> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://soundforgepro.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # iZotope RX Mouth De-click: Settings, Workflow and Test Results - URL: https://soundforgepro.com/izotope-rx-mouth-de-click/ - Published: 2026-10-26T17:47:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-26T17:46:59.000Z - Description: RX 12 Mouth De-click removes clicks and lip smacks from speech. What each control does, settings that keep consonants intact, Editor and plug-in workflows, when to switch to Interpolate or Spectral Repair, and what published verdicts say. - Author: Erick Finn - Tags: iZotope RX, Voice Recording **Mouth De-click is the RX module built for the clicks, lip smacks and saliva ticks that sit inside spoken words. In RX 12 it comes with RX Standard and RX Advanced, both as an RX Audio Editor module and as a DAW plug-in; RX Elements does not include it. The method is short. Select the passage and increase Sensitivity in small steps, stopping as soon as the clicks are gone. Keep Frequency skew at zero or above, and add Click widening only for smacks that leave a tail. Listen to what is being removed, render, then make a second pass for the quieter clicks.** I base my own rule on iZotope's documentation and guides more than on any preset. When clicks are scattered through a take, I'd work on selections in the Audio Editor, because a tight selection keeps the module away from the consonants around it. When a long narration clicks on nearly every phrase, I'd put the plug-in on the track and accept the compromise iZotope itself describes: a global pass may take slightly too much or leave a couple of clicks behind. Anything the module misses goes to Interpolate or [Spectral Repair](https://soundforgepro.com/izotope-rx-spectral-repair/); I do not push Sensitivity higher. For prevention at the microphone and a manual repair route outside RX, see the broader [guide to removing mouth clicks without damaging speech](https://soundforgepro.com/remove-mouth-clicks-from-audio/). ## Where Mouth De-click lives in RX 12 The [RX 12 Mouth De-click manual page](https://docs.izotope.com/rx12/en/mouth-de-click.html) describes a module that detects and reduces mouth noises such as clicks and lip smacks. iZotope designed it for longer selections, but it also removes individual clicks, so it works as a spot fix and as a pass over a whole read. In the [iZotope RX toolkit](https://soundforgepro.com/izotope-rx/) it sits with the other voice-repair modules. | RX 12 edition | Mouth De-click in the Audio Editor | Mouth De-click plug-in | Closest tool if it is missing | | ------------- | ---------------------------------- | ---------------------- | --------------------------------------- | | Elements | No (Elements has no Audio Editor) | No | De-click plug-in, Low Latency algorithm | | Standard | Yes | Yes | Not needed | | Advanced | Yes | Yes | Not needed | The [RX 12 overview and edition tables](https://docs.izotope.com/rx12/en/rx-overview.html) define Elements as six plug-ins: De-click, De-clip, De-hum, De-reverb, Repair Assistant and Voice De-noise. If you own Elements and cannot find Mouth De-click in your plug-in list, nothing is broken; the module is simply not in that bundle. The workaround and the upgrade price are covered in the edition section below. The module has not changed in years. Its control descriptions in the RX 12 manual read the same as in the RX 6 manual, and the module chart on the [RX 12 Advanced product page](https://www.izotope.com/products/rx-advanced) gives Mouth De-click no New or Improved tag. Older tutorials therefore still teach the technique correctly. The one exception is the monitoring control, which the plug-in section explains. ## What Sensitivity, Frequency skew and Click widening do There are three controls and one readout. The definitions in the left column come from the manual; the right column is what they mean on a voice track. | Control | What the manual says | What it means on a voice | | --------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Sensitivity | Sets how many mouth clicks are detected. Higher values can affect plosives and may reduce or damage the original signal. | Raise it in small steps. When p and b sounds start to appear in the removed signal, you have gone past the useful range. | | Frequency skew | Moves the detection focus toward lower or higher frequencies. Negative values suit generic, vinyl-type clicks; zero and above target mouth clicks in the middle frequencies. | For speech, stay at zero or above. A negative setting aims the module at a different problem. | | Click widening \[ms\] | Extends the repair area around each detected click to cover mouth sounds with a decay, such as lip smacks. | Keep it low for dry ticks. Raise it when a smack leaves a short wet tail after the click itself. | | Clicks repaired | A count of the clicks repaired, shown under the controls. | A tally, not a quality score. A big jump in the count after a Sensitivity change is a cue to listen for lost consonant edges. | ![RX 12 Mouth De-click module with an empty preset field, Sensitivity at 4.0, Frequency skew at 2.0 on an LF to HF slider, Click widening at 1.2 ms, a 0 clicks repaired readout and footer buttons Preview, Bypass, plus, Compare, an ear button and Render; orange markers 1 to 4 point to Sensitivity, Frequency skew, Click widening and Render](https://storage.ghost.io/c/af/4b/af4b05d4-2e0b-4edc-8378-1e2a62fecc70/content/images/2026/10/mouth-de-click-controls.webp) Set detection with Sensitivity (1), keep Frequency skew (2) at zero or above for speech, add Click widening (3) only for smacks with a tail, and press the ear button beside Compare before Preview to hear what Render (4) would take out. The manual adds one more instruction that is easy to miss: two passes can work better than one, because the first run can miss quieter clicks that louder ones were masking. That suits a gentle approach: two moderate passes keep Sensitivity below the range where the manual warns about plosives. ## Starting settings without guesswork The RX 12 manual describes the three controls without recommending values, and the sets of numbers that circulate online are reference points rather than recipes. Here is where the common ones come from. | Reference | Sensitivity | Frequency skew | Click widening | What it actually is | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------- | -------------- | -------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | RX 12 manual image | 4.0 | 2.0 | 1.2 ms | Example values in the documentation image, with the preset field empty | | [RX 10 manual, \[Default\] preset](https://docs.izotope.com/rx10/en/mouth-de-click/index.html) | 4.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 ms | The default preset shown for the older version | | Mike Metlay's Elements tip | 5.5 | Not given | Not given | A starting point for the De-click module in RX Elements, not for Mouth De-click | This is the routine I recommend from those reference points, and it keeps every change audible: 1. Start from the old default (Sensitivity 4.0, Frequency skew 0, Click widening 0 ms). It changes the least, so it is the safest baseline. 2. Preview the removed signal with the ear button on. You want short, dry, isolated ticks. If you hear the edges of words, lower Sensitivity before touching anything else. 3. If bright, thin clicks survive, move Frequency skew above zero in small steps. The manual image's 2.0 is a sensible place to stop and listen. 4. If the click goes but a soft smack tail stays in the processed audio, raise Click widening a little at a time. 5. Render, check the clicks repaired count, and listen to the whole passage at normal speed before deciding on a second pass. Treat Metlay's 5.5 with care. It sits in his [noise-removal tips for RX Elements](https://www.izotope.com/community/blog/tips-for-noise-removal-rx-elements) as a medium Sensitivity for De-click, a different module on its own scale, so copying it into Mouth De-click is a guess rather than a translation. ## Removing mouth clicks in the RX 12 Editor The Audio Editor is where Mouth De-click gives you the most control, because the full module footer is available there. If selections, the spectrogram and module windows are new to you, the [RX 12 tutorial for beginners](https://soundforgepro.com/izotope-rx-12-tutorial-beginners/) covers the basics. The steps below follow the [RX 12 common module controls](https://docs.izotope.com/rx12/en/common-module-controls.html) and the Mouth De-click page. 1. **Select the problem area.** For scattered clicks, select a phrase or a few words; for a clicky read, select a longer passage, which is what the module is designed for. Check the edges. In iZotope's own walkthrough the selection nearly caught a real consonant, and the author stopped and reselected to keep it. 2. **Open Mouth De-click and press Preview (Shift-Space).** For most modules Preview plays a pre-rendered buffer of about half a second, and the buffer length can be changed under the Preview options (+) button. 3. **Turn on the ear button.** With Listen active, Preview plays the signal the module would remove instead of the processed result. That is the fastest way to catch damage: clicks should sound like clicks, not syllables. 4. **Toggle Bypass (Shift-B) while previewing.** Hearing the original against the processed version shows whether the voice lost any air or bite. 5. **Render.** Then read the clicks repaired count and play through the passage. 6. **Make a second pass** on the same selection if quieter clicks remain. The manual recommends this for clicks that louder ones masked the first time. 7. **Clean up strays with Instant Process.** In De-click mode, selections under 4000 samples (about 83 ms at 48 kHz) are repaired with Interpolate, and longer selections use the current De-click module settings. None of these footer controls work inside Module Chain, so tune Mouth De-click on its own first and add it to a chain only once the settings are right. ## Using the Mouth De-click plug-in in a DAW or AudioSuite The plug-in brings Mouth De-click into your DAW, but auditioning works differently. According to the common module controls page, RX plug-ins keep only the Bypass button from the module footer, so there is no ear button and no module Preview inside your DAW. You audition with host playback and Bypass, and you listen for consonants in the result rather than in the removed signal. Choose between an insert and an offline pass by how often the clicks happen. In his [2022 click-removal walkthrough on the iZotope blog](https://www.izotope.com/community/blog/removing-digital-clicks-and-pops-from-audio), Nick Messitte uses Mouth De-click sparingly in AudioSuite or the standalone editor when clicks are sporadic, and reaches for the plug-in when clicking is all over the place. iZotope's [vocal clean-up guide](https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/clean-up-vocals.html) describes the trade-off: an inline pass is not a targeted fix but a compromise that may take too many noises out or leave a couple in, and your choice depends on how severe the problem is and how much time you have. Older tutorials, including Messitte's De-click steps, tell you to tick an Output Clicks Only box to monitor what is being removed and to untick it before processing. The RX 10 Mouth De-click module had that checkbox in the place where the RX 12 Editor footer now shows the ear button. If your plug-in window offers a removed-signal monitor of that kind, switch it off before you bounce. Otherwise the audio you print can contain the removed clicks instead of the cleaned voice. Two technical points matter in a session. RX 12 plug-ins come as AU, AAX, AAX AudioSuite and VST3, and all formats are 64-bit only. If Mouth De-click does not appear in your host, work through the checks for [RX plug-ins that do not show up](https://soundforgepro.com/izotope-rx-plugins-not-showing/); the usual causes are edition, format and plug-in scans. And as the [RX 12 plug-in guide](https://docs.izotope.com/rx12/en/using-rx-plug-ins.html) explains, some processing modes delay the signal. With Enable Delay Compensation on, RX reports its latency to the host, and the Total System Delay readout gives the figure in samples and milliseconds if you need to correct it by hand. ## Mouth De-click, De-click, Interpolate or Spectral Repair? Mouth De-click is one of several click tools in RX, and the right first choice depends on where the click sits. The table matches the problem to the tool, based on the RX 12 manual pages for [De-click](https://docs.izotope.com/rx12/en/de-click.html) and [Interpolate](https://docs.izotope.com/rx12/en/interpolate.html), and the De-crackle page in the same manual. | What you hear | Reach for | Why | Editions | | --------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Clicks and smacks spread through speech | Mouth De-click | Built for mouth noises inside words and gentler on speech than De-click | Standard, Advanced | | A click sitting alone in a pause | De-click on a tight selection, or Instant Process | The stronger module is safe when only the click is selected | De-click in all editions (plug-in only in Elements); Instant Process in Standard and Advanced | | One very short tick | Interpolate | Repairs clicks under 4000 samples by building a replacement from the surrounding audio | Standard, Advanced | | A click that survives over a vowel | Spectral Repair, Attenuate or Replace | In iZotope's walkthrough a stubborn click that Mouth De-click left behind went here, with Replace the most useful mode | Standard, Advanced | | Dense, low-level crackle | De-crackle, after De-click | Works better once the worst clicks are gone; Output Crackle Only lets you hear what it removes | Standard, Advanced | | You own only RX Elements | De-click plug-in, Low Latency algorithm | The manual says Low Latency works well on mouth clicks and suits real-time plug-in use | Elements and up | ![Decision diagram starting from Where is the click?: a click in a pause leads to De-click or Instant Process, one short tick to Interpolate, clicks inside speech to Mouth De-click, a click still audible after that to Spectral Repair with Attenuate or Replace, and dense crackle to De-crackle after De-click](https://storage.ghost.io/c/af/4b/af4b05d4-2e0b-4edc-8378-1e2a62fecc70/content/images/2026/10/click-repair-decision-path.webp) Start from where the click sits: Mouth De-click handles clicks inside speech, and the other modules handle pauses, single ticks, survivors and crackle. In De-click, Frequency skew is unavailable with the Single Band algorithm, so if that control is greyed out, check which algorithm is active. If you also edit in Sound Forge, its DeClicker and manual tools follow a similar logic; the walkthrough on [removing clicks and pops in Sound Forge Pro](https://soundforgepro.com/how-to-remove-clicks-pops-sound-forge-pro/) covers that side. ## Where Mouth De-click sits in a voice clean-up chain Order matters because each module reacts to what the previous one left behind. This is the chain I recommend for spoken voice, built from the RX 12 module pages and two published workflows: 1. **De-plosive.** The [RX 12 De-plosive page](https://docs.izotope.com/rx12/en/de-plosive.html) says it detects plosives between 20 and 80 Hz and belongs before any high-pass filter, and that Sensitivity matters more than Strength. The Sound Forge approach is in the guide to [removing plosives without thinning the voice](https://soundforgepro.com/remove-plosives-from-audio/). 2. **Mouth De-click,** followed by De-crackle only if fine crackle remains. 3. **Breath Control,** a Standard and Advanced module marked Improved in RX 12\. For hand-editing breaths instead, see [editing breaths in Sound Forge without a chopped sound](https://soundforgepro.com/edit-breaths-sound-forge/). 4. **Noise reduction.** The author of iZotope's vocal clean-up guide would rather de-noise audio that has already been de-clicked than bake errant clicks into a de-noising pass. The options and their settings are in the [RX 12 background noise guide](https://soundforgepro.com/remove-background-noise-izotope-rx/), and for noise and room together, [RX Dialogue Isolate](https://soundforgepro.com/izotope-rx-dialogue-isolate/) handles both in one module. 5. **High-pass filter and EQ** at the end, after De-plosive has done its detection. MixingGPT's RX 12 review lists a podcast chain in the same spirit: De-plosive, Mouth De-click, Breath Control, Spectral De-noise, then [De-reverb](https://soundforgepro.com/izotope-rx-de-reverb/). One trap catches people who expect the assistant to cover this: according to the [RX 12 Repair Assistant page](https://docs.izotope.com/rx12/en/repair-assistant.html), the Voice mode Clean Up section uses De-click as an on/off switch, not Mouth De-click. Each section has an Audition button that plays only what that section removes, and in AudioSuite the clip must be longer than 7 seconds. ## Test results: what published verdicts show The published record on Mouth De-click consists of verdicts and workflow advice rather than lab numbers, so this composite counts what nine sources conclude. Six are independent: two YouTube videos, three forum threads and one editorial review. Three come from iZotope's own blog and Learn pages, and the table marks them. | Finding | Sources | Count | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------ | | A broad, whole-file or inline pass is a compromise; targeted selections come out cleaner | Curtis Judd video; Messitte (iZotope); Learn guide (iZotope) | 3 of 9 | | Pushing detection too far takes real speech: consonants, plosives or too many noises | Messitte (iZotope); Learn guide (iZotope); Metlay (iZotope) | 3 of 9 | | The heavier De-click module can remove wanted audio and needs care or a tight selection | Curtis Judd video; Gearspace thread; Messitte (iZotope) | 3 of 9 | | For constant clicking, an insert plug-in is an accepted trade-off for speed | Reddit voice-acting thread; Messitte (iZotope); Learn guide (iZotope) | 3 of 9 | | Mouth De-click is gentler or more surgical on speech than De-click | Curtis Judd video; MixingGPT review | 2 of 9 | | Users who tried alternatives still keep or praise it | April 2026 podcast-editor video; Reddit voice-acting thread | 2 of 9 | | Some clicks survive and need another tool | Gearspace thread; Messitte (iZotope) | 2 of 9 | | Click removal goes early in a voice chain, before de-noising | MixingGPT review; Learn guide (iZotope) | 2 of 9 | The independent sources agree with iZotope's guidance more than they argue with it. In his [2021 video on the two RX de-clickers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM4IJGMj%5FMs), Curtis Judd calls Mouth De-click generally less aggressive and suited to saliva noise and clicks inside dialogue. He keeps De-click for clicks he can select on their own, and one chapter is titled "Don't De-click entire audio clip". The [June 2026 MixingGPT review of RX 12](https://mixinggpt.com/blog/izotope-rx-12-review-2026) calls Mouth De-click more surgical than the general De-click module. Loyalty shows up as well. In an [April 2026 video about replacing most of RX](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K75P8jNoByU), a podcast editor still names Mouth De-click as the one RX module he keeps. An r/VoiceActing thread is titled "iZotope's Mouth De-click is Amazing!" and describes simply dropping the plug-in on the track and adjusting it. The limits are just as consistent. On Gearspace, one reply calls the RX De-click module "more effective (but more destructive)", and a thread from someone looking to replace Mouth De-click gets suggestions for Acon Digital DeClick and RX De-crackle. iZotope's own walkthrough hit the same ceiling when one stubborn click had to go to Spectral Repair. My verdict: Mouth De-click deserves to be the first move on clicky speech, and the sources agree on why. It is gentler than De-click and fast on long reads. They also agree on its limit. It is a detection tool, so the more you ask it to find, the more speech it starts to touch. Use it at moderate Sensitivity on selections, listen to the removed signal every time, and hand the survivors to Interpolate or Spectral Repair. If you are weighing other tools for voice repair, the [best iZotope RX alternatives](https://soundforgepro.com/best-izotope-rx-alternatives/) compares the editors and dialogue plug-ins worth a look. ## Is RX Standard worth buying for Mouth De-click? Mouth De-click starts at RX Standard, so the real question is whether Elements will do the job or the upgrade is worth it. These were the prices on iZotope's US store on October 21, 2026, taken from the [RX 12 Standard store page](https://www.izotope.com/products/rx-standard) and its [Elements](https://www.izotope.com/products/rx-elements) and [Advanced](https://www.izotope.com/products/rx-advanced) counterparts. | Product or path | US store price on October 21, 2026 | Includes Mouth De-click | | ---------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------- | ----------------------- | | RX 12 Elements | $99 | No | | RX 12 Standard | $399 | Yes | | RX 12 Advanced | $1,399 | Yes | | Upgrade from RX Elements to Standard | $299 | Yes | | Update from RX 11 Standard | $129 | Yes | | Crossgrade from any paid iZotope product to Standard | $349 | Yes | The [RX 12 system requirements](https://www.izotope.com/products/rx-advanced) list confirmed compatibility with macOS Sonoma 14.7, Sequoia 15.8 and Tahoe 26.x on Intel and Apple silicon, and with Windows 10 22H2 and Windows 11 24H2. Elements has a fallback. Its [De-click plug-in](https://soundforgepro.com/izotope-rx-de-click-tutorial/) includes the Low Latency algorithm that the manual says works well on mouth clicks, and Metlay suggests trying Low Latency first. What Elements lacks is everything around the repair: the Audio Editor, the ear button, Instant Process, Interpolate, Spectral Repair, De-crackle and Breath Control. My pick: if speech is part of your weekly work, Standard is the edition to buy for this job. Mouth De-click alone would not justify $299 over Elements, but together with the Editor tools that finish what it misses, it does. Advanced adds nothing to Mouth De-click itself; its extras, such as multichannel processing, matter for other work. The [RX Elements vs Standard vs Advanced breakdown](https://soundforgepro.com/izotope-rx-elements-vs-standard-vs-advanced/) covers the full edition split, and the [RX price, trial and license guide](https://soundforgepro.com/izotope-rx-price-trial-license/) explains the trial and licensing rules. If you already edit in Sound Forge, the [Sound Forge vs iZotope RX comparison](https://soundforgepro.com/sound-forge-pro-vs-izotope-rx/) shows which jobs still call for RX. ## Mouth De-click questions ### Does RX Elements have Mouth De-click? No. Elements is six plug-ins without the Audio Editor, and Mouth De-click is not one of them. The closest option is the De-click plug-in with its Low Latency algorithm. ### Why does my processed track contain only clicks? A removed-signal monitor was most likely left on when the audio was processed. Older versions and tutorials use an Output Clicks Only checkbox for this, and it has to be unticked before you process. In the RX 12 Editor, the ear button changes what Preview plays, so turn it off when you want to hear the processed result. ### Should I run Mouth De-click twice? Often it helps. Loud clicks can hide quieter ones from detection, so the RX 12 manual suggests a second run when the first one leaves some behind. Two moderate passes also keep Sensitivity out of the high range where plosives suffer. ### Does Repair Assistant use Mouth De-click? No. In Voice mode, the Clean Up section switches De-click on or off. For mouth noise inside speech, open Mouth De-click directly in Standard or Advanced.