de essing

[abechap024]

+1 automation. Unless you're trying to make an "Automatic Mixing Machine" (thats what I like to call it at least) where no matter what you throw at it, as long as its the same program material, same band for example, different songs but same sound, same tracking day. it comes out mixed. (no automation)

 

[evilcat]

no one here bothers to just use automation to control sibilance?  simple 1-4db dips in the track right on the "ssss" in the wave form for however long the performer sang it.    That's what I learned to do.  Takes like an hour or so, but it sounds better than most plugins in the end.

That's exactly what I do!!! I have very few plug ins, as I like to do everything in an "old school way" (analog console, outboard gear, and I only use Protools as a recording medium), so the 2 De-Esser that I have suck (Waves and Digidesign). Even the De-Esser on my Millenia SST1 doesn't sound good to me : very hard to set up and still suck the high end... SO YES, VOLUME AUTOMATION, BABY!!! It takes 20min a track and THIS sound transparent!

 

[ruiner]

Just get a good mic or a pendulum audio de esser in 500 series format

 

[helterbelter]

ITB ?
I like the UAD precision de esser alot, but I don't place the vocals as hard in a mix as a popmusic mixer would do....
By the way, this plugin also works great as an electronic cymbal tamer tool. But you'll need a UAD card for this plug.

 

[emrr]

In hardware, the DBX 902 is still really good, and really cheap. The 900 racks on on the verge of give-away platforms too. 

 

[evilcat]

ITB ?
I like the UAD precision de esser alot, but I don't place the vocals as hard in a mix as a popmusic mixer would do....
By the way, this plugin also works great as an electronic cymbal tamer tool. But you'll need a UAD card for this plug.

ITB ? I'd say MASSEY plug in, every body talks about it.

 

[evilcat]

I've just download the demo version of the massey de-esser and made a quick test : it is a good one. And the demo is endless !!! You have to try it 

 

[chaellus]

no one here bothers to just use automation to control sibilance?  simple 1-4db dips in the track right on the "ssss" in the wave form for however long the performer sang it.    That's what I learned to do.  Takes like an hour or so, but it sounds better than most plugins in the end.

I do but i also use eq to dip by automating a corrective eq plug in at certain parts or a sidechain on a hardware comp or just a plain deeser or multiband. Ive tried my hand at all and it depends on the situation on what i choose.

 

[chaellus]

In the analog days I used the Valley People Dyno-mites (the tan half rack stereo units)
For de-essing, Ducking F.M.limiting, 18 other finctions.
In the digital world I'll just lower or redraw the offending ES's until they sound natural. Same with breaths.
It doesn't effect the whole track.

he Winetree are you from Rancho Cucamonga? thats cool....its my hometown.

 

[Spino]

Automation is good and it works like a charm with 15-20 min of editing, but it's not always possible to do it. I've got 3 examples where it's not usable.

The first one is if you don't have a single vocal track: I've been recording live acoustic music and specifically asked not to mic every single musician, that means you end up, hopefully, with a decent stereo track that you can't just automate. There goes your deesser or even your MS multiband.

The second example is the guy I used to work for 15 years ago used to deess the reverbs of the voices, and with very good results too. He used 902s for that.

And lastly, when you have plugins with massive amount of delay (UAD for example), in PT you end up having your volume automation way off your wave overview, so that automating becomes more of an annoyance. That is, if you deess post plugins, which is what I usually do.

As for using deesser for not only deessing, that's cool, I've used it on harsh sounding slapped bass lines, or on fingers-moving-on-strings sound on acoustic guitars an such, very useful.

 

[fazer]

In Protools HD , if you have time use clip gain.  Its got a great range of gain and pinpoint accuracy because its tied to the clip, not a plug in automation.  Its very powerful.  you draw a curve very fast as you go along.

For extreme Dess I like to use this plug In : its a FFT limiter.  Has a lot of uses besides Dess.  forces a Freq Curve regardless of the input.  You can capture a freq curve from a section of the vocal and then force it on all sections. It also comes with presets.  watch the demo.   

http://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/plugins/detail/dynamic_spectrum_mapper_v2.html

Also I use McDSP Dess.  You can dial it in easily.  usually just 2 to 4 db up at 5k and above.

If you have Clip gain use it. Great!

 

[salomonander]

hey
try the fabfilter one. its a gamechanger.

 

[L´Andratté]

Here´s something I learned about on this forum: XQP, they sell modules, but put schematics online.
There´s an optical deesser, that does look easy to build...
http://www.xqpaudio.com/531.html
I cannot vouch for it´s sound though, as I don´t know it-

 

[SSLtech]

he Winetree are you from Rancho Cucamonga? thats cool....its my hometown.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/44e455c873/warren-the-ape-rancho-scene

 

[salomonander]

fabfilter changed everything i knew about de-essing. nothing else compares in my opinion.

 

[Whoops]

I use a combination of different approaches:

1)  Volume Automation

2) Aplying EQ just to the Esses with a drop in volume using an audiosuite plugin straight to the waveform, I cut a hole around 6 to 7 khz, or other frequency depending on the material and drop plugin output volume by 2 to 5 dbs. I will do that from start to end of the vocal waveform. I will not apply the same cut and drop to all the Esses, I adjust as needed.
You could do the same thing by automating the EQ plugin instead of using audiosuite.

3) Using Massey De-esser plugin, it's the best  De-esser I've heard, hardware de-essers included.
Brainworks bx_dynEQ V2 is really good also.

Although really time consuming, I still prefer to de-ess manually using a combination of step 1 and 2, it's a process I call the "Chinese De-Esser"