We answer them down there. So anyways, Gabby, what are we talking about today?

[B]

So we like to do themed weeks. I feel like it's a good way to kind of explore a topic fully. And so this week we're going to talk about mic techniques and some of the problems that I think plague everyone who's in our industry. If that wasn't already a hint, the plaguing problems.

[A]

Perfect topic.

[B]

So, yeah, plosives, Plosives. Everybody deals with it. Now, I don't know about you, Anthony, but I have become the plosive police. Right. I can't listen to anything. I. If I hear dj, it could be split sportscasters, it can be live announcers, it can be news anchors. I'm like, stop popping your bees. I can't stand it.

[A]

Oh, I know.

[B]

Because once you've. Once you hear it, I think once you become acclimated to plosives, you can't unhear them.

[A]

No. It's so annoying.

[B]

It is so annoying.

[A]

It is so annoying.

[B]

So what is it? Let's. Let's start off with that, I guess. What's the scientific or the. The definition here? Do you want to take that?

[A]

Absolutely. So inside your microphone. Okay. How microphone works, and actually both dynamic and condenser microphones still work similarly. They're a little different, but basically, there is a little diaphragm in here, a little disc. And when we speak, okay, that disc vibrates, all right? And depending on whether it's a dynamic or condenser microphone, the signal is turned into an analog signal or whatever, and send. And turn into a digital signal, yada, yada. When we explode air from our mouth, okay. When we. When it's an explosion of air, a very fast amount of air, a large amount of air, it hits that diaphragm super hard, okay. And you get this popping sound. All right? And that's what we call a plosive when we do that. Yeah, go ahead.

[B]

And it happens with various consonants. People don't always realize that peas are the most obvious, but it happens with peas. It happens with bees. I've seen people do it with T's. I mean, like.

[A]

Absolutely. And you can even do it as your. Like you can do with a. With an H. You know, things like that. I've seen that. So as time went on, someone had the brilliant idea to say, okay, well, we need to stop this explosion of air hitting the diaphragm, right. And the microphone. So why don't we create a little barrier, okay. In the form of a netting. So we know that as a pop filter. All right? And those are the little. You know, they're usually some netting.

[B]

Well, what's funny is, like, okay, looking at your microphone, right, that. That grate that sort of surrounds it, technically, that's a pop filter.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

It's a diffuser, right?

[A]

Absolutely. And the foam that you have around yours, you know, often those are called windscreens, as well, but they also act as a diffuser.

[B]

Yes. Some people call them spit screens. I'm like, stop it with that, Nobody. That's not what they're for. Such a weird concept.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

There are a plethora. Plethora of pop filters on the market. There are the nylon discs, which you can actually make yourself with a pair of pantyhose. They're really not complicated.

[A]

Yes, you can. I did that. I did that with a coat hanger.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I took a metal coat hanger, and my wife gave me some old pantyhose. That was my first pop filter.

[B]

It's not hard to do. Not at all. You can. Any circular disc or anything that you have laying around your house, you can literally just put a pair of pantyhose around it and use that and put, like, a little gooseneck thing on it to move it around. Pop filters on Average, though they're not expensive. They. There's singles, there's doubles in the nylon, which I'm not a huge fan of, because that gets you further away from your microphone. And then there is metal.

[A]

They have metal ones.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Now the metal ones, I will say they're exceptional. They're also very expensive. Okay. But they work really well. But, but years ago, I had a friend who works at Neumann Sennheiser who said that they don't recommend them. And the main reason why is because they're like, look, that metal is just another layer between you and the mic and it can significantly change your sound quality. So, you know, maybe try to avoid the metal ones and the expense. But if you're really, really struggling with plosives, then that can help.

[A]

Absolutely. I think that also another thing is. So there's. So there's a couple things. So now. So now you know what plosives are, right? And we know the, the main device that is typically used to help with plosives. Although many of you, if you have plosive problems, you know that you might, you might have felt like throwing your pop filter out the window because they don't always seem to work the way you'd like them to. There's a couple things that we need to do to fix them first, from our perspective. All right? One thing that you can do that I find very, very helpful is depending on where you set up your equipment, typically most of us have a screen right in front of us. Okay. And when we. When that plosa. When that explosion of air comes out, it goes forward. So if you notice here, even Gabby's mic is down to the side. It's on an angle. So as we speak, right. The sound waves from our mouth, they're going out like this. The microphone picks up. Now, this is very important. We put our microphone at an angle, like either a 45 degree angle, whatever. You must make sure that the polar pattern of your microphone and the, the diaphragm where the pickup pattern is, it's facing your mouth. I've seen people, you know, have mics like this. Mics like that have them upside down. Upside down. The backwards one is right. And. But basically the idea here is, is that we are keeping it still, picking up our voice very nicely, but it's not directly in front of where that explosion of air is coming from. So it's a way to reduce plosives without having to add extra, you know, equipment.

[B]

A pop filter, we call it speaking off axis. Yeah. And so the mic is Always tilted. And you can even be slightly tilted, which can, you know, help the situation.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

I have another one. So this is what I was taught when dinosaurs still roamed the earth. Yeah. Long time ago. Take your hand and this is gonna sound funny because I'm blocking my mic when I do this, obviously, so it's gonna get muffled, but put your hand in front of your mouth and say words that are the problem children. Right. So I say bust out the dictionary, go to the P's, right? And pour. Proper. Purpose. Perfect. And every time you say a word, the air is gonna hit your palm. You're gonna feel the rush of air. The idea is to reformulate how you say it so you don't get the big rush of air. So instead of pour, we go poor. Right. Purpose. Proper. You shouldn't feel any air smacking into your palm. And that's how you know you're avoiding plosives.

[A]

I love it. I love it. That's a. That's a really nice and. And fast and tangible way to feel and see, like, what a plosive is and how it feels.

[B]

Yeah. And that's why I love that technique because so often what we do, right, that. That tangibility, that's what's critical. It's. It's all weird, virtual, Right. Theoretical, physicsy kind of stuff. So this makes it a little more. Yeah.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

Hands on for our tactile friends.

[A]

Oh, absolutely.

[B]

The other thing that you can do, you know, along with that is, of course, you can use tongue twisters. You can use, you know, any kind of other. But. But the biggest thing is, you know, biologically, we don't want to suck our lips in because that's going to really exacerbate that popping kind of sound. Really. Like when most of us formulate peas, we just bring our lips together and. Yeah, we don't let them. Because the minute that happens, you're going to get that rush of sound or air.

[A]

Oh, absolutely. And I. So. And also, a lot of this is us practicing. Just like what you were saying with your hand is us practicing. Remember consonants? And what we do. Consonants are. I like to focus more on vowels. Right. Instead of pushing. Well, this is. Let me. Let me say that. Meaning that consonants. We don't want to elongate or overdo them unless we have a specific purpose in, like, a story or something where there's, like, we're finishing a word, you know, that's supposed to be on purpose. Right.

[B]

That was great.

[A]

Yeah. So. But generally, right, what we're trying to do is get off of that consonant. It's important to say it. It's important to finish them. But you notice, like Gabby and I, have you been doing this for a while? You will begin to. Or practice or learn how to. And I think of it in a DB standpoint, begin to roll off, right? The. The. The consonants. Harsh, harsh sounds. If we're going like we're talking about the P, you know, it's a very. It's almost as if we're still saying them. But we've been. We've worked for men for many years on learning how to say it without it being so in your face and so loud. It's still there. So you still need to. And. And that's why tongue twisters help a lot of. Because we still need to finish our words. We still need to say the end of, like, the consonant at the end, but just like that, the consonant at the end. I can say those words and still the D at the end, but we fade out. You know what I mean? Like, you start to work on that as a voice actor.

[B]

I would say that T, D's, K's and X's are your most important at the ends of words because they have to be clear, and you don't want them to, you know, disappear. I cannot tell you the number of times I have edited voice actors where I have to go into the file and find. Find. Right. A missing D or a T or an X or a K type sound and copy and paste it to where I need it because otherwise the word sounds incomplete. And so, yes, it's something to kind of be aware of. Because you're right. Like, if I were to say the word incomplete inside of a sentence. Right. It doesn't sound. Sounds super awkward to kind of swallow the tea at the end.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

But if I do it at the end of a sentence, it sounds really weird. It sounds incomplete. So learn.

[A]

And part of this, too, is I love. Professor Tracy was talking about Peter Piper picked a pec.

[B]

Oh, God, that guy. Yeah.

[A]

I love. I love that. I love that one specifically, because a lot of this also is us learning, which is funny. But I think our entire lives we have. We're at this point speaking to us, most of us. Right. Is very natural. It's second nature. It's so. So we don't necessarily. I don't know about you. When I first started, I had a tr. I feel like I had trouble matching up what was coming out of my mouth with what I thought it was gonna sound like in my head. Right. And Because I. And then you naturally then mess up. You pause, you're like, oh, I didn't say that. Right. And I had done that experiment early on where if you put headphones on, noise canceling headphones, and you can't hear yourself talk, you will actually narrate. You can narrate for hours and you'll never make a mistake. It's a very interesting. I didn't believe it until I did it. It's wild. Now, don't narrate like that because you can't hear how you're saying things. But the point I'm trying to make is that all of this is learning more about how you actually feel you're saying something and how it actually is coming out. And you can hear that listening back and make those adjustments. So I like. And so, for example, Peter, I love making it say the T. Now, we as Americans are not usually going to hit that T because that's not a normal way of saying it for us. Right. And the accent that we have. Right. However, I like to do that because it forces me to make a decision and for my words to match that decision I make and so that I know if I need to. So, like, for example, if I start to say, well, it's important that I finish my words, I start to automatically. Or like, if you're like, I have a problem with mouth clicks. All of a sudden your mouth starts watering. More like wherever your brain, whatever you say right. It picks it up. So anyways, I do love doing those and really hitting it. You know, Peter Piper picked a peck. And I know because I'm not gonna sit in front of and record that, but I'm going to make sure that I understand what it is. What does it sound like when I'm actually doing it really hard and how can I pull that back? Does that make sense?

[B]

It does. I always say it's going to the extremes, right? Go to the extreme of right. Very precise diction that is almost British in its pronunciation, right? That becomes very staccato because we have to sort of do that to be able to pronounce it that way. And then go to the other end where you just don't pronounce anything and you sound like Sylvester Stallone. And you'll find the middle, you know, you'll find that happy middle by experiencing both sides. Something else that, you know, I learned firsthand was my theater background. And some of what I had done in musical theater early on did not serve me well in voiceover because I was trying to be Too proper. And I had to. I had to tone it back. And so sometimes I see that a lot. I see people who come from. From theater, and we have to go, like, ease up.

[A]

It was a very. It was very challenging starting early because, again, you know, the audience is right here. This is their ear. So that's quite different than, you know, reaching the back of an entire auditorium with the person in the back row, which they have to, you know, you're. You're playing to the person in the back seat. That's what you're typically taught. So you have to project and, you know, be very loud and clear, and you have to finish your words very strongly so that it's understood back here. You know, if you're doing that, it's like, whoa, there, tiger. That's a little too much.

[B]

We had questions and all kinds.

[A]

We do. I think we. I think we do. Let's see. I think Sarah. Sarah said, I'm not sure if we'll have time for this today, but can we talk about pseudonyms? Like using one for erotica or pay to plays, et cetera? Does it need to. Does it need to be close to your name? How do you get paid?

[B]

We talked about this not that long ago. So, Sarah, it's totally worth going back and looking at some of the older lives, but the quick version of this is, yes, you can have an alias or a pseudonym. Does it need to be close to your. No. It could be completely unrelated to your name. It could have nothing to do with your name. Some talent rosters actually demand that you use a pseudonym because they don't want their clients to be able to circumvent them and find you out on the web. And you get paid based on whatever your billing says and whatever you're right.

[A]

You have to use your real name

[B]

for being paid for billing or your business name, if you have a business.

[A]

So if you were. If. And. And. And just as a. A quick example, acx. So if you're thinking about acx, Sarah, or whatever like that is on acx, you always only have one account, and that's your name, your real name. But at the end of every book and thing that you put up, ACX will pop up a little tab that says, do you want to use it? What name do you want to put down? As the narrator, they allow you to put a pseudonym in there, but you have to make sure if you do that, you still have to say this book was narrated by that pseudonym name. You don't say your name and then put a Different one down, but they let you do it. So don't. I know it's confusing. Don't change your account. You don't need multiple accounts. It's all one account. Because it's your name, your social or your ein number, that's.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. The challenge becomes. And this is the second part of your question, Sarah, if your pseudonym becomes extremely popular or extremely well known for a specific thing, then you may have to treat it as a separate entity and create its own branding, marketing, website and demos. And that does happen.

[A]

And I would say especially we have a. We have a. I know I work with a lot of voice actors who are also, I don't say concerned, but they're definitely when it comes to erotica. So, like, you might like to do Radical, but you also might like to do children's books.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And you know, they're not necessarily not going to be on your website promoting both, you know, so, you know, why not? I guess. But. But that's the idea. The idea is, is that you might have to have different ones depending on how far down the rabbit hole you go.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Let's see. Can you still send your demos or samples with a pseudonym or what you. What do you do? Can't send your website.

[B]

That's basically what we just answered.

[A]

Yeah. Okay.

[B]

Well, I mean, I think that about does it. I don't see any other questions. It's funny because somebody at the very beginning said, can I ask a question? And then didn't.

[A]

What happened to DJ maybe

[B]

formulate it for tomorrow then, sir?

[A]

That was. That was exactly, exactly. And remember, we have topics, but we always love for you guys to bring questions. And speaking of just an interesting topic, this is a very, very. We spoke about it last week and we have done a soft launch, but we are under full, full way of. For VEO Journey Academy. We have opened up tiers to join Veo Journey Academy, which is the first time we've ever done that. So it's very exciting. We have three different tiers for you to check out. We have our launch pad tier, we have our core tier, and we have our premium tier. And this just gives you different, you know, different ways to join our family of VEO Journey to learn, depending on, you know, your schedule, what you have available. It's very exciting. And we are really, really. We're growing and building a really nice community. I mean, we have an amazing community, but it's even growing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love it.

[B]

He said question. I'm super confused.

[A]

I did ask my question. I'M so sorry. Did you. I think we missed it. It said it's just a. We just. Hello? I have a question. Maybe accidentally. DJ it got. It didn't go through. Could you re. Ask it real quick or just type it back in?

[B]

I'm not seeing it. Preview for tomorrow. We will be speaking about something that is really bothersome to a lot of people. We'll be talking about sibilance.

[A]

Super.

[B]

Yes. Yes, yes.

[A]

I always sound like I don't know. Let's see. Robert has a question. He says, I'm 82. Am I too old to start a VO business?

[B]

What's too old, Robert? What does that even mean?

[A]

Never.

[B]

I always find. And I respect the question. I don't know about you, Anthony. I'm like, as long as you can prop my ass up in that booth, I'll keep working.

[A]

I mean, I did this. This very re. Yeah, I mean, I plan on doing this until, you know, until the wheels come. I can't literally. Great question. My nemesis, Sibilance. Oh, Sarah. She might have guessed.

[B]

Sarah, you should join us tomorrow.

[A]

Radio all right, you guys, thank you so much. We loved having you, as always. Have a wonderful rest of your day. We will see you tomorrow. Goodbye, everybody. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.