De-ssing????

C

Calwood

New member
I have a compressor with a sidechain,...and an Eq. Now,..how the heck do I de-ss my vocal tracks?

Any help??

Take 'er easy,...
Calwood
 
you can ease off the highs and bit of the mid....and/or place the mic a little further away or to the side and try that
 
I tried the frequency roll offs. The results werent satisfactory though. The vocs in this tune have to be upfront,...soft spoken,..so I want to keep the vocalist close to the mic. I really thought I could use my comp and an eq as a de-sser. Hmmmnnn,...guess I was wrong.

Thanks,..

Take 'er easy,..
Calwood
 
try using an extra pop filter to see if it can stop some of the high frequency "S" and also did you try moving the mic to the side of the mouth or at an angle so it doesnt get the full brunt of the "S"?
 
Yeah,..i tried movin' the mic(3000B) around. Didnt really work though. I'll try using another pop filter. They seem to pass right through the one I was using.
So what you are saying is I cant use my comp and eq to De-ss?

Thanks for the help bro.

Take 'er easy,...
Calwood.
 
You can use a comp and eq for de-essing but I'm not sure how. I always used a software one. Someone will come around and straighten us out on how to do it.
 
Hey,...sup Dawg? Yeah,..thats what I thought. I know i've read that,....somewhere.

I'll keep searching,..while waiting for someone to chime in.

Thanks bro,...

Later,...
Calwood
 
sure you could altough results can vary. You need an EQ. Basically you just need to take a split pre the compressor, from the track. You could mult the track in analog (patchbay on an analog console), or if you're using a DAW or HD recorder, just create a duplicate of the track. This split shall not be bussed to the main mix, obviously. Send this split to the EQ and the output of the EQ to the compressor' s side or key chain. With the EQ, they key would be to enhance or "spot" the frequency bandwidth where the most eSSing occurs so that this is used to trigger the compressor. You need to tell the compressor what its going to use to trigger the compression, so it is very simple, just enhance the frecuencies that you want the compressor to be triggered from. This range would probably be around 6k-8k...but don't take me for granted...experiment...This means you obviously have to add gain to enhance those frecuencies.
The ideal would be to use a dynamics device that only affects or can be set to affect a certain frecuency bandwidth, such as a deesser or a multiband compressor, but well, you could say this is the poor man's deesser.
 
Try a different mic if you can, cause my 3000b even with the de-esser has a tendency to make the highs quite harsh. And its way worse the closer you get to the mic..Something about that mic
 
MrGrooves,..

I think i get what yer sayin'. I thought it was somethin' like that. I'll give it a try thanks.

It seems as though I have this problem with whatever mic i use.
Not using the puter for anything in the studio yet. Thanks for the info though.

Take 'er easy,...
Calwood
 
Calwood said:
I have a compressor with a sidechain,...and an Eq. Now,..how the heck do I de-ss my vocal tracks?

Any help??

Take 'er easy,...
Calwood
Click to expand...

What type of compressor?

The Alesis site has detailed operating information if you have a 3630 compressor.

There is also a Alesis forum here on HR if that is what you have.

Good Luck
D
 
My comp is a DBX. But,..I'll check out the website. Maybe it'll help me get mine goin'.
I tried workin' with it this weekend a little. I tried following what Grooves said. I dunno man,..I couldnt get 'er workin'. Not givin' up yet though!!!!!!!!!!

Anybody else?

Take 'er easy,....
Calwood
 
It should work, if you're key'in right (settings of your EQ). First,your compressor might have a function to "listen" to the key or side chain. Use that to first identify the frequency where the SSS is more predominant. This should be around 6, prolly 7-8 khz. Find it by boosting your EQ to the extreme. If your using a parametric, better, as you can set an extreme boost, and just sweep till you find the frecuency where the SSS are enhanced the most. Then, roll off everything a bit below that bandwidth and everything above it. This is, taking it to the extreme of course. Use fast attack and release as these will be fast high frecuency transients peaks. Then switch back to the output of the compressor and adjust the treshold and ratio according to how deep the de-essing you want. It should work. Lemme know.
 
Hardware de-essers...

Presumably you can buy a box just dedicated to doing this job then?

How does it work, do you play a vocal track through it and then twist a dial until the 'sss's seem to be tamed? Or what?

How much do these things cost ( cheap ones not pro ones).
 
First thing is that you have to understand is what sibilant means. Be careful when desessing. It may just be that your monitors (amp and speakers) may not be accurate enough to produce those mid-highs and highs you have recorded. Verify this with a good headphone like the SONY MDR-7506. That headphone is very accurate and will reproduce highs with great clarity when other monitors represent them as distorted sssss'es. Now after you have verified that indeed what your hear are distorted highs (ssess), then you will have to cut your highs enough to prevent this on your eq. A good 31 band eq would be ideal in this situation so you could isolate only those frequencies that are the culprit while leaving others intact. Other techniques as mentioned above are also effective, like putting a little distance between the microphone and the mouth of your singer. To ensure the singer does not try to get close to the mic again, try having him/her sit on a pedestal. Then, besides your near-field studio reference monitor, it would be great if you have a "reference" monitor. It is a pair of good, all around speaker monitor that should sound like the average home stereo speakers, so you could hear how your mix sound like in the "real" environment where your "fans" would most likely listen to your CD. Good luck.
 
I usually use a parametric eq for de-essing. Adjust the Q to it's narrowest setting, turn the gain way up and sweep the frequency back and forth (usually around 6-8khz) until you find the offending frequency. Then cut the gain until the essing disappears. It is usually such a narrow band that it won't have much effect on the overall sound of the vocals.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top