Your Favorite De-essers?

[bflat]

i was riding the slider on the effects bus,applying the de-essing as needed (after 1000 listenings)-is this flawed thinking? Seemed to work

[Audio~Geek]

The Massey De-Esser is by far my favorite. (Pro Tools Only)

[Metal Marc]

The best de-esser is good microphone technique combined with a pop filter. Nothing beats it.

If I had to pick a product, I'd say the Waves De-esser (but I don't use it anymore).

[vincelee65]

I use the waves de-esser.

[sparqee]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

I've used various de-essers and multi-band compressors over the years in an attempt to fix vocal sibilance and I can't say I've ever really been happy with any of them.

Same here. I use Spitfish on BG vocals that are not going to be very prominent but for anything that's going to be in the spotlight I use volume automation to de-ess. I've gotten pretty good at visually recognizing the wave form shapes that represent sibilant sounds. I listen through the track, stop when I hear sibilance I don't want, visually spot the location in the wave form, paste in a 4 point volume automation curve, adjust the curve to match the sibilant portion in the wave form, listen back, adjust if needed. That whole process takes me maybe 10 seconds. If I have a particularly "essy" voice talent it can sometimes mean I spend half an hour de-essing but in the end I'm always happy with the results. I've tried automating a de-esser plugin to minimize the side effects but I'm just never happy with it. <shrug>

p.s. I should point out that I've never tried using a high end hardware de-esser. Just low end hardware and software plugins.

p.p.s. Compressing hard for radio voice over often results in lots of exaggerated sibilance. Pro radio announcers are really an amazing breed as they can sound natural and still avoid bright "S's" and T's".

[parkernf2]

Originally Posted by zildjohn01

I tend to use Spitfish, and if that doesn't work i just build my own with ReaXComp. I guess I'm not that picky though... back when i used cubase the built-in one was fine for me

+1 on Spitfish. I use that sometimes to a very minimal degree. I like how you can monitor what's being subtracted. Handy on vocals, edgy acoustic guitar done with a cheap LDC, and overly brash cymbals. Also sounds good if you have a vocalist that played electric guitar near the mic, and the pick attack is all over the vocal track (especially when you compress). Doesn't sound too bad.

However, my favorite de-esser is the one that's in the Pendulum Audio Quartet. Wish they had a standalone unit, I'd run a stereo mix through them. I guess I'll just have to buy a second Quartet, and use the Opto/De-esser sections on both

[graal]

I have never used an analogue de-esser.
As I am rather new to recording, mixing and so on and so forth, I cannot say that I have a favorite, but the Waves de-esser seemed pretty nice.
I'll try others as soon as I have the chance.
There are other options to de-essing, you know!
*A method that I heard of and people were saying it has good results would be the pencil on the microphone thingy. (look it up) Natural, just like a pop filter is to pops.
*And another one, that I just thought of, would be like "fader riding" the e"S"ses and maybe eq-ing them individually if you have the time and nerves of steel. That might sound natural too if you do it propperly.

Cheers!


PS: Bash my recording!!! LOL

[woody69]

I Like T Racks 3 Pre Set Works For Me

[TravisBean]

Favorite De-Esser?‏ My vocal coach.

[jlr111]

I use the 'Vocals with De-ess' settings in the operations manual of my Avalon 737 with great success. Maybe a little tweak here and there depending on who's yap I'm recording. Then again, this is one kick ass piece of gear.