Vocal Harshness - How can I avoid this?

[Sonixx]

Thanks for all the advice people. Sonixx, it would be great to hear it, especially if you could tell me how you did it. Is it possible to post? Thanks

I've posted three clips:

Your Original

Airy

Smooth

The Airy and Smooth are similar but the Airy has a touch more high end

There's no EQ used, only a WAVES C4 Mulitband compressor followed by RCOMP.

Here's the settings:

Smooth
C4
Band 1
Threshold: -36.8
Gain: 3
Range: -13.5
Attk: 4
Rel: 40.27

Band 2
Threshold: -27.9
Gain: 3
Range: -13.5
Attk: 43.35
Rel: 333.4

Band 3
Threshold: -40
Gain: 6.6
Range: -14.1
Attk: 44.26
Rel: 315.48

Band 4
Threshold: -45.3
Gain: 9
Range: -15
Attk: .5
Rel: 5

Airy
C4
Band 1
Threshold: -36.8
Gain: 3
Range: -13.5
Attk: 4
Rel: 40.27

Band 2
Threshold: -27.9
Gain: 3
Range: -13.5
Attk: 43.35
Rel: 333.4

Band 3
Threshold: -40
Gain: 6.6
Range: -14.1
Attk: 44.26
Rel: 315.48

Band 4
Threshold: -45.3
Gain: 9.5
Range: -8.8
Attk: .5
Rel: 5

Crossovers:
Low: 103
Mid: 1139
Hi: 9722
Q: .75

RCOMP
Threash: -32.9
Ratio: 1.08
Attk: 5
Release: 300
Gain: 2

RCOMP is common to both Airy and Smooth

Keep in mind this is tinkering... just moving the C4 Crossovers a tad makes a big difference and so does changing the C4 Threshold

The differences between Smooth and Airy are fairly suttle.

 

[Richard Monroe]

All this tech-talk is giving me a headache! Part of the problem is perception here, I think. That midrange boost (hype) that you call "harshness" is beloved by some people, who think that it is "clarity", and you can get that effect even from some rather expensive mics, including Neumann U87ai and B.L.U.E. Kiwi. Oddly enough, the 2 mics I own that never seem to do that are Oktava MK319 and Oktava ML-52. It has been suggested that the room is a factor, and I tend to agree with that.-Richie