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De-Essers - Squashing Sibilance [Recording Vocals Pt 7]

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De-essers are a great time saver and perform a vital function in the

world of vocals.

You know by now that S's are overly loud at specific frequencies. No

surprise there. It happens all the time in conversation, but when you

put vocals to music, it's especially bad.

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Squashing Suspicious Sibilance

If you want to kill a few hours, you can use volume automation data to

decrease the volume of S's, every time they appear in a vocal track.

This is a time consuming.

Most of us don't have this much time on

our hands, but remember, you can do it.

There are times when it could come in handy. Image © Eric Bégin via Compfight

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De-Essers

As you see, a de-esser is just a very rapid compressor with a narrow

target. There are many choices, but they all function in much the

same way as the process that was just described. The difference is

that it is all in a single unit.

The only antidote to this is to know your de-esser well by fiddling with

it ad nauseam. Then, when you do use it in a mix, listen to the vocals

a few times to hear that it solved all the sibilance issues.

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A few other common issues with de-essing:

- You de-ess too much. If you apply the de-esser to broadly, you'll

end up affecting other syllables.

- Ratio too high. Either of these is pretty obvious, since it creates kind

of a pumpy effect, where the S is too quiet.

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Sweet, Sweet S's

The ultimate goal of de-essing is that it's not noticed at all. The S's fall

in line with the other sounds, and there is no overt evidence of de-

essing.

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De-Essers - Squashing Sibilance [Recording Vocals Pt 7]

http://homerecordinghome.com/de-essers-squashing-sibilance/