I would like to start recording my thoughts about stuff and post them on youtube.
Just audio. I think what I need is an external mic to somehow make the quality of recordings a bit better.
But I do not want to invest yet on a microphone. What can I do with my phones voice recorder to lessen breathing noises or improve quality. Putting a thin cloth? Or foam?
The most available 'mics' are a pair of earbuds (like from an iPhone) that have built in mic, this can help a lot, and they are very available. You can often find a few in the junk drawer in your friend or family's kitchen. Check your drawers, you might already have some.
Set the phone to video mode, start recording and prop it on the desk pointing towards you. Most phones have a dedicated mic for video recordings that is optimized for recording audio from the direction the camera is looking, and it will be sufficiently far away that your breathing and other popping/distortion from a close held mic won't apply
Replacing the video stream inside the recorded movie, with a static image is relatively trivial using a variety of desktop or online software. If it's not to your technical appetite, putting a small square of sticky note over the camera before you record will achieve a similar result and be removable without residue
Most phones and recording devices have circuits called companders (audio compressors and expanders) The purpose of such circuitry is to level out the volume. An audio compressor decreases loud sounds to a reasonable level whereas an audio expander does the opposite by raising the level of quieter sounds. By talking directly into a phone microphone it will make breathing sounds more noticeable. Try talking across the microphone from a few inches away . This should minimize this effect.
