Ever been in this situation? You've recorded your voice track and there in the midst of the carefully crafted, mellow vocal quality of your talent, is the harsh, cold, artificial sound of “ssssss”.

Excessive sibilance is a common problem in digital audio and it is most often caused by the talent overdoing the “s” or “sh” sounds, using a condenser mic in close proximity, or a poor quality mic preamp that lacks clarity with high-frequency content.

An equalizer could be used to reduce those troublesome highs, but this would affect the entire track and make it sound dull. The best solution is an intelligent equalizer that turns itself on whenever it hears an “s” and stays off at other times.

Enter the “de-esser”. The working principle of most de-essers is somehow similar, though the actual design can vary. Basically, the circuit is a specialized dynamics compressor that tries to detect some sort of “ssss” sounds using a high-pass or band-pass filter tuned to the potential region of 'where it happens'. The next step is to lower the level using a steep band-cut filter. Using such a dedicated processor can mean a dramatic impact on your recordings. If carefully applied, it might be able to turn mediocre sounds into great sounds by giving back a natural and consistent performance.

If your NLE doesn't have a de-esser filter as part of the package, check out one of my favorites, Spitfish, at http://www.digitalfishphones.com/main.php?item=2&subItem=5.

It's easy to use and it's free. Spitfish is available for Windows and OSX as a VST plug-in and comes as part of the Fish Fillets package of processors that also includes Blockfish ( a versatile compressor) and Floorfish (an expander/gate device).

 Glenn Cragwall's background

Glenn Cragwall is Associate Professor of Communication Studies at
Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, TN. He has taught audio and video production at the undergraduate level for the past 22 years in Texas and Tennessee. Additionally, he has served as director of media ministries at churches in New Mexico, Tennessee and Texas as well as producer/director of broadcast and cable programming. He received his B.S. in Radio/TV/Film & Recording Industry Management from Middle Tennessee State University and an M.A. in Communication from Southwestern Seminary. Glenn has been a member of DVPA since its inception in 1998 and has been a speaker/staffer at DVPA events.