De-esser
A de-esser that finds the S's for you
Sharp S's poke out of a vocal at different pitches all the time. Hush listens for them and turns down only the sibilance, moment by moment, so the voice stays bright and clear.
How to de-ess a vocal
- Put the de-esser after your EQ and compressor: compression brings S's up, so tame them last.
- Start from a de-ess preset (in Hush: De-Ess Soft for most vocals, De-Ess Hard for very sharp ones).
- Loop a line with lots of S, T and SH sounds and turn Depth up until the S's sound clearly too dull.
- Back off until they sound natural. Press Delta to hear only what's removed: if you hear words, not just hiss, it's too much.
- Bypass and compare at the same loudness. The vocal should sound smoother, not darker.
Watch it explained: How to de-ess vocals: tame sharp S sounds
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What you get with Hush
- 39 presets for vocals, drums, instruments, mix bus and master
- Live spectrum with exactly what Hush takes away, hanging from the top
- Depth, Sharpness and Selectivity to shape how it reacts
- Soft mode for transparent smoothing, Hard mode for stubborn resonances
- Drag Low and High cut, and add up to four bands, right in the picture to choose where it listens
- Delta: hear only what Hush removes
- Left/Right or Mid/Side, with Link and Balance
- Mix for parallel processing, Trim for fair comparisons
- Exact delay reported to your DAW, and a seamless bypass
Questions
What frequency are S sounds?
Usually between 5 and 9 kHz, higher for female voices and lower for male ones. They move with every word, which is why a de-esser that follows them works better than a fixed EQ cut.
De-esser or resonance suppressor?
A classic de-esser turns down one band when it gets loud. A resonance suppressor like Hush looks across the spectrum and turns down whatever sticks out, so it catches S's at any pitch without dulling the rest. With a de-ess preset it works as a very smooth de-esser.
Should I de-ess before or after compression?
After. A compressor squeezes the loud vowels and lets S's come up, so de-essing last catches what the compressor made worse. On very sharp vocals, a light de-ess before the compressor helps too.
How do I know if I de-essed too much?
The singer starts to lisp: 'sss' turns into 'th'. Use Delta to listen to what's removed and back off until it's only hiss.
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