sibilance

M

Mountainmirrors

kaleidoscopic renegade
Is it better to tackle sibilance right away with mic positioning, or do you like to use de-essers or eq? And if so, do you prefer to de-ess or eq per-"S" or over the entire track?
I've not had this problem yet, because my DMP3 only goes up to 10k, but I've got a new pre on the way. Thanks for any insight.
 
Hi Mountain,

Based on recent experience: kill it up front, it can be hell to control afterwards. In my case, early 20es female folk singer. After the fact, got into mixing and found narrow, lethal spike ss around 10-10.5K. This showed up in 'post' much more because I had tracked her without compression originally (see what you get for trying to be 'purist'..:-))
I had to slam her voc track with 10db of very narrow reduction in that range, and I am still not happy with it.
It took out most of the sizzle, but at a cost I didn't particularly like since the orig track was very clean otherwise.
But, a learning experience, as they say; the track still hangs together, so....hope this is of use,

Best,

CC
 
I've found, personally speaking for my own "performance" while singing, that silibance can be controlled by paying attention to how you say an "s" word. In other words, if a singer can consciously think about it without it hampering a performance, silibance can be controlled...orally.
 
Actually for "sibilers" if you are using a large dia mic, set the mic so their nose is directly in front of the capsule, and not their lisps....read joke here... tell them to sing straight forward. If they can't seem to get themselves to do it, place a dead mic in front of their mouth and tell them to sing into it.
Even better use a popper stopper as well. the majority of the problem is that the mic tends to distort in the highs range where the overage occurs. If you notice, unless the person is a real sssss....er it only happens when you mic them. If all else fails eq going in or better yet eq the high end (attenuate) in the side chain of a compressor. I find the nose thing works most of the time though.
Lou
 
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