“S’ sounds really sharp on a lapel Mic recording.

Audio

“S’ sounds really sharp on a lapel Mic recording.

Posted by Ian Disalvo on January 28, 2014 at 5:09 pm

Hell all,

I was in a time crunch and had to run a lav mic into a recorder and the levels came in really low. After applying gain with in FCP7 the audio sounds fine but the woman’s “S” sounds come in really sharp and have a hiss attached to the words.

Does anyone have an advice on fixing the sharpness or even lessen the harshness with in FCP 7, Soundtrack pro, or Premier.

Thank you all,

Ian

John Fishback replied 12 years, 6 months ago 3 Members · 4 Replies
4 Replies

Ty Ford
January 29, 2014 at 1:46 am

Hello Ian,

What you’re describing is called excessive sibilance. It’s more common in women than men.

It very well could be just the way they speak. What you’re looking for is a de-esser plugin.

I believe FCP 7 has one, but it’s a bit clunky.

Regards,

Ty Ford
Cow Audio Forum Leader

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Ian Disalvo
January 29, 2014 at 3:52 pm

Hello Ty,

Thank you for your insightful reply. With your response I will be able to explore the issue further. I hope all is well.

Cheers,
Ian
Ty Ford
January 29, 2014 at 4:16 pm

Ian,

FCP probably can’t do this elegantly, and it would take a long time if there are many overly sibilant moments, but I have done the following in ProTools.

isolate the overly sibilant sounds on the timeline. Cut on either side of them so the moments are separate files. Reduce the gain by 8dB or so (whatever works, sometimes I have decreased by 12 dB!)

You have to be very careful when choosing edit points, and I’m not sure how well FCP handles the crossover at the edit points. Worth a shot.

Maybe if you exported that part of the video, de-essed it and then flew it back in?

Regards,

Ty Ford
Cow Audio Forum Leader.

Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Ty Ford Blog: Ty Ford’s Blog
John Fishback
January 30, 2014 at 10:22 pm

I believe Soundtrack Pro may have a de-esser. It’s been a while since I used it, but it had much more capability than FCP7. BTW, FCPX has an excellent audio capability. Lots of quality Logic plugs. Also, if you own them, Waves plugs – quite nice for audio.

John

MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz, 16 GB RAM, OS 10.8.4, QT10.1, Kona 3, Dual Cinema 23, ATI Radeon HD 5870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
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