In under a minute we had isolated problem frequencies with the sidechain and set the threshold so that only the problem sibilance was being compressed. Tweaking the parameters is incredibly easy as you can see the impact your settings are having on the signal in the waveform view and use the sidechain EQ meter to see where the most energy is to focus the de-esser’s behaviour on a specific frequency band. The plug-in has a ‘Single Vocal’ setting with intelligent sibilance-detection algorithms and we could hear the Pro-DS accurately pulling out sibilant sounds even before we started fine-tuning the settings.

We find that this leads to a certain amount of chasing your own tail as changes to the de-esser later impact the compressor. We usually place a de-esser after any vocal processing such as EQ or compression, but before reverb sends, though we know some engineers who prefer to place it earlier in the chain but don’t set the parameters until after the later processes have been set. Sibilant sounds – not only Ss, but also Ts and Ds – can become quite prominent in a mix as compression, analogue saturation effects and reverbs are added to the vocal. The most common use for a de-esser is on a single mono vocal channel. This is married to a user interface that aims to make setting up the de-esser as simple as possible, with a waveform view showing you when the de-essing is kicking in and a sidechain input meter that highlights prominent frequencies, enabling you to dial in the right settings. Here is a de-esser with a comprehensive set of features including mid-side processing – useful for de-essing during mastering as well as for high-frequency processing of non-sibilant sounds such as splashy cymbals or piercing guitars. Manufacturer: FabFilter Price: £124 Contact: Web: However, we have to admit that when we first read about FabFilter’s Pro-DS we couldn’t wait to get our hands on it. Those who do will usually have only one that they know well enough and that works, whether this is the one that comes with their DAW or a third-party plug-in. In fact, from our experience, many engineers don’t know how, when or where to use a de-esser. Engineers don’t usually get excited over a new de-esser like they would a new compressor or EQ, and we’ve never been privy to a pub conversation about the relative merits of different de-essers over a pint mid-session.

De-essing isn’t one of the sexier areas of mixing.

Fabfilter one sucks