SSSS and Hissing on my mic....

Courtney Lyons · **Voice Talent** Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 11

Hey All,
I'm working hard at improving the quality of my recordings at home. I'm able to avoid poping my p's and I think eliminate most background noise. However my ch, sh and s's sound like I had few too my schmirnoff before recording. Anybody else have this problem or know how to get rid of it?
I've included a peice of an audition I had that really shows the problem.
Sorry if this has been covered already I couldn't find it in any of the older posts!
Thanks for any advice in advance!!!

Amanda Geyer · **Voice Talent** Joined: 27 Jun 2007 Posts: 245

I got a metal pop filter last week? Week before? and dayum, the sibilants were greatly reduced.

James Beery · **Voice Talent** Joined: 08 Jun 2007 Posts: 55

However my ch, sh and s's sound like I had few too my schmirnoff before recording. Anybody else have this problem or know how to get rid of it?
Amanda, See if you can go into your "Clean-up Audio" under "Equalizer" and check if there's away to soften the "s"s. Also, I sort of kind of liked your demo just like it ..is. (But, I'm not hiring VO ..I'm trying to sell!) When you discover somethng, please post. Good Luck! We're all interested in learning..

Michael Murphy · **Voice Talent** Joined: 02 May 2007 Posts: 113

Nice sound Courtney. I am a fairly close neighbor to Windsor. Considering I work in downtown Detroit. I only very slightly hear your Canadian Accent coming through on the file you uploaded.

Mike

David Oxford · **Voice Talent** Joined: 09 Feb 2007 Posts: 505

Courtney Lyons · **Voice Talent** Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 11

Thanks for all your imput guys,
I'm using a MXL007 USB mic, and Cool Edit Pro. In CED there are some settings for hiss filters but they all seem to make the sound distorted and not fix the s's at all. Is there a way to adjust the settings that you record at when your using a usb mic? Would the foamy thing on my mic work the same as a metal pop filter? (I'm so glad I'll be taking some sound engineering classes in the fall!) It is something wrong maybe with the way I speak? Thanks guys for all your imput!
PS Mike, I probably live closer to downtown detroit than most detroiters, I'm right on the detroit river about four blocks from the bridge!

Julie Williams · **Voice Talent** Joined: 12 Jan 2005 Posts: 168

[size=24]Hi Courtney...

I use protools and the de-esser is called "desser."
Not sure what it is in Cool Edit Pro, cos the other program I use is their later version, Adobe Audition, which isn't at intuitive as cool edit pro!

Another thing that helps with fuzzy s sounds is a water spray bottle.
A trick I stole from Pat Fraley... works better than an apple for dry mouth.

Dry mouth is what gives you the clicking sometimes, and for me... fuzzy S sounds. Get a small spray bottle from health food store and put water it it. When you're fuzzy, spray your tongue several times. Works better than actually drinking water. I have one by my mike in my home studio at all times!

Good Luck!

Julie Williams "voice-over chocolate"
www.voice-overs.com julie@voice-overs.com
Sign up for the FREE online magazine, the V-ZINE at www.voice-overs.com and the brand spankin' new VO forum at www.voice-overs.com/forum ![/size]

David Oxford · **Voice Talent** Joined: 09 Feb 2007 Posts: 505

Don Randall · Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007, 01:34 (GMT) Post subject:

Courtney as far as hissing, puffing or popping is concerned - Leave Things Alone!

I did not notice any excessive sibilance or plosives.

Changing things is likely to create problems.

Room noise is always a consideration unless you are in a facility specially designed and constructed to be very, very quiet and acoustically correct.

Your room doesn't sound so bad, I would bet that a decent noise filter, used properly, would do the trick. If you can adjust the depth of your noise filter, I recommend two light passes, the first at around sixty percent. That way you run less risk of creating aritifact noise.

If your filter allows you to use a sample of the offending noise, then record your room (remember, the noise sample must be the offending noise only - no talking, no breathing, no nothing except the room). Open the mic and record a few seconds of room - and I repeat - nothing else.

Now, if your filter allows you to regulate the depth at which it filters, make a first pass at around sixty percent of the reference sample.

Once that has been done, find some noise that has already been filtered and copy a second or so of the already filtered noise. Even if you think you don't hear it, do it anyway. You are probably going to normalize or compress. Any remaining artifacts that you don't hear now may become a problem after any processing you might do - and they will be more difficult to filter effectively at that point.

Next, go back and make another pass, using one hundred percent of the noise that was already filtered at sixty percent.

This technique works well for me with my equipment and my room. You may have to experiment and adjust.

Lance Blair · Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007, 03:48 (GMT) Post subject:

The sibilance is excessive. Your tongue-tip is likely too close to your teeth.

I also hear a computer-based electronic hum. Check your interface.

There is also a handling bump noise - watch for that.

Lastly, your room needs to be treated a bit with acoustic foam, blankets, or something even though it's not horribly reverberant by any means.

good luck.

William Alexander · **Voice Talent** Joined: 02 May 2005 Posts: 4

Claire Dodin · **Voice Talent** Joined: 16 Aug 2005 Posts: 400

Better than any technical trics that may alter your sound, practice is the best way to get rid of Ps, Ssss and sh...
You can learn to speak without making them sound bad through the mic. It takes time, effort, adjustment of the position of the tongue and lips, but it is by far the best way to solve the problem.
I haven't got any particular exercises for this, but I'm sure a vocal coach would know some.
I just kept recording myself with offending sentences until I could make it sound ok. Now I never have the problem anymore, it's become a habit to speak a certain way.
You're not far from it, it's not very offensive, so I think you can do it. Very Happy

your voice is very pleasant by the way, it's worth keeping at it!

Lee Gordon · **Voice Talent** Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 1549

I'm not sure about the other variations of Cool Edit, but in Cool Edit 2000 (with the Noise Reductions Plug-In) the De-Essers can be found by going to the "Transform" menu, selecting "Amplitude," and then "Dynamics Processing."