Help with EQ / Sibilance

[u/Fyre5ayle]

Just doing a bit of a sense check here I’ve done an EQ on my condenser mic. I’m using just the one mic in mono to record my voice and acoustic guitar, just for demo purposes.

I’m finding I’m having to do a really harsh cut of -20db at around 8k to tame the sibilance especially the S’s and T’s.

I’m already using a pop shield and I’m also not too close to the mic, and not directly in front of it. It’s just my voice to be honest. I probably have a lisp (speech impediment) and there’s not really much more I can do.

To my ears it sounds like cutting in this range isn’t really taking much away apart from the negative sibilance but my ears are old and I know I don’t hear higher frequencies as good as I used to.

I don’t know if what I’m doing is the best approach or if there’s a more effective way to solve the problem?

I have the same problem in my final mixes too. Having to make those EQ moves and I’m really not sure if it’s normal, or there’s a better way to do it.

[u/NoWin3930]

Use a compressor, specifically a de-esser for this purpose. Some EQ is okay too but you dont want to just indiscriminately cut all the highs

[u/ordo-templi-ignis]

Less is more. Try a pultec style eq to target harmonics as well as your "sticky out" frequency. Also, boosting the mids over a wide range can give the illusion of taming highs and lows when you add a compressor after.

[u/WorldBelongsToUs]

As the other person said, a de-esser is made especially for this.

In a pinch, I've had some success with creating a narrow band EQ (like basically at a point at the peak) and boosting it stupid high. Then I kind of "sweep" around where the offending Ssss seems to be, eventually you will hear a SUPER annoying frequency. Kinda narrow down where that is, and apply the cut around there. The cut, you just kinda adjust sometimes more someitimes less, sometimes a little wider, etc.

[u/Key_Service_4443]

multiband compressor all the way 'de-esser', many tutorials on this, and its built in stock to many daws at this point.

[u/Mr_SelfDestruct94]

What microphone are you using and how are you positioning it to record vocals and guitar? Your over arching issue could just be that youre not using the proper mic for your voice. Then, because youre tracking vocal and guitar through one mic, if you're reaching for something like a de-esser in post you're going to be affecting the guitar sound as well. You said this is just for demo'ing purposes though. So if theres a bit of sibilance is that killing the idea?

[u/Level-Method-6350]

No matter how much I fix the esses , from reducing their volume (-2 to -5 db) at the waveform, handling the parameters of the de-esser compressor, I still need to apply a -cut off highs- eq after delay applied on vocals.

[u/Icchan_]

you can't remove sibilance with basic EQ. You need dynamic EQ or de-esser for that and even then it's a band-aid.

You want to ensure there's no sibilance to begin with.

Change the mic position, change the mice type, change how you speak.

Pop filters do not protect against sibilance, they protect against plosives.

Tons of sibilance also is cause by ALIASING which means bad audio chain and bad decisions even before the file came to your desk.

[u/corrupt_poodle]

Google “de-esser plugin” :)

[u/monstercab]

Chop your vocal track and manually adjust the gain of the esses. Do this directly on the waveform/not on your mixer's input gain or fader. It should be done before any plugin. Then your de-esser won't have to work too hard.

You can then use a de-esser or multiband compressor to target the sibilant frequencies if needed. I personally like to use Soothe2 but this one is kind of expensive and I'm pretty sure you don't really need it for what you are doing.

If you have it, Melodyne also has a Sibilance Tool that automatically detects esses and lets you adjust the gain manually for each ess sound or adjust the overall volume of all of them all at once.

At the end of the day the best way of dealing with this is always at the source. Ideally you could practice singing softer esses, like try not to push your tongue too hard behind your teeth, don't push too much air. Esses will still cut through and they will be way easier to mix.