vocals, vocals, and more vocals!

[sacredhill]

I'm having sibliance problems with my vocal tracks. I have a few decent mics and try to choose accordingly, but short of not compressing the vocals I can't seem to shake the problem. I am not currently in a position to purchase a de-esser. I'm just looking for a few suggestions on how I can eliminate the problems and still have some "air" in my vocal tracks.

 

[noground]

Do you have a compressor with a sidechain?

There's always the old "send the sibilance inflated track through the sidechain" trick

I liked John Lennon's approach too: just wave your hand in front of your face during each sibilant sound. Of course this takes a lot of skill (or have one person wave while one sings)

There are some equilization fixes too, but I'm not as competent at those, so I'll let someone else pick this up...

 

[zuke]

Either use a mic with a high pass dampener or use some clever equing. A deesser is the way forward but if you're on a tight budget then a pop shield for the pops n ticks and some band equing will help a great deal without compromising the transients.

 

[sacredhill]

Could you elaborate a bit more?


What would I be side-chaining to? A separate channel? An EQ? I have a Rane mono parametric EQ. Would that work? If so, what frequencies might you recommend to concentrate on?

I've always tried to keep the signal path uncluttered. Just a mic, the preamp, and the recorder.

I guess I'll just have to start saving up for a de-esser!

 

[TexRoadkill]

What mics are you using? Dynamics are better for avoiding sibilance. Room treatment can make a big difference also.

 

[starch]

Mic placement can do some amazing things to tame sibilance. Try keeping the diaghram of the mic slightly off axis. This forces the sound slightly across the diaghram instead of directly into. Also, if you move the mic above the plane of the mouth of the singer and point it slightly down. This also keeps the vocalist from singing directly into the diaghram. Pull the mic back slightly might help. Another thing you may try is a slight high shelf boost during tracking and then use a narrow bandwidth dip at whatever freq the sibilance is at.

These aren't cures, but I have had some good results using some of these techniques.

 

[sacredhill]

I am using Audio-Technica AT-4033's, Beyer MC-834, Groove Tubes AM-11, Audix CX-111, Audio-Technica AT-3035, and Groove Tubes AM-64. Dynamics may be better at avoiding the problem, but I'd rather sacrifice the sibliance than lose the warmth and clarity of a condenser. My recording environment is acoustically sound, but not perfect. The room is treated with a combination of diffusion and absorbtion panels, with basstraps in the corners.