Sibilance "s" issue and proper db level when recording vocals

This link outlines and shows pictures of some of the things suggested here. Sometimes the same thing explained in a different way (including pictures) can help you better understand the technical aspects of things.

[BLOG] Death To Sibilance: A Simple Guide To De-Essing Vocals
Great link, one more excellent method is Spectral editing. This is now my preferred method if I’m giving a track that needs work. Spectral editing allows you to turn down only the frequencies needed within that spot in the wave form without effecting the other frequencies.
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Personally - before using remedial tools, I prefer to sort the problem out before recording. I've never been an advocate of 'fix it in the mix'. Sibilance is a pain, but can usually be controlled pretty well. I remember the very first SM57 I bought in the 70s. There was (and still is I think) a very expensive windshield for them, but they came with a strange open cell foam shield. Stitched together from two thin flat patterns. I still remember the odd chemical smell it had. If you put this on the mic, and pulled it about an inch from the front grill, then taped the rear to stop it sliding, you could put it right to your lips and it worked wonderfully on p, b and s sounds. Never found any other foam windshield that did the same thing without sounding dull. I think it was because it slipped in under your nose, and worked on the air coming from your two nasal passages. I lost it years and years ago - and never found another! Later SM57s didn't have them.
 
I tried all of the physical methods of removing the "s" sibilance, sadly, none of them worked, even with multiple socks and baggies over the mic in various combinations. Pencil did not work. Mic position/orientation/distance variants did not help enough. De-essing using Spitfish did not work the way I hoped as if the "s" sibilance was outside the range of what the de-esser was designed to work with. I now know what an "s" looks like within a waveform and can spot them like a 100 dollar bill. I lowered the s's from -2db to -8db, depending on the severity, and it worked wonders.

Curious,... when lowering an "s" portion of a waveform, should the entire "s" from start to finish be lowered as a whole, or should the middle peaks be lowered to make the "s" portion more flat and even, vs looking like a hill as it was originally?
 
I recently set up a home studio with the following hardware:
-AT2020 Cardioid Condenser Mic
-behringer U-Phoria UM2 2x2 USB Audio Interface with XENYX Mic Preamp
-RF-X Reflexion rear Filter
-standard front p-filter
-also have a FirstAct MVM-88 Uni-directional Dynamic mic

I just spent an hour typing this, then clicked "preview post", only to be asked to sign back in, and I lost all of my work, yet I kept seeing a yellow "draft saved" at the bottom right as I typed. Does anyone know how to find saved drafts on this forum? What a nightmare.

I spent a month learning Audacity, Premiere Pro, Tracktion (now called Waveform), and the above mentioned hardware.

All of my friends vocals sound great while directly facing the AT2020 from a distance of 14 inches, they even move their heads slightly with emotion and gestures. I on the other hand am suffering from a sibilance issue with the letter "s". Every line I say has one or more "s". Individually lowering the db of each of my "s" would be time consuming, especially the regarding the 13 minute track. I have tried every combination of mic height, body rotation/angle of attack, distance, gain level, inside voice/screaming, with none of them reducing the "s" factor to a tolerable level. I happen to be the only one of us that can rap insane fast. I have a unique nasal sound to my voice which I named the "long nose effect". My lyrics reach the limit of my lungs air capacity. I prefer to speak more than yell, and increasing my voice only serves to use more precious oxygen that I can't afford. I beg for assistance regarding this "s" issue. The perk of using the Dynamic mic is that I can kiss the p-filter and use a more inside voice. Yelling does not suit my presentation, but yelling works for everyone else. I enjoy the cheap dynamic mic because I am able to kiss the p-filter and talk more than yell. For some reason, direct monitor only helps when the mic gain and output knobs are way up to the point of distortion, so the direct monitor feature appears to be useless.

Should the direct monitor button be disabled if it is of no use, or should it be kept on?

My third issue is regarding the recommended -15db level for vocal tracks. I understand that headroom is needed so alterations do not result in clipping. I was told that 0db is bad to record at, yet all of my friends sound great with the audio interface mic gain at 10-o-clock, and the beat track at 0db, with their recorded vocal track at -2db, while they are basically yelling. I do not sound as good as them with the same settings. They move and wave their hands while recording vocals and their sound remains consistent, but when I stay perfectly still, some small parts of my vocals end up noticeably quieter, not to mention the "s" factor. How do I properly achieve a -15db vocal recording? The Master Output level window on Waveform 8 only shows the green to yellow to red bars, and lack ruler like db increments, which I feel it should have. The only areas within Waveform 8 that have db values listed, are the volume plugin windows at the end of each track and the db value control window at the bottom middle of the screen for altering the db level of clips. What hardware knobs/software settings need to be set in order to record at -15db as recommended by the pros?

-Should the volume plugin windows at the end of the beat track be at 0db or lower when recording a vocal?
-Should the volume plugin windows at the end of the recorded vocal track be at 0db or lower when recording a vocal, or should the db level be changed after the vocal recording is finished, or does it even matter when the vocal db is changed?
-Is it the mic gain on the audio interface that I would use to achieve the -15db vocal track recording level?
-Is it a combination of the volume plugin window at the end of the recorded vocal track and the audio interface's mic gain that achieve the -15db?

Thank you for taking the time to help us with our efforts.
Buy a preamp with deeser. That will actually remove all the harsh S sounds from the vocals. And the thing they call bright it actually helps when it comes to nasal voices. The at2020 is great because it is very flat at the top end which makes the mic to not take up so much nasal sounds. I’ve heard the sound of the mic and i actually enjoy the top end for clearity and the quality also found it was detailed and it roll of the extra bass makes the vocal cut better through the mic something i had quite a problem with when it comes to the shure sm7b and that mic also sounding pretty much nasal so that is why i’m going to by a at2020. The tlm 103 is twice as bright and that mic worked very well on my voice because i have a bariton/bas voice. I can go very dark down and i can also go up between bariton and tenor naturally on my highest.
 
I tried all of the physical methods of removing the "s" sibilance, sadly, none of them worked, even with multiple socks and baggies over the mic in various combinations. Pencil did not work. Mic position/orientation/distance variants did not help enough. De-essing using Spitfish did not work the way I hoped as if the "s" sibilance was outside the range of what the de-esser was designed to work with. I now know what an "s" looks like within a waveform and can spot them like a 100 dollar bill. I lowered the s's from -2db to -8db, depending on the severity, and it worked wonders.

Curious,... when lowering an "s" portion of a waveform, should the entire "s" from start to finish be lowered as a whole, or should the middle peaks be lowered to make the "s" portion more flat and even, vs looking like a hill as it was originally?
Shure sm7b is little or clearity because of the extreme bas that is in the mic, it didn’t sound open as at2020 did. I was actually very impressed of what i heard that mic delivered.
 
I reached step 8 using Audacity. I attached an image of my work that includes a red arrow at the bottom left. The arrow is pointing at the -1.0 to 1.0 range window. I do not know what this window is called, or why it only ranges from -1 to 1. Seems to me that it should have a broader range like the top right playback level has so the user can easily see if wave peaks are not above -6db, without the need to play the track and watch the playback/master level. The forum rules stated that this is not the area to ask if someones voice is good or not, so I fear having this thread deleted if I upload the short .mp3 clips of my voice. Would that be ok to do? Thank you so much for the step by step layout. Yourself and everyone else assisting me will get acknowledgement when we become well known.
Wait a minute, bro, do you not have cubase ??
 
Interesting topic. I have had issues like this but with high end cassette recorders that had worn out heads where the bias adjustment was maxed out to compensate
 
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