The DijonStock Digital Home Recording Support Forum

*** USER REGISTRATION DISABLED! FOR ACCESS TO THE BOARD, MAIL TO registration AT dijonstock DOT com. THANK YOU ***
It is currently Tue Mar 19, 2024 1:55 pm

All times are UTC + 1 hour [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 5 posts ] 
Author Message
PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 4:17 am 
Offline
Website Slayer and Problem Solver
User avatar

Joined: Fri Dec 03, 2004 1:28 am
Posts: 1300
Location: 1/2 Central CA Coast; 1/2 RVing
Machine type: AW1600
I'm trying to get a little more sophisticated in my mixing. On my current "work-in-progress" song, I noticed several excessive "ess" sounds (on words like "miss", "sure", etc.). I knew about the "compressor side-chain" de-essing method, but wondered about other methods. By googling, I came across a very good article in Sound On Sound mag @ http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may09/articles/deessing.htm.

Their alternate method is to move the "ess" sounds from the main vocal track to a secondary vocal track and then reduce the volume of the secondary track. I tried it and it works great! Very easy to do with the AW16G or AW1600 (and probably the other Yammy AWs). Just use the TRACK-VIEW-WAVE screen to find the start and end points of the "ess" sound and transfer them to the EDIT-MOVE Start/Stop/To points. I set the secondary "ess" track to about 6 dB lower volume than the main vocal and it does a very nice job of reducing the sibilance.

Obviously, this technique is easier to implement on a software DAW with the ability to draw "volume envelopes" and decrease the volume of the vocal track in the "ess" areas. I've often wished the AWs had some rudimentary, region oriented volume editing capability, but alas, they don't.

Before finding this method, I tried the "compressor side-chain" method, but didn't have a lot of luck. However, I found that this "secondary track" method appears to work very reliably.

Try it and maybe you'll like it, too. Or, maybe you already knew about it. :)

_________________
Ralph (aka The Head Hog)
"What's Time to a Hog?"
Hog Time Music Website - My Songs on Bandcamp -


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 10:48 am 
Offline
Ranch Hand
User avatar

Joined: Wed Sep 17, 2008 5:39 pm
Posts: 1166
Machine type: AW4416
Nice tip Ralph I`ll give that a try.
I may have one also, something I read about a long time ago and used it ever since, when I`m recording vocals I set the mic up so the capsule is the same height as my forehead, and then tilt it downwards to face my mouth, it seems to take that harshness of the ess etc out, works for me anyway.
The only downside I can think of is as I get older my hair is receding, so my forehead is getting higher and the mic further away. :lol:

Good luck.
T.
www.tmacmusic.com

_________________
https://tmacmusic12.wixsite.com/tmac1

https://tmacmusic12.wixsite.com/tmac

http://www.soundcloud.com/t-mac-12

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmCjAzN ... ture=watch

https://www.reverbnation.com/tmac


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 3:38 pm 
Offline
Robbie The Botkiller
User avatar

Joined: Sat Jun 19, 2004 12:46 pm
Posts: 5610
Location: Netherlands
Favourite food: Ria's cheesecake
Machine type: AW16G
Copy the complete track to a second track. Use the EQ on the copy so you only hear higher frequencies. Then, apply a strong compression to that track and have it turn down the original with it (remember Kevin Source?). That's an automatic de-esser.

_________________

Don't judge the coffee by its cup.
The proof of the cheese is in the eating


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 4:44 am 
Offline
The Reverend
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2006 7:45 am
Posts: 4056
Location: dusty border town
Favourite food: cheddar-lol
Machine type: AW16G
sounds interesting...

_________________
it's funny, the older you get, the older you wanna be


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 10:35 am 
Offline
Robbie The Botkiller
User avatar

Joined: Sat Jun 19, 2004 12:46 pm
Posts: 5610
Location: Netherlands
Favourite food: Ria's cheesecake
Machine type: AW16G
You can also copy the track 2 or 3 times so you have 3 or 4 versions. Give them all a restricted part of the spectrum, for instance

tr1: 0 - 100 hz
tr2: 60 - 300 hz
tr3: 200 - 1000 hz
tr4: 800 - inf hz

As the freqs are not blocked from one hz to the other, but rolling off gradually, they need an overlap. For the exact number you'll have to experiment.

Then, apply heavy compression on track 4. And there's an even better de-esser than the previous as lower frequencies are not touched at all when someone pronounces the sssssss.

You can give the instrument/vocal its own color by applying customized compression on each frequency range. If there's no need for that, two copies are enough: tr1 (0 - 1000 hz), tr2 (800 - inf hz).

_________________

Don't judge the coffee by its cup.
The proof of the cheese is in the eating


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 5 posts ] 

All times are UTC + 1 hour [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
cron
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group