Let’s compare these Pop Filters against a naked microphone to see which one is the best for eliminating vocal plosives.
Why Use a Pop Filter for Vocal Recording?
Try holding a lit candle a few inches in front of your mouth while singing or talking. You’ll notice how your voice can make the flame dance or even blow it out. That’s because certain vocal sounds naturally push more air than others.
You can also try it by talking at your hand and feeling the bursts of air leaving your mouth with each word.
Controlling these bursts of air takes practice, and that’s where a pop filter comes in handy. For a lot of us, It’s a must-have tool for vocal recordings, as it helps reduce the low-end frequency build-ups during Ps, Bs, or TH sounds that can cause issues in your recordings.
Now, there are some vocalists who, due to their technique or style, may not require a pop filter. However, if you find yourself dealing with plosives in your vocal recordings, here are two anti-plosive methods to try:
- Enclosure Method: Use a foam sleeve to enclose the diaphragm of the microphone. This clever setup breaks up the air as it hits the microphone, protecting the capsule from plosives. In this video, we’ll test foam sleeves of two different thicknesses.
- Barrier Method: Alternatively, you can use a nylon or metal pop filter placed a few inches in front of the microphone, creating a barrier between the singer and the microphone. This barrier breaks up plosives before they reach the microphone. The key difference here is the air gap behind the pop filter and the microphone.
Will this air gap boost performance in the Barrier Method? Let’s find out!
Our brave vocalist Lexene is ready to rock, and we’ve got our microphone all set up.
The 1st comparison is a P sound into a Dynamic Mic – Shure SM7B
2:31 Test #1 – Dynamic Mic (Shure SM7b)
The 2nd comparison is a P sound into a Condenser Mic – Advanced Audio CM414
2:44 Test #2 – Condenser Mic (Advanced Audio 414)
The 3rd comparison is a couple P words into a Dynamic Mic – Shure SM7B
3:13 Test #3 – Dynamic Mic (Shure SM7b)
The 4th test is P words into a Condenser Mic – Advanced Audio CM414
3:37 Test #4 – Condenser Mic (Advanced Audio 414)
3:57 All Filters Revealed
What did you think? Let me know in the Comments.
Don’t forget to hit that like button and subscribe if you want see more videos like this one.
Thank you so much for watching. And thank you to DistroKid for your continue support of the channel.
DistroKid makes it easier than ever to get a YouTube Official Artist Channel.
Which is a fantastic way for independent artists to streamline their online presence.
Instead of having scattered videos on various channels, you can put all your music in one centralized hub, making it easier for your fans to find and enjoy your work.
That’s just one of the ways that DistroKid makes music distribution easy, they offer unlimited uploads and artists keep 100% of their royalties and earnings.
So If you haven’t already you can use this link to get 7% of your first years subscription and join over a million artists who upload with DistroKid to get their music into Spotify, Apple Music, and all the major streaming services.
Until next time, Happy Mixing!
