I'm mixing a live session that was a little sloppily recorded (we did the absolute best we could in the timeframe, whatever gear we had lying around and zero budget) and after battling to de-ess the vocals I realised a not-insignificant amount of it is actually coming from the drum mics and guitar mic. We had monitors in the room and the vocal needed to be the level it was, no way around it.
I have been using Fab Filter DS all-round function with split band but can't seem to make much progress. I've definitely improved it a fair bit but just wondering if anyone has any advice or tricks? Last-ditch effort to see if any of you much better engineers have any wisdom otherwise I might just have to live with it and take it for a lesson for next time.
Thanks!
Edit: ahhhh 'Room Mikes' Help pair those Mikes.
Hey, I have an insanely sibilant vocal, lots of very harsh ess sounds and even "saliva" esque noises in the middle of words benning with "n" at times. I usually use logics stock de esser. Wide band, around 5k. I've also tried automating the volume around the problematic parts but to no avail.
Are there any ways around this other than re recording? Thanks!
Hey guys,
I'm trying to de-ess a song in Logic Pro X, and what I've done has helped a bit, but I think the Space Designer reverb I have on the bus is just bringing it out too much. Any tips? For certain super problematic esses I've just gone and manually lowered the volume, but I'm not willing to do that for every ess in the song, ffs.
TIA!
Working on a mix and the de-essing is driving me crazy. I feel like I end up taking the life out of the vocals but the s's still pop out. But maybe it's selective hearing and I'm focusing on them too much and it's not that bad. They didn't really stick out on my monitors, but when I listened on my laptop speakers they really stuck out, and I listened to reference tracks on my laptop speakers that didn't have them as bad. Maybe I just have too many highs in the vox in general? Any tips? I'm using Logic's stock De-Esser for reference.
Here's the mix: https://vocaroo.com/1jEfi7wFBlzK
Any other feedback on the mix welcome!
Is there a huge difference? I was using classic de-essing on the vocal I’m working on has really strong s’s and I thought it was a compressing issue and I had to compress it more to level out the transients but that didn’t work. I then thought maybe I can eq out the resonances in the s and that still didn’t work, also the classic compressor kind of made the f’a sound like v’s and s’s non existent lmao, I switched to spectral and suddenly everything was perfect, just curious what causes this? Is it like replication of analog software vst digital software? Not sure haha
I've looked up creative ways to de ess in Ableton since I don't yet have a plug in, and while all work well, they take more time than I'd like.
Can I not just turn down the gain on all the s's (and any other sibilance) in a vocal?
hi! I've never used edison before, i'm recording an album and i needed to remove some ''S''s from my vocals and i saw a guide on how to do it with edison, i tried and it sounds pretty good, I'm just not sure if its saving? My songs have a bout 30 different vocal tracks and i have to do it manually for each one of them, when i finish editing does it save automatically? Do i have to press something to replace the track? I think i just did it to 2 songs but i'm not sure if it saved, I think i can hear a different but it might be placebo effect haha.
TLDR: When i finish editing a track with edison, does it automatically save and replace the track or do i have to do it manually?
I'm trying to improve my audio quality, and I'm really happy with everything EXCEPT the harshness of the S's...
I've tried using the De-Esser filter in Adobe Premier but it seems to do literally nothing?
Does anyone have any good tips or tricks to help out with this?
I've been going through a variety of youtube videos to learn how to de-ess vocals and I've learned quite a bit, especially in regards to sidechaining. The one issue that I'm running into is that when I set the plug pin connectors to 3/4 and go into parametric modulation/link, I can clearly see that the FX sidechain I created isn't doing anything. Any tips on making sure I have this set up correctly? Obviously I can hear the difference in EQ when I have input 1/2 and output 1/2 but when I add two more and change to output 3/4 nothing is affected and I'm just stuck with the original sounding track.
I'm using the following youtube vids for help:
So I have and have tried eiosis e2 de-esser and Spitfish. I've tried stacking them, alone, pushed really hard, with all the settings I can think of, and my esses always range from either still too loud, or weird sounding. I can't seem to just...turn down the esses. I can just make them different sounding. Sometimes a little better, but god all I want is just basically an 'S' fader.
I tried a multi-band compressor, but it just made it worse, I guess because compression is probably the thing that's exacerbating my problem in the first place. Though i really don't understand why a near-instant attack compressor on the sibilant frequencies won't turn down the esses.
In case you can't tell, I'm not super experienced, but I really don't know what else to try. Everything I search for just has people saying eiosis e2 is magic or spitfish is great, and people saying "thanks", so I feel like something really crazy is going on and I can't figure it out.
Any guidance would be really appreciated.
I realize that it's my stack of other effects causing the problem, but I've gotten the vocals to a place I'm really happy with aside from the esses, so I'd prefer not to dial back the compression or saturation or anything.
Thanks in advance.
I’m really happy with the solos audio quality, but my ess sounds are really bad.
I’ve looked into some de esser tutorials and they’re helping, but I probably need to redo some verses because Of it.
Any help would be appreciated.
In the last mix in which I worked on, I slapped a dynamic eq on the vocal track and felt like trying taming the sibilance with a dynamic notch in the specific frequency where "S's" happen.
The level of control on the Q, the gain range, and the threshold on the EQ made it a very easy process for me, and now I'm questioning myself whether I actually need to go back to using a specific de-esser solution when dynamic EQ processing worked perfectly fine.
Are there fundamental differences between them?
I'm not looking for "use whatever works for you" type of response. I'm genuinely curious if there is anything that would make a de-esser a more preferable approach to tame sibilance.
Hello all,
I am wondering if you can help me with some of my settings to reduce sibilance. Everything else in terms of noise reduction etc. is fine, but the final thing I want to sort out is the harsh ‘s’ and ‘ch’ sounds in my recordings when I talk.
I tried following help forums but the jargon is a bit too much and I don’t understand the steps. I have installed Reaper plugins into OBS, and I’ve tried looking at reacomp, reaxcomp and reafir options but don’t really know what to do with them. I couldn’t find any specific videos about de-essing in OBS.
I would be really grateful if someone could guide me as I’m a total novice at this. Thank you!
I've been tinkering with ReaEQ to improve the sound of a two-person interview.
The main things I'm trying to eliminate are some reverb from the room (brick walls that are only partially softened by furniture) and a hum from my laptop.
I set ReaEQ to 'Band' type, then set a similar pattern to this: https://imgur.com/a/EEsKtt6 - except that I didn't boost any frequencies, and I used a more dramatic drop in the 400hz range (I had to push this further to compensate for the reverb in the room).
Is 'Band' the right type for this kind EQing where I'm trying to correct a couple of different problems? Or should I be using one of the other types like High Pass, All Pass, Band Pass etc? My assumption is that I'd only use those to correct for a specific problem e.g. High Pass if all I had to eliminate was equipment hum.
On a side note, there were also some 'esses' I wanted to reduce in the dialogue. I ran a de-esser plugin which didn't seem to do much, can I use EQ or compression to reduce 'esses'?
Hey, I need some tips on how to de-ess on audacity. Is there a de esser tool built in that I'm missing? Will it sound bad de-essing in post regardless? Is there a plugin I need to install?
Not the kind that’s noticeable in regular conversation, but it’s more pronounced in a high quality recording. How effective is a De-essing tool like the one in RX 7 Standard at fixing a problem like this? Can’t it make it completely unnoticeable, or just slightly tamp it down a bit?
Thanks!
Hello everyone, it’s been a while. My podcast is just about to be released, but I’ve been holding off to make sure the edits are as clean as they can be (of course, while sounding normal). I am in need of a good way to de-ess in reaper. I’ve tried a couple different ways using ReaComp and a plug-in called ReaXComp but I’m not in love with either of those options.
Does anyone have a good technique that they’d be willing to share?
So a lot of discussion around the two new singles on this sub have been over the quality of production of them and the general consenus, from what I've seen, is that a lot of people aren't liking the vocal mixing on these tracks.
I didn't notice it until I was blasting Son of Robot and Midnight Crusade in my car this morning, but the 'essses' and 'fffffs' are uncomfortably loud and ear piercing in these songs. For those who aren't in the know about vocal mixing techniques, there's this little (actually really important) thing called Desibilizing or "de-essing" that is supposed to reduce that and clear up noises that otherwise sound like nails on chalkboard.
I'm sure you can deduce what I'm getting at by now. It seems that whoever mixed/mastered the vocals for these songs kinda ignored that--at least from my perspective. And I think that's what's causing a lot of people to not like this mix. I also think it has something to do with why it's so hard to make out what Jon says. Thoughts?
So the title says it all... I have seen a lot of tutorials on youtube on this. I like to stack a lot of vocal layers, its just part of my style. I know the "ss" sound is usually always the same in volume, no matter how loud you are singing, so to counter this i usually cut a lot of the "SS"es, so if i have 10 vocals tracks only 1 or 2 will actually have the strong S.
I also use de-essing, often more than once and different plugins aswell.
However, when i listen back on some headphones in particular, i get painful SS sounds that pierce through the ear and honestly ruin the whole song.
I lose a lot of reverb and delay aswell.
On tracks that have a lot of SS and T sounds, its just a nightmate to deal with...
Any tips?
Thanks
I found it hard to keep my sanity intact when vocals of my favorite bands has issues with SS sounds, causing massive sibilant noise.
Problematic sibilant SS vocals in songs below as example:
Gorillaz - Hong Kong (01:20) -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1RzxBBAQzA&feature=youtu.be&t=1m15s
The ear piercing part : https://i.imgur.com/pyru3aN.png (from 7k to 12k hz)
Oasis - Wonderwall (01:22) - https://youtu.be/bx1Bh8ZvH84?t=40s
The ear piercing part : https://i.imgur.com/pyru3aN.png (Throwing in back TSOO you)
Here again we see a spike in 7k to 12k hz area, which probably caused by a singer hissing into microphone.
I enjoy DT1990 as it sounds out of the box, without any EQ. So my goal here is to create an EQ that pin-points ss sounds without affecting other bands too much.
I am using Peace EQ to globally apply EQ on output devices. Here are settings:
[Frequencies]
Frequency1=6400
Frequency2=9350
Frequency3=10500
Frequency4=11325
Frequency5=13500
[Gains]
Gain1=1
Gain2=-3.5
Gain3=-4
Gain4=-2
Gain5=2.5
[Qualities]
Quality1=1.41
Quality2=3
Quality3=1.5
Quality4=2
Quality5=1.5
And above EQ result on the graph (https://i.imgur.com/5DgLZ5y.png)
With this EQ applied, DT1990 obviously lose some sparks and details in highs. So I only use it for rock bands, where singers tend to get too intimate with microphone.
Listening to Linking Park, Muse, Oasis, One Republic became much easier with sibilant vocals not disrupting me so much.
Thank you for reading. Hopefully it will help you if you experiencing similar problem with brighter headphones.
As the title says, my processing chain on the vocals is a lot of heavy compression and saturation for stylistic effects (2 compressors and 4-5 saturation plugins) but I notice that there is some extreme de essing happening such that it makes the vocals sound like they have a lisp when i am 100% sure the raw recording sounds normal. I found that turning off two doubling soundtoy alterboys made it better. Keep in mind I have no deessing or drastic eqing happening on the sibilant frequencies.
I also tried putting a de-esser before it to see if it would help those frequencies not be crushed by comressors but it did not help much.
Hi everyone, Can anyone inform me of the original units for de-essing, or the first multi-band compressors? Just curious, and struggling to find info online. Cheers!
So I'm working on a voice over for a small project and my mic produces a strong '"sssss" hiss. In Sony Vegas there is a de-essing plugin but if really doesn't do the job at all. Is there something i'm doing wrong or a way I can make it stronger? Thanks for the help. Sorry if this is in the wrong section and thanks for the help.
I recently produced this song with vocals that had been recorded about a year ago by someone who I've had contact with on soundcloud.
https://soundcloud.com/josh-the-chaser/lone-lost-lovers
His vocals are very full of pops, especially at 1:13 where he says "asleep" and the same thing later in the song. I managed to get rid of the essing for the most part, but I'm looking to just hear some of everyone's preferred filtration methods and whatnot of how they get rid of pops.
Thanks!
-Josh
Hello, I have a pop filter but my "S's" are still harsh. I use Audacity on a Mac so I don't think I can use Spitfish for deessing. Can anyone please give me advice on how to use Audacity to reduce the S hiss? I also use Auphonic.
I'm not an expert on sound editing at all. Thank you!!
What's the best de-essing method for Ableton? I have tried all the best plugins out there, which normally work great for me, but hasn't worked at all this time.
What are the best methods you've found, and in particular, how do I accomplish these in ableton using de-esser plugins?
"
- Pre-triggering the de-esser
This is a really cool technique. It’s a major pain in the ass to set up in analog mixing, but it’s easy in digital. Make a copy of your vocal on a separate track. Move the copy ahead of the main vocal by 50ms. Put a De-Esser, or a multi-band compressor (like Waves C6) — something with an external sidechain — on your main vocal. Key it to the copy.
Through this setup, every time an “s” comes through on the copied signal, it will activate the de-esser on the main signal — but it will do it about 50ms earlier than when the actual “s” from the main signal would occur. This allows the de-esser to reach peak gain reduction BEFORE the “s”. If you set the release for about 100ms, you’ll knock out that “s” sound without leaving any spikes on the leading edge. This is a very transparent way to do this."
Thanks!!
Also, if any engineer is reading, what's a good offer for repairing the sibilance in a vocal track? :) No other mixing needed
Do any of you guys think that you could use a filter for De-Essing? I've never done it before and wanted to know if anyone else has, or if there's some inherent flaw I'm missing.
