distorting esses

7daze

Hi there, I've recorded a few demo at home and the quality came out fine (based on listening through my headphones and speakers.) I then put a few of the songs on my ipod and listened to them through my car stereo, on a few of the songs the esses, mostly on words starting with the letter S, distorted the cars speakers (which aren't the best) Do you think that I can put this down to the quality of the speakers in the car or do you think I need to go back to the original tracks and put on a deesser (a Sony Acid 7 plugin is what I have) or even rerecord the vocals?
Thanks

PaulBrewer

7daze wrote: »

Hi there, I've recorded a few demo at home and the quality came out fine (based on listening through my headphones and speakers.) I then put a few of the songs on my ipod and listened to them through my car stereo, on a few of the songs the esses, mostly on words starting with the letter S, distorted the cars speakers (which aren't the best) Do you think that I can put this down to the quality of the speakers in the car or do you think I need to go back to the original tracks and put on a deesser (a Sony Acid 7 plugin is what I have) or even rerecord the vocals?
Thanks

It's unlikely it's the car's speakers otherwise it would be an issue on all recordings.

studiorat

That's sibilance. Try a different microphone or try moving the microphone back a little. A de-esser might work, usually they just end up turning the "s's" into "f's".

fitz

I'd try the de-esser and see if it works, but as Rat says, they can make things sound just as bad in a different way. After that, look at re-recording tbh.

Sometimes angling the mic slightly down towards the chest can reduce sibilance. Though, obviously, you don't want to lose everything either, so play around with it.

madtheory

Ya, a re record might be better, if you think you can equal or better the performance.

You've just heard the track from a different perspective. It's like when you type up a letter on your computer, but you only see all the typos when you print it.

A de esser is a bit of a kludge IMO. It's often better to go in and manually attenuate the ess sounds. In PT, the AS gain plugin is the way to go. Even better, cut and paste all the esses to a different track with the same processing as the vocal, and turn the level down, or use eq.

That's what I do with vocalists who are naturally sibilant. It's not possible to position a mic to reduce natural sibilance, but it is possible to position it so that it doesn't exagerate it.

dav nagle

De essers reduce but do not eleminate, they can end up chopping the tail off words if over used.

Be aware of them from now on and re record the vocals again and watch out for any words that contain 'S'. Try to keep them short and sweet and dry instead of hissy and in your face. As already posted move the microphone back and give it another go.

Soundman

What bit rate are they at on your iPod?

Personally I have never thought that the iPod range has a very good reproduction of the higher frequencies anyway. Maybe try putting the original tracks onto a CD and plying them in the car if possible and see what the results are?

7daze

I rendered the MP3's at 128kbs. I'll give the CD a go before I start fiddling with the EQ and desser. Although I think the suggestion about the mic placement might be worth a go since I've been a bit lazy in that regard.

Soundman

Could possibly be the MP3s then. As I suggested, use the original tracks and put them straight onto CD and try it. At least that way you will know and all you have wasted is about 10 minutes and a blank CD rather than however long re-recording and messing with mic placement.

Let us know how you get on.

madtheory

Use Apple Lossless on the iPod, not mp3, if you want to test mixes properly.