Llorean is likely right, as sibilance is a common low-bitrate artifact.
That said, sibilance is typically found between 3k and 7k hertz, so that is where you would want to target an EQ notch attempt.
That said2 3-7k is also smack in the middle of human sensitivity, so any EQing in that range of enough magnitude to reduce sibilance will also likely color the sound of music to a noticeable, and unpleasant, degree.
If you are lucky you have a narrow harsh resonance in your current headphones and a single peaking band of the EQ (do not use the shelf filter! ("cut narrow, boost wide" is the ancient rule-of-thumb)) can be found to cancel it out. Here is how I would attack the problem:
1 - Create a test track which contains nothing but really nasty sibilance.
2 - Play it in a repeating loop.
3 - Create a custom EQ setting with a gain of -9 (or so) dB, q factor of 24 and center frequency of 3k.
4 - Listen to your test track, and slowly move the center frequency up to 7k or so. Maybe as high as 10k, but I bet lower.
5 - Once you find the most effective frequency for cutting the annoying sound play with more or less cut (gain) and a wider (lower q) or narrower (higher q) curve, trying to find the optimum balance between artifact removal and negative consequences on the other audio.
Topic: Reducing treble? (Read 5199 times)
