ss-sound on Vocals

[MusicBernd]

Hi everyone!

I have recently finished the rythm tracks of a new song and startet to record the vocals.

I'm not an expert, but my equipment is: a condenser mic (has to switches for low-pass and cardiographic and circle) going into a Tascam US-144 device and then into my computer.

Strange thing is that while listening via the USB-Interface with headphones and also via my computer sound system there's absolutely no problem and it sounds good. However when I upload the MP3 on my ipod and listen to it, I get these absolutely terrible sss-sounds on the vocals.

Some questions that come to my mind:

1) How would you setup the mic for vocals? Cardiographic or the "circle"?
2) How would you sing into the mic? Directly from the "top" or from the side?

Can it be an effect (like overused reverb) that causes this symptoms on certain audio systems?

Thanks a lot in advance!

Bernd

 

[89gtsleeper]

OK, many pieces of advice here. First of all, "cardiographic and circle", is an awesome way to refer to this... thank you for making my day brighter.

Ok, first off. Cardioid means that it mainly just picks up sound from where the mic is pointing. It might pickup just a little sound from the sides and behind, but mainly just from the front. The "circle" is actually called omni. Omni means that it picks up sound pretty evenly from all directions, front, sides, behind, top bottom, you name it.

A pop filter might help you to reduce the hiss a little bit, if you're not using one already. Always use a pop filter when recording vocals directly into a condensor mic. It is an absolute must.

It could be reverb causing this, but it could also be the mic, or your EQing of the track. Try lowering some EQ between 2kHz and 6kHz. To find out if there is a more narrow high frequency causing the problem, do this. Put a huge EQ boost at 2kHZ, like maybe +12db or +18db. Change the "Q" so that it is a very narrow frequency band being raised. Now while playign back the vocal track, slowly move the frequency of the EQ boost up from 2kHZ all the way to around 10kHz. At some point, the sss sound should really sound harsh and jump out at you. You have successfully found the bad frequency. Now cut the frequency, and it should help considerably.

Also, read up on a de-esser (That was the obvious first answer btw, but I wanted to share some other options with you first). That is why the tool was designed.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Strange thing is that while listening via the USB-Interface with headphones and also via my computer sound system there's absolutely no problem and it sounds good. However when I upload the MP3 on my ipod and listen to it, I get these absolutely terrible sss-sounds on the vocals

The question I'd ask here is what happens if you play the WAV file (before you convert it to MP3) through your mePod earbuds? Is the sibilance still there? If the answer is...

YES: You might very well have a weak high frequency response on your computer speakers causing you to over-hype the high end to get it to sound good there - or it may already be over-hyped at the mic, and you just can't hear it on your computer speakers to make the proper adjustments.

NO: Check into your MP3 encoder/encoding process; it may be artifacting your high end badly.

How would you sing into the mic? Directly from the "top" or from the side?

I'm not sure what you mean by "top", but if it's cardioid condenser, most likely it's a "side-address" setup, meaning the front of the capsule is tangential to the axis of the mic body and not facing out the "top" of the mic body barrel. Typically one sings straight on into the capsule, meaning into the front *side* of the mic and not the top of the mic (though one can be off-axis a bit for head/throat comfort if the mic is set up a bit high or low in relation to the singer.)

G.

 

[Grafolicious]

Yeah when you save it as .wav or .mp3 or other such, it compresses ur music so it also brings up the sibilance too.

Download SpitFish, works wonders - it's almost sexy.