I don’t think I’ve ever seen a stage performance where there’s a pop filter, but they’re extremely common in recording. I record myself with a pretty good microphone and the plosives can become fairly obvious without the filter. I also believe it’s not a thing that can easily be countered live by any soundboard wizardry. So how do they get around this live? Or maybe they don’t and we just don’t really notice?
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I don’t know about technology, but in terms of minimizing or eliminating plosives, some singers train to not vocalize them. I was in a jazz choir where this was discussed and also in a Spanish linguistics class where we had a whole unit dedicated to eliminating the “pop” that native English speakers put on p and b which are absent in Spanish. It’s a pain, but you can consciously avoid it if you practice enough.
I’d guess there is some tech wizardry involved though too.
I don’t use a pop filter with carotid or condenser mics when recording, and I’ve rarely had a pop, but I always stay about 6 inches away from the mic.
Live performances use dynamic mics which are much less sensitive, as opposed to the very sensitive condenser mics used in the studio.
Live music is loud and noisy environment with other instruments, audiences, etc and as a result mics are going to be less sensitive to avoid picking up everything else or feeding back. Also many performance mics have a foam wind screen in them which helps with noises.
Most of the vocal microphones performers use have built-in pop and wind filters. From the Shure SM58 page:
‘A highly effective, built-in spherical filter minimizes wind and breath “pop” noise.’
It’s a combination of factors.
– Mics used for live performances have built in pop filters, and if that’s not enough foam wind socks that go over the top are also available. The classic Shure SM58 has a layer of foam inside the grille. Contrast this to the AKG414 where you can see right through the grille to the diaphragm. Foam does muffle sounds a little though, especially the high frequencies.
– Live performances use dynamic mics which have a relatively heavy diaphragm attached to a coil of wire. That extra weight makes them less susceptible to plosive consonants, handling noise and vibrations coming up through the floor, all at the cost of high frequency and transient response.
– Audio compression (automatic volume control) is used to help tame those sounds in a live performance. In a studio they try to record the sound at as high quality as possible with as little processing as possible. That allows the studio to tweak the sound to their hearts content at a later time.
All three of those result in lower quality sound at live concerts. That’s the trade-off for the freedom singers want to be able to move around the stage.
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