Help with Voice Over - clean up inspiration

Question

Hi there, I'm recording some audio in my home for a video tutorial. Trouble is I'm getting some nasty sounds and it seems it's taking me forever to clean up the file.
Settings: using the Podcast Voice effect rack, using a blue yeti mic, nothing too professional about it.
Trouble:
- I constantly have to insert silence at the start of each new phrase. The Podcast voice effect even augments the inspiration effect, but even without it's quite obvious;
- My "S"s are really strong, tried deesser, no big hit there
- I constantly make a sound with my lips at the start of each phrase - not sure how to call it.
What can I do to automate the clean up process since I have over 5 hours of recorded audio? I'd like to be able to select a certain sound (like my inspiration) and totally remove it from everywhere. Tried that with the noise print, but didn't help.
If it's not obvious, I'm quite a newbie at this.
Thank you.

Answer 1

It's hard to know where to start with this - but your problem isn't going to be solved by processing. You have to get the source recording done properly, and there's no way around this. If you want your results to sound like a professional production, then you have to approach it the way a professional voice artiste would.
Your initial problem is clearly in your microphone technique. You need to be 7-8" from the microphone, but not speaking directly at it. You want it either slightly above or below your mouth level, and offset to one side slightly - this will reduce a lot of the problems you are picking up, but not all of them. And get, and use, a pop screen.
To fix more of your problems, you are going to have to learn a sensible breathing techique - which invariably involves breathing in more slowly, and through your nose. Lip-smacking almost invariably results from drinking the wrong things (or nothing) before or during your recording session. Basic rules are - no coffee or tea or any other stimulants, and nothing which forms a mucus in your mouth, like milk. Basically, the best thing is to drink nothing but water anywhere near or during the time of your recording session.
Other things you should do include speaking in a controlled manner - make sure that you pronounce the ends of words at the same rate as the starts of them, and leave time to breath slowly between sentences - this also helps your audience to assimilate what you're saying.
Once you've sorted this out, you should end up with no more than a content editing session. As for your 5 hrs of material - well, you won't be able to fix it in a satisfactory manner whatever you do if it's as bad as you say, and you could easily spend more than 5 hrs failing to do this. So I know it's painful, but scrapping it is your best option here. Spend some time fixing the problems at source, and you'll get all the time back, and some, in the long run. So do a few experimental test runs, and listen to the results - you'll soon find out what helps and what doesn't.