sibilents and the NTK

  • Thread starter Thread starter willovercome
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willovercome

willovercome

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when i record other people's vocals into my NTK they sound really good and i don't notice much of an exateragtion in the sibalents. when i go to my own vocals i think they sound really good, but i notice an increase in sibalents. i'm pretty sure it's the microphone that's doing this.

do you know of any mics that might get a similiar sound, but not accentuate the already loud sibilents? i was thinking about maybe a good dynamic mic like the sm7?
 
Different mics have their high end peaks in different places . . .

and different singers have their sibilant ranges in different places, the trouble is that your sibilant range happens to coincide with the high end peak of the NTK.

Best thing you can do is go to your nearest Guitar Center, Sam Ass, or whatever else you have nearby and just try out a bunch of different ones untill find one that works better for your voice.

I did the same a while back -- just pulled out a bunch of different condensers and said stuff like "slithery snakes," "six simple simon, "seven sinbad sailors" kind of thing in to like 8 different mics. The Shure ksm32 seemed to handle sibilances better than any of the other mics I tried that day. Another good one for that was a Groove Tubes G55.

The Shure sm7 is great for that sort of thing, but it's going to sound radically different than the NTK. :D
 
I had an NTK for awhile and had the same problem. I tried out several other mics and ended up with a BLUE dragonfly. It fixed the silibance with a tremendous amount of success.

Brandon
 
Another option is put a little more distance between your mouth and the NTK. I took a tip from Al Schmitt and spread my hand out as wide as I could. That's the distance you need to be from your mic if there are sibilance or peak issues. Roughly 9 inches.
 
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Try putting a pencil in front of the mic. Parallel with the body, up against the grille. it looks weird, but very often, it gets the job done.
 
Hey Willovercome, that's one of the problems I had with my NTK that the GT66 handles well. I just read your other post about the GT you had or maybe still have. My former NTK imparted that boosted high frequency on everything, which made my overall mixes a bit thin and screechy. I'm sure the NTK works well on many voices, but unfortunately it didn't complement mine. As you said, using the NTK as a room and instrument mic shows its versatility. I'm using a small condenser mic (Oktava) for instrument recording, which provides a nice contrast to the thicker, more 'central' sound of the GT66. As I'm learning, creating a 3-dimensional mix requires using different textures which come largely from using a variety of gear...justification for more mics, pres, etc.! Good luck.
 
yeah, i don't have the GT66 anymore, but i would like to pick one up again someday soon...it really is one of the most underrated vocal mics i've used.
 
I have a NTK, and have had no problems with sibalance. the pencil trick I hear works good though. Try singing slightly off axis as well.
 
The pencil trick is to prevent pops. It shouldn't affect sibilance at all.
 
Don't give up on the ntk, i had the same problems at first. Now it is my "go to "mic. The guy that said back off is on the $. While we love to get that close response which is accomplished live by sword swallowing, it is too middy in the studio. set your screen 8" away and singoff axis. crank the pre amp if you must to get the gain back. De ess a bit or compress and it will sweeten up nicely
Works for me
 
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