De-essing

De-essing removes only the few excessive sibilants; the consonants still have to survive.

Related

De-esserEqualizerVoiceRomantic

The problem

Close miking and a bright microphone lift fricatives between five and eight thousand hertz, and compression makes them jump further. Cutting that whole region with EQ leaves the lyric muffled, the consonants gone, and the voice sounding as if it sits behind cloth.

Goal and judgement

Suppress only the few excessive hits and leave normal consonants intact. Listen through a full verse and mark every piercing moment. If only a few syllables sting, use dynamic control. If every word stings, check microphone distance and gain before adding more de-essing. After processing, consonants must still carry the meaning of the words.

Method

Flatten the worst peaks first with clip gain or volume automation, then let the de-esser do the fine work. In split-band mode, process only five to eight thousand hertz with two to six dB of reduction, a fast attack and a medium release to avoid pumping. Wideband mode pulls vowels down too, so use it briefly and rarely. Check the result on headphones and on a phone.

What to listen for

Hear whether s and sh jump out of the phrase, whether the result turns into a lisp, and whether long notes survive. The three high notes below repeat; notice when the upper edge starts to sting.

Common misconceptions

That de-essing means cutting highs; that every sibilant must disappear; that more reduction is always safer.

Sources

• Bobby Owsinski, The Mixing Engineer's Handbook, vocal sibilance and de-essing — background checked, not quoted
• David Gibson, The Art of Mixing, vocal consonant preservation — background checked, not quoted

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.