Institutionen för konst, kommunikation och lärandePerceived and Preferred De-Essing of a Simple Recording

When processing a vocal track a commonly used technique is de-essing, the process of attenuating sibilant sounds. This can be done in different ways namely; de-essing with a dedicated device, using automation or using an EQ. The various methods uses different ways to de-ess and this might result in...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Gustav Nordblad
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Subjects:
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.261.2230
http://pure.ltu.se/portal/files/37058126/LTU-EX-2012-37056328.pdf
Description
Summary:When processing a vocal track a commonly used technique is de-essing, the process of attenuating sibilant sounds. This can be done in different ways namely; de-essing with a dedicated device, using automation or using an EQ. The various methods uses different ways to de-ess and this might result in an audible difference in the final product. To investigate if this is the case and if there is a preferred way of de-essing by the inexperienced music listener a listening test was designed and conducted using ARL-STEP software. The stimulis presented by to the listener was a snippet of a simple rendition of a Swedish visa called “Somliga går med trasiga skor ” by Cornelis Vreeswijk recorded at Luleå University of Technology in both a male and a female vocal version. The test showed that there is a perceivable difference between a non-processed recording and a processed one if the singer is female but that there is no preferred de-essing technique. 2 Table of contents