VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Greengate · Joined: 27 Jun 2012 Posts: 9

Moved to Chat ~Deebs

Hi people!

Not sure if this post belongs in this subforum - apologies if it doesn't - but I wanted to ask: Does anyone here find that they stress their "s" and "t" sounds when trying to enunciate clearly - and what do you do about it?

I *think* I do this - though it's hard to tell based on playing a recording back, because all I have right now is a speakerphone/speaker/mic all in one (it could be exaggerating things, but I really don't know).

Cheers

jsgilbert · Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2012 8:24 pm Post subject:

You can practice and practice and still wind up with sibilance. SOme microphones will pronounce even the slightest bit, such as the Heil PR 40. Certain mic pre's can also cause sibilance to be more pronounced and compressing audio without applying special notches or parameters can also cause sibilance. I'd suggest playing around to get one you seem to sound best on. Of course practicising diction and attempting to curb your sibilance can't hurt, however...

Spitfish is a free de-esser that will work with most pc recording programs. There are a ton of others. free and at all price points. Here's a link to SPitfish.
http://www.digitalfishphones.com/main.php?item=2&subItem=5

For paid de-essers, I find the Sonnox Oxford Supresser Plug-in ($180) to be pretty incredible.
http://mixonline.com/gear/reviews/review-sonnox-oxford-supresser/index.html
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Frank F · Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2012 8:56 pm Post subject:

A bit cheaper tip is the pencil. Yes, a simple pencil, held in between your teeth horizontally for a few minutes (while practicing a short script) will change how your lips form around the sibilant consonant's.

Just do not try this with the pencil being vertical.

Another quick tip from the FREE "Poor Man's Voice Over-ist Instruction Booklet".

Frank F
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Bruce · Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 6:57 am Post subject:

Frank F · Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 2:09 pm Post subject:

But wait! If you act now we will also send you a great big extra large bag of HOT AIR! But don't delay this is a special limited time offer.

F2
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ccpetersen · Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 2:43 pm Post subject:

But, this is an election year, so hot air futures are kinda depressed. There's so much of it, it drives the price down.
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Scott Lyle · Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 6:15 pm Post subject:

Maybe this pencil could come with a certain soon-to-be-released book as a multi-purpose tool; underliner and de-esser.

scott

Note: said pencil would have to be sharpened first before being used to underline any potentially beneficial information in said book. Don't poke your eye out, kid!

Lee Gordon

Monk · Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2012 9:02 am Post subject:

Lee beat me to it.

You may not have a real sibilant voice, but your microphone may have a sibilance problem.

There are a lot of "cheaper" microphones out there, that should "eshy"

and a "speakerphone/speaker/mic" is my first guess of the culprit. Try out a broadcast microphone and tell us what you hear. Either a Shure SM7 or Electrovoice RE-20... Head to Guitar center or a local music store with a good microphone selection and see what differences you can hear.
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Greengate · Joined: 27 Jun 2012 Posts: 9

Hey guys,

Sorry for the EXTREMELY late reply to this thread! I guess "life" just got in the way (along with my last computer dying and needing to be replaced). Just wanted to thank you all for your suggestions.

Mike Harrison · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2014 10:37 am Post subject:

With Lee's comment in mind, do your listening using speakers that provide fairly flat response and ensure there is no EQ being used anywhere in the playback chain.

If there is EQ and/or compression in use in the chain between your mic and computer, they could be exacerbating an issue which, otherwise, may not be nearly as noticeable.

If you are recording that way, try disengaging all the processing before doing another recording and then check the results.
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kkuhlken · Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 11:41 am Post subject:

Lee Gordon · Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 12:27 pm Post subject:

Bruce · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 7:45 am Post subject:

Dayo · Cinquecento Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 544 Location: UK

Seriously though, has anyone actually proved that the pencil trick works on sibilants? Tried it loads of times on different mics, using different methods of fixing etc. I'm starting to think that it's all a big myth....
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