I have a problem with hissing “sssss” when I record narrations. I have downloaded Spitfish. My question is now what? The interface is a bunch of sliding bars that is not exactly user friendly. Can someone give me some ideas of the settings that are recommended. Also do I use the de-esser with the whole wave form or just zero in the portion with the sinister “s”?
Thanks in advance.
<<<I have a problem with hissing “sssss” when I record narrations>>>
You will find that fixing this in post will feel exactly like you’re tied to a post with somebody hitting you. It would pay handsome dividends to fix this before you create damaged sound files in the first place.
Are you overloading the sound channel? Is your microphone mismatched to the system and it’s creating an emphatic high frequency rise? We’ve discovered some really entertaining sound problems when we started to look for them.
It’s not too late to take up plumbing.
One of the helpers is working on/has worked on a deesser tool.
http://audacityteam.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=4727&p=19406&hilit=deesser#p19406
Koz
Audacity uses the “VST Bridge” to support VST plug-ins. Unfortunately, due to licensing restrictions, the Graphical User Interface (GUI) is not supported. This is why you just have a bunch of sliders instead of a pretty and intuitive GUI.
To use the Spitfish De-esser you may need to find a manual for it, and see if you can match up the names of the sliders, to the controls in the GUI.
I am working on a Nyquist de-esser plug-in. Progress so far is good, and I am hoping to release it for Christmas (subject to having the time to get it finished. If you would like to PM me your e-mail address, I’ll e-mail you when it is available and you can help me test it.
To send a PM (private message), click on the PM button below my name.
A bit about De-Essers:
They are not magic.
Basically, they suppress high frequencies (within a selected frequency band) if they exceed a selected threshold level.
With normal voice recording, there will be fairly high frequencies present throughout the speaking/singing, but sometimes certain high frequencies may be over emphasised. This may be due to a poor recording, or simply because of the persons voice (whistling through false teeth, for an extreme example).
These exaggerated frequencies are most common on “sss” sounds (sibilance), but may also be present on other vocal sounds such as “T” sounds. A de-esser is not able to distinguish whether the sounds come from a “T” or an “sss”, so De-essing may have an unwanted side-effect of also reducing the definition of sounds other than “sss’s”.
As with all “corrective” post-production processing, there is a cost in sound quality, so it is usually best to start with the best, cleanest recording possible, and only try to “correct” the audio as a last resort.
Hi Steve - sent you a PM.