I personally prefer using De-Essers in the wide-band setting, as the esses are left intact frequency-wise and only reduced in volume instead. Unlike Split-Band De-Essing, a wide-band De-esser will compress (turn down) the whole vocal track whenever a sibilant sound crosses the threshold parameter. This setting will only affect the high frequencies of the sibilance (which the user can determine).īy using this setting you can effectively “dull” the sibilance, and in return cause less irritation to the listener’s ears. By using these parameters you can determine where the problem areas are, and how the plugin reacts to them.ĭe-Essers usually offer two separate ways of reducing sibilance: 1 – Split-Band De-Essing:Ī Split-Band De-Esser is a multi-band compressor which has been optimized for sibilant sounds. Most De-Essers give you the ability to fine-tune which frequencies are being affected. When set correctly, a De-esser will only act upon the harsh and sibilant sounds within a vocal. Offers the best customization and the most options.Ī De-Esser is basically a compressor which is side-chained to the high-mid frequencies. Fabfilter Pro-DS – My personal favorite.Here’s a list of my favorite De-Esser plugins available on the market today: The easiest and most popular method to De-Ess a vocal would be to use a De-Esser plugin. Depending on the severity of the sibilance, if you’re not careful, you might end up over-dulling the vocal in certain cases.ĭon’t worry If a vocal hasn’t been recorded properly, or if the vocalist just happens to be extremely sibilant. Handling sibilance in a mix is relatively easy. Experiment using this technique with and without a pop-filter.Attach the pencil to the grill of the microphone so that it’s facing straight down over the center of the membrane.Find yourself a regular wooden pencil and a rubber band (a hair-band will also do the trick).
SEPARATE TRACK AND VOCALS IN GARAGEBAND 10.1 HOW TO
The Pencil Trick on an AKG c414 How to do the Pencil Trick: This technique uses a pencil to block/reduce the amount of air hitting the diaphragm of the microphone, and in return reduce the high-end harshness in the sibilance.
After doing some research and trying it myself, I must admit that it works surprisingly well! While this trick is primarily aimed at stopping plosives, it can sometimes help reduce sibilance as well. This is a rather unconventional trick that I hadn’t heard about until Eyal Levi mentioned it while discussing this article. Microphone aimed at the singers mouth at a 45 degree angle while the singer aims toward the pop filter. Plus, there’s the added benefit of reducing plosives (bursts of air from P,B sounds). By angling the microphone so that it’s not in a direct line with the singer’s mouth you can reduce the amount of sibilance hitting the microphone directly.
High frequency sounds are very directional. One fist between the mic and the pop filter, and one fist between the singer and the pop filter. ( BONUS TIP: A good way to make sure the singer stays at the correct distance from the microphone is to tell them to sing at around two fists away. In cases like these try a combination of the methods outlined below. The vocalist will often need to be closer than 8 inches on dynamic microphones like an SM7B. Anything closer than this and the sibilance and plosive (bursts of air from P,B sounds) sounds in the vocal will be exaggerated. On condensers, try to keep the distance between the singer’s mouth and the capsule of the microphone at around 8 inches. Don’t place the microphone too close to the singer’s mouth:
Vocalist singing around two fists (8 inches) away from a condenser microphone. The age old recording cliche says “get it right at the source.” I can’t argue with that. One of the best ways to reduce sibilance in your vocal tracks is to capture less sibilance in the first place. Tackling Sibilance in the Recording Stage: I’m going to share some of my favorite de-essing tricks which can be used both during the mixing, and recording stages. “De-Essing” is the process of reducing the level of these sibilant sounds in order to make the vocal sound more pleasant. In other words, they make your mixes hard to listen to. Sibilance is the common name for some of the harsh sounds in the human voice such as “s,t,ch,th”. If not dealt with correctly, these sounds will cut through a mix in a very painful way. Over-sibilance is a problem with most recorded vocal tracks. Death To Sibilance: A Simple Guide To De-essing Vocals – By Thomas Brett
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