-
Improving Voice and Speech
Peace to all! I would greatly appreciate your suggestions to improve an actor’s voice and speech. Some common problems are: over-accentuated “S” sounds, inappropriate pitch levels, unpronounced consonants (I know that last one would need ADR, but would today’s technology perhaps offer an easier way?).
Glad and grateful to hear your tips and tricks about those and also about other speech and voice challenges. Thanks so much!
-
6 Replies
-
For “S” sounds, I use a de-esser. I have 5 or 6 different de-essers as they each use different processes to de-ess. I try them all on problem “S”s, as one may be better than the others. As with many plugins, adjusting less is often more.
When dialogue editing, I’ve occasionally fixed consonants by copying one from a different section of dialog and inserting it in another. This doesn’t always work as you need to match intonation and pitch. I have plugins that can adjust pitch and even intonation, but getting in those weeds can be very time-consuming.
-
Hello Robert and thanks for stopping by. John is correct.
I will also add that over-emphasized S sounds could be a speech defect of the performer. My experience is that a visit to a good speech therapist to learn where to place the tip of the tongue other than behind the upper front teeth, on the hard palate should work wonders….with practice. In the end if you have an actor who can’t speak properly. Get another actor.
Regards,Ty Ford
Creative Cow Audio Forum Leader -
Thank you, John! Which plug-ins would you recommend?
-
Thanks, Ty!
-
Here are the DeEssers I use: RDeEsser (Waves), Sibilance (Waves, I think), DeEsser (Pro Tools), RX10 De-Ess (iZotope), Precision DeEsser (Metric Halo). I’ve been using RDeEsser more than the others, but sometimes it doesn’t work as well as another.
-
Thank you very much!
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up