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Harsh S’s in Voice Track
Every pronounced S in one of my audio voice overs is really intense and painful to listen to – what is the best method for reducing this? I have access to both Adobe Soundbooth and Final Cut Pro Suite.
Thanks in advance,
Evan -
7 Replies
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Hi Evan,
My experience with Adobe SoundBooth has been very good. I will suggest using it for at least the first pass. Be careful not to remove too much of the highs or your talent will end up with a lisp.
Alain Koffi Sessi
Sound Designer -
And next time, get a pop screen filter- this makes life much easier.
Noah
Unlock the secrets of 24p, HD and Final Cut Studio with Call Box Training. Featuring the Panasonic GH2 and Canon 7D.
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A pop screen has no effect on high frequency Ssss sounds. It’s designed to prevent “P” pops and breath blasts from affecting the microphone diaphragm.
Eric
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Well it wouldn’t hurt all the same…
NoahUnlock the secrets of 24p, HD and Final Cut Studio with Call Box Training. Featuring the Panasonic GH2 and Canon 7D.
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True but it’s not a solution to the problem. The problem is the narrators enunciation and speech patterns, both of which can be corrected by a speech therapist or by having the narrator listen to the track and have them work on correcting the issue themselves.
Eric
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Hello Evan and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum.
You said ONE of your voice tracks. If only one of the tracks is a problem, the problem may not be excessive sibilance. There may be a technical reason.
Sibilance is created when we say words with S, C, CH and Z sounds. Some people over emphasize these sounds by unintentional placement of the tongue on the hard palate behind the upper front teeth.
Eric is correct; a pop filter will not be effective here. Although thick foam filters may reduce all high frequencies to some degree, they are designed to be transparent. It’s better to fix the problem at the source. I had a client with this problem and 4-6 visits to a speech therapist solved it.
If the problem is in a recording you can’t redo and the problem is excessive sibilance, you may be able to reduce the problem by using a de-esser plugin. If that doesn’t work you can manually fix each problem by carefully shortening and/or lowering the level of the offending SZZZ sounds.
Zoom in on the waveform. The offending sound will be lower in level, but very dense. split the file to isolate the spot, select the spot and try reducing the gain by 6-8 dB. I have found that up to 12 dB may be required before the problem goes away.
Regards,
Ty Ford
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Great information! It is much appreciated 🙂
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