Mic Position for Less Ess

[rayc]

I had a conversation, via email, with a British producer I know of and I brought up the topic of recording vocals and ess problems.
His #1 suggestion was to aim the mic at the tip of the nose.
This fits in with a few variations I've read/heard that aim to capture a less direct and therefor less percussive vocal.
Any thoughts?

 

[Seafroggys]

Similar to advice I was told long ago. Have the singer's mouth aimed below the diaphragm.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

Better mic technique is more effective than mic placement. If you want less sibilance then ask the singer to perform accordingly.

I've noticed that people trained for stage acting tend to emphasize consonants. What's right on stage without amplification is wrong when using a mic.

 

[lchable]

Different people tend to tackle this differently...

Some people say in a particularly troublesome siblant singer, aim slightly across the mic rather than directly at it.
Others may just use their first choice of fancy de-esser. I've used both tactics, and i can highly recommend as a recording de-esser - the Eoisis De-esser.

Good luck!

 

[HoldenHarris]

One thing I've seen some engineers do is sing in to the side of the mic. It makes the signal less direct and cuts back on the sibilance.

 

[EricIndecisive]

Rode makes it easy, just sing at the gold dot

 

[Bobbsy]

Okay, here's an "oldie but goodie" trick for de-essing your recordings.

Us a couple of rubber bands to mount a pencil on the front of your mic, directly in line with the centre of the capsule. Blocking the centre of said capsule seems to really reduce "ess" problems.

(I was told about this by some fairly good engineers for a few years but never tried it because it sounded like a wind up. Then I tried it. It works!)

 

[brassplyer]

Okay, here's an "oldie but goodie" trick for de-essing your recordings.

Us a couple of rubber bands to mount a pencil on the front of your mic, directly in line with the centre of the capsule. Blocking the centre of said capsule seems to really reduce "ess" problems.

(I was told about this by some fairly good engineers for a few years but never tried it because it sounded like a wind up. Then I tried it. It works!)

Sounds like something you could experiment with and try various shapes and sizes of objects.