Sibilance

[Longchops]

Crumbs, they certainly sexed-up the remastering! Just shows how variable these things are, especially when streaming where it’s not always easy to check the provenance.

Absolutely yes. The only reason they remaster old records is to make them louder so they can release them again. Trouble with making it louder is the background noise also rises, so they then have to try and hide the noise that they have created somehow and this can lead to some interesting decisions. Mastering for streaming platforms is something else as well, don't get me started on that haha

 

[WayneKerr]

Firstly, thank you to all for taking the time to reply, it is much appreciated.

No major revelations unearthed here apart from an understanding and realisation of my own hearing abilities.

I have listened to the track in question intently, and all other tracks from the Carpenters 40/40 album, most tracks on this album manifest sibilance to me. In order to obtain a broad picture of what I’m hearing, I’ve listened on various pieces kit, consisting of: main kit in my lounge via speakers, plus three sets of headphones, same three headphones via PC and external DAC with the same results on each occasion.

I have deliberately chosen Karen and Richard Carpenter as both were perfectionists. Richard was well known as an excellent arranger and producer and would strive for the best reproduction possible. Karen had that wonderful voice and was also was a stickler for a perfect performance.

Karen also had a speech impediment resembling a lisp in her spoken voice which carried over to her singing voice, a very real and potential source of sibilance… I was going to say that if you can’t hear sibilance in the track then your hearing is sub-standard… but it appears we have a wide variety of responses, some hear it more than others, others don’t hear it at all.

Some would say it is mismatched kit, but I don’t believe it is that simple. My guess is that those who can hear it are sensitive to this frequency range, the opposite being true of those who cannot. In my own particular case I believe I’m highly sensitive in this range.

As I’ve said previously, this doesn’t ruin my listening experience whatsoever. Just wanted to discover if others out there were like me.

Would someone like to suggest some cables to tame it?

Thank you for your time and patience again gentlemen

 

[Longchops]

Karen also had a speech impediment resembling a lisp in her spoken voice which carried over to her singing voice, a very real and potential source of sibilance… I was going to say that if you can’t hear sibilance in the track then your hearing is sub-standard…

Don't forget that she also weighed about 5 stone but just because you can't see her anorexia in the photos doesn't mean your eyes are defective. It just means the photographer did his job. A photographers job is to make people look good, a producers job is to make people sound good.....

I don't think it's particularly sibilant myself and I stand by that assertion, I'm listening on monitoring equipment. The producer did a good job considering he wouldn't have had access to the de-essers that we have today. If you want a proper demonstration of sibilance, go and listen to some original masters of early everything but the girl albums, now those are the most sibilant recordings I have ever heard

 

[WayneKerr]

Don't forget that she also weighed about 5 stone but just because you can't see her anorexia in the photos doesn't mean your eyes are defective. It just means the photographer did his job. A photographers job is to make people look good, a producers job is to make people sound good.....

I don't think it's particularly sibilant myself and I stand by that assertion, I'm listening on monitoring equipment. The producer did a good job considering he wouldn't have had access to the de-essers that we have today. If you want a proper demonstration of sibilance, go and listen to some original masters of early everything but the girl albums, now those are the most sibilant recordings I have ever heard

Understood. Maybe our views of what is considered sibilance differ, you seem to have far more technical knowledge than I so I accept and welcome your opinion.

Having listened to some early EBTG tracks, I hear what your are referring to but this is no different to what I'm hearing on the 40/40 album. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about and am confusing what I hear with incorrect terminology.

 

[nopiano]

Understood. Maybe our views of what is considered sibilance differ, you seem to have far more technical knowledge than I so I accept and welcome your opinion.

Having listened to some early EBTG tracks, I hear what your are referring to but this is no different to what I'm hearing on the 40/40 album. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about and am confusing what I hear with incorrect terminology.

I think it is inevitable that on a few albums - even if they are favourites - you might experience sibilance that distracts you. But surely that’s simply because your Fi is Hi?

Any speaker cables that altered the frequency response enough to suppress this would muffle all your decent recordings. Using some type of DSP or even tone controls might be a better route for the few occasions when you need it, but otherwise you’d be throwing the baby out with the bath water.

Sure, if you could audition huge numbers of speaker and amp combos you might find something that balances the problem in a slightly more satisfying way to your ears. But all I can say is that my experience tends to suggest that better kit, chosen carefully, emphasises the music, while any noise, clicks, sibilance and other unwanteds tend to move to the background.

 

[Longchops]

Understood. Maybe our views of what is considered sibilance differ, you seem to have far more technical knowledge than I so I accept and welcome your opinion.

Having listened to some early EBTG tracks, I hear what your are referring to but this is no different to what I'm hearing on the 40/40 album. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about and am confusing what I hear with incorrect terminology.

I haven't listened to the 40/40 album so I can't really compare tbh, evidently there is a lot of audible difference between their different productions so I'll reserve judgement until I've heard the same one you're listening to

I'm talking about the the original EBTG albums, on cassette tape and CD, these will be VERY different to whatever is on a streaming site, just in case thats what you are listening to...... I own both formats because I originally thought the sibilance was a problem with the tape, but it's present on the CD as well and it's particularly nasty. The later records were a lot better produced imo.

That is one example where if there is a remaster available I would probably prefer to own that tbh