Mic Position to AVOID Sibilance

I always put it slightly above the singers mouth maybe 4", and then angle the mic down ever so slightly and that usually fixes it.

Hey thanks !

I've been off forums / internet and locked in my recording dungeon trying to actually finish some music for once . The internet can be a time consuming black hole ...forums....looking at pictures of Koala Bears .....before you know it hours have gone by....

Even the raw vocal track has the issue . I'm always too close to the mic , blasting air into it . 

I've spent hours always trying to fix sibilance , its time I learn how to avoid it at the source . 

Go off axis a bit , there is no magic distance it's singer and mic dependent, this is why I find myself suggesting large dynamics over condensers for DIY!

Well, I'm not sure, I'm not recording you

I'll usually set the mic up that way, have a listen and tell the singer to move forward or back until it sounds right. I think the best possible thing you could do is record yourself at about 5 different positions and whichever sounds the absolute best, mark it with tape and roll on. 

In general the more radical the sibilance issue the further off axis you can have to come. Top down, as has been suggested, is a great start for most singers, provided the singer has a pop shield to sing *at*. Many mic techniques rely on the singer not trying to snuggle up to the mic like a concert.

Ribbons and dynamics can help by rolling of some top - you can put it back in on a needs basis. A dynamic EQ plugin like Vladg's Nova67 will help if it's really bad - but I think you know yourself to leave off any processing until you have the issue remedied as best as possible.

Doh...another instance of "I should've read the thread before I posted..."

ditto on fab filter pro... out of all the de essers I have used... its really great

cheers

Wiz

Condensor mic's distort usually <8K, a lot of what folks think is bothersome is really distortion caused by the capsules resonance. Like a lot of folks are saying, ribbons and dynamics don't have so much of this problem, ribbons more so. The issue is that condenser's give you a very open and detailed sound pretty easily, but this is one trade off. Now, capsules can be designed to minimize that resonant distortion which then makes the esses sound natural. A desser really can take the life out of a vocal IMO. If you can get a great capsule that doesn't distort that resonance quite so bad your sound will be much larger and open.

If you think about it, if someone is speaking next to your ear normally you're not bothered by the sibilance of their voice, in fact, if they were very close to your ear the lower and mid frequencies would probably bother you more. When you speak across a condenser mic or off axis you're simply putting a band aid over the fact it's distorting those frequencies. Again, if someone were standing next to you and speaking near your ear, which would you hear more definition and power in? On axis or off? The first step in all of this is to have the capsule in your microphone tuned to remove those esses and compliment your voice. After that, then finding the sweet spot of your vocal is what I'd do next. Now, that's the ideal way to go about it, if you can't afford to have your capsule tuned then skip to step two and then save your money and have it done. It will literally sound as if you're singing right next to someone's ear and the amount of compression and eq you use will dramatically decrease. This is the fix, the other ways are just work arounds.

I tried what jeromemason suggested and put the mic about 4 inches up and pointed down towards my nose . It definitely helped a lot . But I think the main problem is the mic . Its a "Made in Latvian" Blue Bottle . Its kinda dark but the damn sibilance , it has an annoying sibilance issue . It was still kinda there even with the different mic positions .

I then tried my other condenser , a Shure KSM32 into a VP312 . Much better . The sibilance is a different frequency and lower pitched and doesn't sound annoying .

So what do you guys think about the KSM32 on vocals ? So far I think it sounds good , not spectacular , but solid and the sibilance doesn't seem to be an issue at all .

Hung overhead with the capsule angled away will reduce sibilance. Be about 6-12" from the microphone at least.

Or, opposite pointing up, but angle, angle the capsule away (25º to 45º).

the 'under' position works best when also trying to contain (or eliminate) 'nasaliness' from a singer.

So I recorded a new song and used my Shure KSM32 , positioned the mic like what was suggested about 4-5 inches up , pointing down towards my nose .

It definitely was less sibilant , but I STILL had to battle the sibilance at mix down . I had to use 2 Dessers , one at around 6K , the other around 5K and also automate the volume of the track around -2-3dbs for each sibilant area .

Maybe my voice is naturally much more sibilant than normal Maybe I need to use a dynamic mic I don't know .

You can hear the new track here , Did I tame the sibilance enough ?


EDIT:removed link

Same, that's not a valid URL for sharing.

It seems, on an aside, that Dropbox has has removed the play in browser option. Lame.