Sibilant S's

Report · Jan 26, 2009

Hi,

In many of my recent recording, the sibilance is pretty bad and the sssssounds of s's is driving me nuts. I found a de-esser here ( http://digitalfishphones.com/main.php?item=2&subItem=5) and am trying to figure out how to make it work with Captivate.

The installation directions say this:

To install the plugin files, simply locate the folder named '\vstplugins' of your host program and copy the files
right into it. With a lot of host programs, you can create a sub-folder that will be scanned, too.
Mac OS X users should choose the directory ' ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/'.
That's it.
Now (re-)start the host. It will scan the appropriate folder and collect all plugins. When loading is completed,
you should find each of the fish fillets within the list of available 'insert' plugins.

Has anyone ever used a de-esser with Captivate successfully?

Thanks!
Sherry

Report · Jan 26, 2009

> Has anyone ever used a de-esser with Captivate successfully?

Captivate does not utilise plugins at all, so I would not expect this to
work. You need to use the plugin with an appropriate sound editor. Perhaps
it works with, for instance, Audacity.

Steve

--
--
http://twitter.com/Stevehoward999

Adobe Community Expert: eLearning, Mobile and Devices
European eLearning Summit - EeLS
Adobe-sponsored eLearning conference.
http://www.elearningsummit.eu

Report · Jan 26, 2009

Just to add to Steve's excellent suggestion. Adobe SoundBooth which is part of the eLearning Suite does include the ability to deal with sibilance. So you could edit the audio in SoundBooth, then when you save it, the audio files in Captivate should be automatically updated.

Let us know if you encounter any problems.

Best - Mark

Report · Jan 26, 2009

Thanks so much, Steve and Mark. I really appreciate your insights.

I've downloaded the trial version of Soundbooth and Audacity so I can tinker with each. I've also read commentaries on these boards about the pros and cons of each. I'm admittedly just getting started so wanted to ask a couple of very simple questions.

My priorities are to fix about 5 hours worth of existing recordings -- Efficiently (if that's possible), and then to have a good tool to create new voice-overs for my future Captive projects.

Money isn't a factor for me, so if purchasing Soundbooth is better, that's cool.

Is it possible using Audacity to edit the audio that I've already created in Captivate (i.e. export the audio file to Audacity, edit the S's, then reimport into Captivate)?

Or better yet, is it possible using Soundbooth to edit the audio that I've already created in Captivate and not have to do the import/export song and dance?

It sounds like Soundbooth is better integrated into Captivate, but after installing it, I didn't see any new options in my menus or Edit Recordings options. How are the two integrated?

Thanks in advance if you can help with these very basic questions...

Sherry

Report · Jan 26, 2009

The integration of Soundbooth with Captivate is only present if you purchase
the eLearning Suite.

With that integration, you can export a heap of files from Captivate
straight into Sounbooth, batch processs them, then reimport. Check out this
demo

https://admin.adobe.acrobat.com/_a295153/p22143509/

Without the eLearning Suite, you don't have quite such a nice experience,
but you can, largely, achieve the same thing but without the integrated
batch processing. Audacity is a great free tool, but SoundBooth is closer to
a full professional sound processing tool. I find I can get better results
with SoundBooth.

If money really is no object, you should upgrade to the eLearning Suite
(there's upgrade discounts) and go for the more integrated processing.

Steve

--
--
http://twitter.com/Stevehoward999

Adobe Community Expert: eLearning, Mobile and Devices
European eLearning Summit - EeLS
Adobe-sponsored eLearning conference.
http://www.elearningsummit.eu

Report · Jan 28, 2009

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the info on the eLearning Suite. I spent quite a bit of time on RJ Jacquez's blog and listening to his overviews of the new suite. It looks exciting and comprehensive (!) but I think I'd currently take advantage of about 10% of it. It does seems like a great value for people that need this kind of power, and I hope to be one of those in the next year. It's a bummer that Soundbooth won't work with Captivate otherwise. So I guess I'll use Audacity for the next few months and import into Captivate.

One last question.. I didn't see a way to export audio files from Captivate out another program (in order to fix my existing projects). Is that setting hidden somewhere or is it unavailable?

Thanks again,
Sherry

Report · Jan 29, 2009

> It's a bummer
> that Soundbooth won't work with Captivate otherwise.

Actually, I just tested that. I have the CS4 Master Collection installed,
and Captivate 4 - so I don't have the eLearning Suite installed. But the
Soundbooth integration demoed by RJ seems to work as demoed. This may not be
true of you try it with Captivate 3 and/or Soundbooth CS3 though.

> So I guess I'll use
> Audacity for the next few months and import into Captivate.
>
> One last question.. I didn't see a way to export audio files from
> Captivate
> out another program (in order to fix my existing projects). Is that
> setting
> hidden somewhere or is it unavailable?

Locate the sounds in the Library. Right-click and select Export. This will
let you export some or all of your sounds.

You can then reimport them to the library once you've processed them.

Steve

--
--
http://twitter.com/Stevehoward999

Adobe Community Expert: eLearning, Mobile and Devices
European eLearning Summit - EeLS
Adobe-sponsored eLearning conference.
http://www.elearningsummit.eu

Report · Feb 02, 2009

Steve,

Thanks for the input on Captivate 4 and Soundbooth - that's great news! I may upgrade sooner than later now. I also found the export option in Captivate 3.

Kind regards,
Sherry

Report · Feb 18, 2009

I'm back to the task of recording and have installed Soundbooth 4 and exported some files from Captivate 3 to fix up. I don't see a specific option to deal with sibilance. Can anyone point me to the feature or steps that I'd take to address de-ess'ing? I watched a nice clip on cleaning and editing ( http://www.adobe.com/support/soundbooth/?trackingid=DYNQH) but the objective was quite different.

Cheers!
Sherry

quote:

Originally posted by: macrofireball
Just to add to Steve's excellent suggestion. Adobe SoundBooth which is part of the eLearning Suite does include the ability to deal with sibilance. So you could edit the audio in SoundBooth, then when you save it, the audio files in Captivate should be automatically updated.

Let us know if you encounter any problems.

Best - Mark

Report · Feb 19, 2009

Hi Sherry,

In the Effects panel if you click on the Mono Rack Presets menu, you see that there is a voice effect called Voice: De-Esser, select this option. Now, if you want to you could also change the Effect Preset. By default this is set Rack. To apply the effect, click Apply Effect button.

The great thing about SoundBooth is that it stores all the effects you have applied in the History panel, so if you don't like the effect you have applied, you can simply remove it. In short SoundBooth effects are non-destructive.

Best - Mark

Report · Feb 19, 2009

Thanks for the info, Mark! Found it and have already started de-ess'ing...

Sherry

Report · Mar 02, 2009

I just came across this post string and wanted to add a long-term suggestion from a voiceover artist's perspective: sibilance is produced when the tip of the tongue is too close to the inside top of your lower teeth. Barring any particular speech impediment, with time and practice, most people can train themselves to lower the tongue to the base of the lower teeth, and this greatly reduces sibilance. "See, it's not so silly!" is a good practice phrase to use, just as an example. So this is a human adjustment, not a software one. 😉 It's not a quick fix, but in future could make that sibilance filter unnecessary. Of course, having a good mike and an inexpensive or even homemade "pop" filter will also help with overall recording quality. There are inexpensive but good quality mikes out there.

Drew

Report · Mar 04, 2009

Very interesting to learn this. Thanks, Drew... and I guess I'll be practing the phrase... "See, it's not so silly!"