Originally Posted By: R & AM
Hi Sundance,
And yes you are right about the somewhat "muddy" sound of the vocals. I already stated in another post, that I tend to have some sharp s's in my vocals. Putting too many high frequencies in the vocal will enhance those.
We use a de-esser, but that doesn't completely solve the problem.

Any additional tips on this are very welcome.


I like the song. It has an old country rock feel to it. I love that LA Hard Rock style....I use it on quite a few of my country songs....

OK... the way I handle sibilants on the "S" sounds if they are a problem.

You want to have the track sufficiently bright so that the listener can hear the words clearly, but at the same time avoid the distortion in the high end that comes from very hot "S" sounds.

My solution is accomplished in a DAW. Real Band is a DAW so if that's all you have , find out and learn how to do this in Real Band....I have Sonar so I'm referencing the functionality of it.

After recording the track, and pitch fixing the track with melodyne, I then write down the "other" problems I hear such as doubles that don't line up or end out of sync or SIBILANCE. I write down where they are located so I can find them easily.

OK...I go to the location and set my NOW marker right before the event. I then zoom in to a comfortable point where I can see where the sibilant part of the wave is located. I select or highlight the track and move it to the top of the track view. I drag the mouse over the sibilant part on the time line and that section of the track darkens to indicate it's highlighted. Now, I double check to see that ONLY the sibilant part is highlighted. I choose Process Audio Gain -2db and APPLY it. I click play and listen. If it's still too sibilant, I simply APPLY the gain reduction again since the part is still selected. I will repeat this as many times as I determine to be needed to reduce the sibilance to where it sounds like a normal "S" in the phrase.

All a sibilant is, is an "S" that was recorded too hot. Unless the mic was overloaded, and often, it wasn't, gain reduction on that tiny section will work wonders and save the track. That allows you to apply a normal EQ that keeps the brightness and "air" in the track and doesn't fry the tweeters.

NOTE: to add, this can also be accomplished very often using volume envelopes. I use the process audio with gain reduction because to insert the envelope to control that, you need 4 nodes inserted manually in a very limited and tiny area, it's just easier for me to drag and highlight the tiny section.

hope that helps you solve the sibilant problem.

BTW: this same method also works to reduce or eliminate breath noises, clicks and pops, and string squeaks on acoustic guitars. If you listen carefully on the last song by me, in the acoustic guitar solo, you can barely hear the squeaks. those started life pretty loud....

Last edited by Guitarhacker; 06/01/14 04:14 PM.
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