MOTUnation.com

Been a DP user for a long time, but I'm more of a musician than an 'engineer' lol.

Working on editing some vocal tracks, and I'd like to automate the volume on the vocal's 'esses'. Saw a great video from Dave Pensado and he very quickly selected the 'ess' portion of the soundbite (in Pro Tools however), and then just dragged the volume down. I'll post the video- it occurs early in the video (first thing he does to the track). Can this operation be done in DP? I am still on DP7. Unfortunately, I don't even know how to articulate in words what the operation would be called, which makes it hard to search for an answer. Here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQQyEvj7zzA

Set the Reshape tool to _flat_ and draw with that.

Even better than this (I need to do a tutorial on this it seems), is instead of volume automation, automate an EQ band in the 3-10k range (depends upon the voice). The result is a lot smoother and more transparent. You get rid of the harshness of the "Esss" without really sounding like you just dropped the volume. After all, the only thing you're after is a really loud burst in a specific frequency range... leave the rest alone. Just setup a single band EQ, play it back a few times until you have a desired frequency and dB cut, then automate the dB just as you would main volume.

Hello,
I use different methods depending on how the "esses" are being formed by the singer and/or mic & electronics slew rate. First and foremost, pick the right mic................
1. If just the vocalist is causing it, I use one of two methods; one is to separate the soundbite at the beginning of the word then just adjust a fade in to taste. This works for plosives too. Second is adjust the automation at the specific "esses" I have a problem with. Although, if there are a lot of them I can spend quite a bit of time (read money) fixing them this way. Not so bad if I have to automate the breaths too and no one cares about the cost.

2. If the "esses" are made worse by mic or preamp distortion or electronic slew rate then I tend to use automated EQ / de-essing and/or side chain compression because the problem will exist on more than just "esses." It might require using a smattering of different methodologies to correct the vocal. Pitch correction does weird stuff to theses type of problems too so they compound the problems. Distortion and slew rate esses are not necessarily louder that the body of the word so de-essing plugins may not work very well, then I'm back to editing fades etc.

In the analog world I like to use a CAD Polyframe's de-expander. A time based effect that allows me to tailor leading edge transients ( like pops, esses and acc guitar finger poings & squeeks).

Don T

Before all that, check your compressor setting on your vocal. Easing off of it a bit might do the trick. There's also a ton of de-esser plugs you can drop in before your compressor that might get rid of the sibilance without affecting the rest of your track.

Be careful of the compression plug you use, if any. The MW Leveler and MW Compressor both tend to accentuate existing sibilance. I often have to make a countermove when employing them.

Armageddon wrote:Before all that, check your compressor setting on your vocal. Easing off of it a bit might do the trick. There's also a ton of de-esser plugs you can drop in before your compressor that might get rid of the sibilance without affecting the rest of your track.

One of many reasons I never track with compression. I prefer to track without any effects when I can.

Dan Worley wrote:Set the Reshape tool to _flat_ and draw with that.

Hey Dan, ( or anyone else! )

I'm struggling with the reshape tool. Trying to use it in the bite volume layer in sequence editor. Sometimes when I drag it, it works as I expect it to, changing only the section I dragged by inserting the 4 break points needed.
Other times however, it will only insert 2 break points, and will ramp to the previous point, creating a long duration volume change.
I've tried it with reshape set to flat line as well as straight line.
I can't seem to make rhyme or reason as to what causes that, or if I'm just doing something wrong. It seems very random. Help!!

thanks
Carlos

DP8.07 /Mac Dual Quad Core Xeon/ OS 10.8.5/ 10 GB ram

Here's an easier way. Select "essss", Split with CMD Y, Lower bite gain in Event Info Bar. Crossfade, done.

kurtl wrote:Select "essss", Split with CMD Y

That's how I do it. I'm addicted to CMD-Y.

Anyone tried the included dynamic EQ for this?

I'm not up-and-running yet, but I'd assumed it might be my first port of call when the time comes...

monkey man wrote:Anyone tried the included dynamic EQ for this?

I'm not up-and-running yet, but I'd assumed it might be my first port of call when the time comes...

1. Cut the Ess out as a new sound bite.
2. Reduce sound bite gain
3. Cross fade

An automated plug may seem like the obvious solution but this manual option will give you better and more predictable/adjustable results and not affect any other parts of the track.

Agreed. Hard to argue with that, Adrian.

I was just curious as to how the new-fangled MOTU offering stacked up as a realtime process (next-best option); it's not always practical to edit each "s", after all.

The INCLUDED DE-ESSER in DP8! It works! Better than the dynamic EQ or any other side-chained method! More than controllable enough to forget trying manual work!

monkey man wrote:Agreed. Hard to argue with that, Adrian.

I was just curious as to how the new-fangled MOTU offering stacked up as a realtime process (next-best option); it's not always practical to edit each "s", after all.

For me the cut, drop and fade is the best option.

If the lyric was "Super star simian, swings through the trees, in star spangled suspenders, simply done with ease" I might have to modify my approach.

I have found the dynamic eq fantastic on acoustic gtr's to isolate particular notes and raise or lower them.
Cheers, Bolla.