I looked through my effects and I do not have a de-esser. I just read that I can do it manually in Studio One Pro but it looks a little intensive. Has anyone one had success with a de-esser? The Waves one looks good but I have no experience at all in this area.

Thanx in advance for your time and suggestions.

Mario,
I find Waves Sibilance more useful than the de-esser module in Nectar.It has some useful presets and more adjustments... still often need to fine tune with volume envelopes though.

Robert

Hi Mario,

You should be able to do the following in Studio One. (It's how I de-ess in Reaper.)

1. use an equaliser on the vocals to find what frequency range covers the ess sound

2. send just those frequencies to a compressor

(This method works really well for my voice.)

The below video show how it is done in Reaper. This might give you some ideas.



Before that, I used the de-esser in iZotope's Nectar and before that I used the free Digital Fishphones, 'SpitFish'.

http://www.digitalfishphones.com/main.php?item=2&subItem=5

Hope this helps,
Noel

I use dynamic microphones Now, Although I used to do the pencil trick when I used a condenser mike.

In Studio One Pro, there is a Preset in the Compressor - under Vocals - called "DeEsser-S1".

You might give that a try.

We have three de-essers but have not used them (Logic Pro, Nectar 2 & Waves).

While not designed specifically for de-essing we’ve found that a pop filter along with specific mic placement prevents the problem. On the other hand perhaps Janice isn’t an esser Dunno.

Bud

Thanx everyone for your help.

Robert, I was looking at that one.

Noel, I just learned how to do that in Studio One Pro prior to viewing your video. The manual process is identical. This is the most time consuming method but looks like the most precise. I don't do a lot of vocals, (surprised?) so I was lacking in some vocal techniques.

Beatmaster, that is a good tip that I just might try.

Floyd, I looked but didn't see it. I shall look again as I'm sure that it is there; my eyes ain't what they used to be!

J&B, I did read an article explaining this technique and I will try it the next time I record a vocal.

Did you look at the Spitfish recommendation from Noel?

I did DL it but I haven't had a chance to work with it yet.

I second Roberts recommendation for the Waves Sibilance plugin (not to be confused with the Waves DeEsser plugin which is different and not nearly as good)

It's very good indeed, I use it all the time here.

Mario...

Here is THE best way that I have found to DeEss a vocal. Since you have Studio One Pro, you will be able to relate to all these instructions...

Expand the vocal in an area where you know there is an Ess (that's what I'll call them - they can be other things - "cht" etc.) Solo the track to listen - easy to hear them that way...

There is always an identifiable wave shape there. It is kind of cigar shaped and it will be very dense (picture 1 - right in the middle).

Cut on either side of that.
Right-click that cut section and select "Decrease Volume".
For a few you might need to do that twice, but generally, once is enough.

This almost ALWAYS works for me. And the result is almost ALWAYS better than using any plugin I've ever tried.

Pictures 2, 3 and 4 show examples that have this done...
Pic2 is an Ess at the beginning of a word.
Pic3 is an Ess at the end of a word.
Pic 4 shows the phrase "the sun". The first blob ("the") is left alone. The 2nd blob is the actual Ess. The third blob is "sun" which was a bit harsh. This part of the vocal now sound just as it should...

I'm with Floyd on this one.
I use exactly the same technique on POP noise as well - words starting with "P" or "B".

Having said that, I always try to get people to sing past the mic from about eight inches away, rather than into it.
It avoids proximity effects and I prefer this to a POP screen. I don't get any appreciable drop in signal and it
avoids a lot of problems.

ROG.

Floyd and Rog, thanx for the information.

Floyd, that technique I viewed on a Studio One Youtube video but I haven't tried it yet.

Rog, I have also used that technique for POP noises but I didn't think to use it on esses. Also thanx for the singing technique. I have a POP filter so with this technique it should lower both issues.

Hi Mario, since you already have a De Esser built into Studio One Pro it is quite easy to use. It can be found in the compressor vocal presets.
In the sidechain section of the compressor select Int. Sidechain Filter and find the frequency of the s' by clicking the listen button and sweeping the frequency. You can narrow this down and also adjust how much to compress the the frequency when it passes its threshold.
I also have IK De Esser which works great as well as Nectar 3.

You can do this in Melodyne as well and works very good. The Blob will not have any waveform that contains the "S" and is rather easy to id. From there you can decrease the amplitude of the Blob. Which is very similar to adjusting the clip gain in Studio One.
There are many ways to deal with them "ess".

Yep, I did find it. The next time I record a vocal I have a lot of options to use. Thanx to all for this important information.

Good idea as I have the Editor version. Using Melodyne I will be able to pitch correct and de-ess in the same window.

Yes sir that is when I deal with the "ess" myself. Melodyne is not just for pitch correction it can work magic on a track if you know how to use it.

Brian, I have used Melodyne to raise or lower note volumes and to lengthen, shorten, and/or change note values. I never thought about using it as a de-esser until you mentioned it.

PS - I never said that I was the brightest crayon in the box

At least you're still in the box. Crayola canceled my color long ago.

having tried to use spitfish i get some reduction in sibilance but to kill the 'esses'properly i've found that the audio edit method suggested above is the most effective

the track i was using as a test is a rough guide vocal so i'll try to record a better track using a more robust pop shield and a change of mic position

rerecorded the track with a better pop shield and the manual edit is still the best way to get rid of sibilance at the beginning and end of words but spitfish is working well for non-editable ssssssss sounds

I can't rerecord the vocal track but the next time I have this issue I am going to manually edit the vocal track.