Hissy recording with female voice? SD 302 + Avantone CK1 + Marantz 661

[swaneon]

In this video

https://vimeo.com/63989252

 

The female voice has a hissy quality that annoys me and destroys the audio. Is there any way to remove that through software or should I record the sound differently?

 

I have an avantone ck1 plugged into a SD 302 and have a marantz 661 record.

 

Thank you very much

[Tom Visser]

Most of that's probably mic placement.

[swaneon]

Really? 

I have the mic extremely close in both of those shots--albeit pointed up though

[Jon Gilbert]

I'm with Tom.

 

Extremely close isn't always good, experiment a bit, move it further away or slightly off axis.

[Eric Toline]

The female voice is not hissy, she has a high frequency peak in her speech on "S" sounds. It will always be there. Best you can do is to minimize it by doing what others have suggested. FWIW, I don't find it objectionable. 

 

 

Eric

[atheisticmystic]

The female voice is not hissy, she has a high frequency peak in her speech on "S" sounds. It will always be there. Best you can do is to minimize it by doing what others have suggested. FWIW, I don't find it objectionable. 

 

 

Eric

 

I agree with Eric, as far as hyper-sibilance goes, this is quite mild.

 

Try cutting 2-3dB at around 7K with a very narrow Q.

 

Best

[al mcguire]

avantone ck1

http://www.avantonepro.com/Avantone-CK-1-Small-Capsule-FET-Pencil-Microphone.html

"The high quality FET circuitry will yield pleasing professional results comparable to much more expensive designs. Any studio can proudly offer the CK-1 for instrumental and percussion mikingIt exudes class visually as well as sonically. The CK-1 is equally at home on the stage for drum overheads, acoustic instruments and piano."

Specifications

Type

True Condenser

Polar Pattern(s)

Cardioid , Hyper-Cardioid & Omni Capsules included

Frequency Response

25-20,000 Hz +/- 3dB

Output Impedance

<=200 Ohms

Maximum SPL

138dB (0.5% THD @1000Hz)

Sensitivity

15mv/pa

S/N Ratio

1Pa 78dB

Noise Floor

< 17 dBA

Output Connector

Male XLR 3-pin

Included Accessories

-3 Capsules

-Padded Wooden Box

-SSM Shockmount

High-Pass Switch

80 Hz 6dB/octave

Attenuation Switch

-10 dB

Power Requirements

Standard 48 Volt Phantom / 5mA

Dimensions

(23mm) x (153mm)

Weight

5 oz.

Finish

Polished Nickel trim / Metallic Cabernet Red Body

$149 everywhere

[Ray Collins]

So I'm guessing I should not sell my Schoeps to buy one of these? ;-)

[Eric Toline]

Truth be told the mic does not sound bad at all although I would prefer a Merlot red color.

 

 

Eric

[Rick Reineke]

"The female voice has a hissy quality that annoys me and destroys the audio"

- By "hissy", do you mean sibilance or the BG noise floor?

- I concur with Eric, it does not sound all that bad to me. A lot depends on ones playback speakers (and D/A converter) if they're not at least somewhat accurate, you don't know what your heariong. Computer speakers for instance are notorious for a  'hissy' sound

[al mcguire]

" Any studio can proudly offer the CK-1 for instrumental and percussion mikingIt exudes class visually as well as sonically. The CK-1 is equally at home on the stage for drum overheads, acoustic instruments and piano."

what sounds good for drum overheads,acoustic instruments and piano might not best flatter the human voice, be it male or female

[swaneon]

I heard that the avantone was good but now I'll probably look for other mics--schoeps or sennheisher 

 

by hissy I mean the sibilance---her peaks when she pronounces her "S" seems very sharp--

 

from what others mentioned is that naturally with some people's voice or is that a technical issue?

[al mcguire]

if the talent already has a sibilant voice a mic with a high frequency boost will add more to what you already have too much of

[pscottm]

could also be a bad acoustic 'perfect storm', an ess-y speaker w a combing reflection coming off that polished wooden surface.  (and a peaky mic)  

[swaneon]

ah I see---im using my retina to listen, I'll take a look outside.

[ChrisH]

Booming from underneath often gives you more sibilance, boom from above and out in front of her so you point more at the chest and still capture the voice but are "shooting through" the sibilance.

[Marc Wielage]

I would also say that background hiss is a combination of matching the characteristics of the microphone and the preamp, plus it depends on the mic's own self-noise issues. To me, you can't expect a lot from a $150 Chinese-made microphone. (I know of some older low-output American and European dynamic mics that weren't exactly quiet, too.)

 

Try a lower-noise condensor mic like the Sennheiser MKH40 (sensitivity of 25mv, noise level of 12dB), and you'll hear a big difference. If this is for music vocals in a booth (vs. production), then I'd consider getting advice over on the Gearslutz Forum, which has literally thousands of discussions on vocal mics for music recording.