MAutoVolume emphasizes Sibilance

[GrabtharsHammer]

I am currently looking for a good gain riding plugin for vocals, so far really like the MAutoVolume demo and am thinking of buying it. However, I have a problem with the plugin that I could not solve so far. While it detects too loud syllables really well and reduces their gain it unfortunately detects sibilants as too quiet passages and unwantedly increases their gain. My de-esser is already completely overstrained...

I fiddled with all the settings but couldn't really find a solution. I would be grateful for any tips! Thank you!

[MeldaProduction]

Well, I'd suggest putting the deesser after it and use Detector / Lowpass. It won't respond that well to loud syllables anymore, so it won't deess really , but it should fix ignore the esses in general after that.

[GrabtharsHammer]

Hm, tried that. I've set the low pass to 6000 Hz to let the detector ignore the higher frequencies. Unfortunately the quieter syllables with sibilants are still getting emphasized. The difference I hear - and see on the graph - between low pass on and off is very, very little. No matter how low or high I set the low pass, the esses are still amplified by the plugin.

[GrabtharsHammer]

Ha, I finally found the solution! I've set the noise level just a tad below the sibilant syllables so that the plugin is only ducking the louder syllables and not increasing the gain of anything else. Result: A wonderfully even vocal track. Perfect!

Great plugin - finally bought it

[alexis1]

Ha, I finally found the solution! I've set the noise level just a tad below the sibilant syllables so that the plugin is only ducking the louder syllables and not increasing the gain of anything else. Result: A wonderfully even vocal track. Perfect!

Great plugin - finally bought it

Can I ask how you set the noise level please?

[GrabtharsHammer]

In the main plugin window the noise level is set to -40 dB by default. I slowly increased the setting until the plugin doesn't add gain to any part of the vocal track anymore. It now only reduces the gain of the loud syllables. You will have to keep the noise gate within the plugin deactivated, otherwise it will unwantedly mute some parts, because of the higher noise level setting.

[pumafred]

Interesting! Will try, thanks.

[alexis1]

Yes, very interesting, thx!

When the noise floor is at default -40 dB ... I wonder how MAutoVolume chooses a target loudness - where the original audio is made louder if it is below the target loudness, and it is attenuated if it is above the target loudness.

That target isn't directly entered, iirc. How do the users "choose" it?

[GrabtharsHammer]

You can bring your signal closer to the target level (which is preset, I guess) by increasing/decreasing the input level within the plugin.

I must admit that the GUI and functionality of the plugin is not very intuitive... but once you get your head around it, MAutoVolume works really well.

[MeldaProduction]