A special type of compressor that is tuned to be sensitive to sibilant sounds, or sounds with high frequencies such as the sound produced by the letter “s”, hence the name de-esser. The need for de-essing arises out of a combination of the presence peak many microphones have in their frequency response to accentuate vocal recording combined with close proximity vocal work and possible added high frequency boost from equalizers and tone controls. While these things often make a vocal track have more “air” and high-end clarity, they can also add enough accentuation to certain consonants (especially the “s”) that they become too pronounced. The problem can range from being slightly annoying to being bad enough to cause distortion in the signal path. Many years ago broadcast engineers figured out they could tune compressors to be more sensitive to these frequencies, which in effect produces an automatic volume control that can turn down the audio anytime one of the sibilant sounds occur. In fact, any compressor with a sidechain input can be turned into a de-esser by inserting an EQ and boosting the offending frequencies. Even more flexibility comes from using a multi-band compressor. The de-essing action no longer has to lower the overall signal level. It can just lower the level in the specific range of frequencies specified. Some modern de-essers, however, have very sophisticated circuitry and controls that are optimized for achieving results beyond what would be easy with a simple compressor with an EQ in the sidechain.
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Jul 13, 2016 The 5 Best Free DeEsser De-essing VST Plugins Lisp De-Esser Link: De-ess Link: Mode.
Dustin Ralston (aka Sleepy-Time DSP has released) has released Lisp, a freeware de-esser in VST plugin for Windows.
Lisp (Level-Independent Sibilance Processor) is a free de-essing tool for your digital audio workstation that works regardless of the input level and requires no frequency setting.
Lisp is available for free download via Sleepy-Time DSP(1.45MB download size, 32-bit & 64-bit VST plugin format for Windows).
The plugin was designed to be more efficient than standard sibilance processors, while keeping the CPU hit low. It uses the transient detection algorithm from Sleepy-Time DSP’s Transient plugin to recognize harsh “s” sounds with higher precision.
I loved all Sleepy-Time DSP plugins released so far (they are now available for download in the STR Legacy Bundle) and I’m expecting the same from Lisp. So far, my favorite freeware de-esser has beed SPITFISH by digitalfishphones.
Links
Download Lisp: click here