🚀 go-pugleaf

A blast of air, rather than just soundwaves, is hitting the microphone. It moves the diaphragm out of the range it normally moves in for the duration of the blast, and the sound of this is the 'pop' you get.

There are several things you should do, and in terminally bad cases you may need to do all of them. Firstly, don't sing or speak directly at the mic, but across it. Try to position the mic so that it's not in the same plane as the breath is going - either above or below it is a better idea. Basically, this avoids the worst of the blast from hitting the mic directly. Secondly, get a pop screen. These are available for a few dollars, and are much more effective than the slip-on windshields that often come with the microphone. This is positioned a few inches in front of the microphone, but generally closer to it than the vocalist is. This screen lets the sound through, but reduces the direct airflow. Typically the screen will be 1-2 inches from the mic, but the vocalist should be more like 8-9 inches away at a minimum.

The last thing in the 'technical' list is the one that a lot of people don't believe actually works, but it does. Well, in some cases it helps, anyway... and that is to tape a pencil vertically across the front of the microphone case. This, if you get it exactly correct, diverts the blast either side of the diaphragm.

Of course, the other option, which is in fact the really best thing to do, is to get a vocal coach for whoever's doing all this popping - even if it's you. A good vocal coach will be able to get the affected person's breath much more under control, and this is the real cure - reducing the problem at source. But if you can't achieve that, then the above remedies, or a combination of them, should do the trick.