The easiest vocal de-essing trick?
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- Опубликовано: 20 авг 2024
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There are some wonderful de-essing plugins available, but I have noticed over the years that often the best way of de-essing is to go in there and clip gain, or gain down, or volume automate down all of the esses. Frankly, all we really want to do when we are de-essing is turn it down! So this is a straightforward, old school technique that does that super quickly, without the need for fancy plugins!
To start, we are going to duplicate the vocal, and then remove all of the plugins from the duplicated track. On the track I demonstrated this trick on, the most abrasive esses were at about 5.5K. So I took an EQ, when in at about 5.5K, made the EQ really tight, and then gained it up.
Then, I can also high pass it all the way up to that point, so there is nothing below 5.5K, and then do the opposite and low pass it right up to that point as well. What we are doing there is highlighting that area. Next, I took the duplicated vocal and sent it to a dead output. Then take a compressor (any compressor you have will work!) and apply it to that point, and then I turned the attack and release to the fastest time. This will simply turn down the point where the esses are at the loudest.
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What are your favorite de-essing tricks?
Great tips! As Kevin says, Melodyne 5 should make de-essing very simple as it now detects the s, t’s etc and breath noises and all can be turned down in bulk. It’s also handy for tuning! 😊 However, it’s a not budget solution. But then again nor is Soothe...
Singing across the mic instead of into it.
At the end of a phrase, I have split the track and then shortened the length of the 'SSSSSS', and faded it out to zero so it doesn't suddenly cut out. Then I used automation to reduce the gain on any sibilance mid phrase. It does mean having to magnify the waveform in the Track View, to narrow down the exact moments for precision. It works well, if you have the patience. Sometimes de-essing sounds artificial, if the accompanying music doesn't mask it, as the vocals cut out suddenly, making an abrupt end to the phrase. If the rest of the music hides this artefacts in the mix, this method is probably overkill.
My usual trick is what you do at the start of the video: 2 instances of Waves De-Esser; one for the lower range, and one for the higher range, and when all else fails, I go in and clip-gain. Now I'm inclined to try this classic method out, although I think I'll just use a pre-fader send instead of multing audio tracks...
Finding the right mic for the vocalist. For me,it's usually a tube mic that emulates the U-47 sound that doesn't boost the high end.Some us still record "OLD SCHOOL" analog.
I've done this and also shifted the sidechain track forward in time, say -5ms or so. It gives you a bit of lookahead so you can slow the attack and release for a smoother sound.
👍
Was looking for this comment. That's exactly what I do too... xD
Great idea. Does it always require an actual audio stem or can you do it with just a “send” from the vocal? I haven’t been able to get it to work that way, but it would be helpful for live application
Absolutely! This forward shift also helps with harsh transient consonants T, K and whatnot.
@@reacherstudio You could only shift the live vocal backwards ie. delay it...
Who disliked this? I have amazing de-essers AND Melodyne 5 but I still find myself loving alternative methods (including manual automation) but this trick is marvelous
Haha who knows? Thanks ever so much for your great comment my friend!
I want names, of anyone who dislikes
I use a free multiband compressor, find the Sssss frequency, create a narrow band over it, set threshold and ratio to taste. Done. Great video, keep up the good work!
That only compresses a specific frequency whereas the technique in the video compresses everything. I’m not sure which technique is better.
@@cary3428 not true, the 5k boosted signal is the side chain that brings down the overall signal. since the attack and release are so quick it's bringing down the volume for when the signal is coming thru that 5k filter.
@@trevorellis-guice5794 on the other hand there is only the vocal ss on the specific track at this moment, so that seems to me the "overall" signal at the point of time / compression. Contrary to usage on a bus, where you would be correct.
This was honestly one of the best mixing tricks ever. Thank you Warren!
The beauty of this trick is the possibility to process multiple tracks at once. Thank you so much!
Absolutely Jürgen!
Sound Engineer here. Still learning. Best tutorial ever....thank you so very much....
Wow! Thanks ever so much my friend
I love tips like this! You listen to recordings from the 1960s and the sibilance is under control. Clearly de-essing is possible without an expensive plugin. And here's a simple way it can be done. Thank you!
I think the '60s recordings were not as bright as today's recordings especially the vocals so sibilance was not that big an issue.
the top "de-essing fix" in the 60s was probably just to tell the vocalist to back up a few steps...nowadays it's common to have the vocalist eat the mic to squeeze every bit of "presence" out, but ends up exaggerating the sibilance
While I do use de-essers fairly often, I didn't know such a thing existed when I first started so I figured out I needed to manually lower all the esses early on and it has been my preferred method ever since.
The problem is that I record and mix a lot of hip-hop and the amount of words in a rap song make manually lowering them a long painstaking process, so I'm always looking for shortcuts. Thanks.
I can't ever get de-essers to work ... I keep thinking I'm just stupid. 😂
This is what's great about the latest Melodyne 5 update. It identifies the "harshness" and you can turn them all down. Such a time saver!
Fantastic!
You can duplicate the channel with all the inserts and add a gate with the polarity reversed and adjusted so that it only opens when sss sounds and then it will null with the other track, so with the volume fader of the duplicated track you can adjust the amount of deessing
Mindblowing, when you realize you can extend this trick to control similar problems!
i.e. The bowing high frequencies of a solo violin 😱😱😱
yo! Thanks for that heads up!
With all these tips and tricks we learn from this channel there's no reason we shouldn't be good mixers in no time! thanks Warren!
Been searching HIGH and LOW for something to help me out with de-essing! This is the trick here! I felt like none of the de-esser plugins were working. Thanks.
Yes! I used to use three different de-Essers haha
@@Producelikeapro I believe it! I was on #5😂...so thanks again.
I feel like an idiot for not thinking of this already! It was just too simple. This info could have saved me a lot of time and some money too. Marvelous content as always! Thank you for sharing your years of experience and wisdom with us! Never underestimate the value of these very simple tips. Many of us that are new to the world of music production may overlook these types of things. I tend to overthink and overcomplicate things and end up with 25 different plugins on each track. A video about how you are able to simplify things and only use what’s really needed to enhance the song would be ever so helpful! Thanks again you are my favorite RUclips content creator and teacher!
I hate the way most de-essers sound on my voice. I've always been wondering how Bob Clearmountain did that, so I appreciate this video! I read about it on a online forum but couldn't figure it out. I just started manually lowering the gain as Gregory Scott from Kush posted about it, and I found it works out really well. I'm going to try this as well. You should have Gregory Scott on sometime as a guest, I just recently discovered his channel and it is very helpful. I just joined the Academy, and already am happy to find the online community is so positive compared to most trolls on the internet.
Thanks ever so much! Really glad you are enjoying the Academy! Amazing having you in there!
I suggest recording just the SSS SHSH and see what frequencies they are, given the equipment used. Learn it, set it and then use these settings further on. The consonants dnt have a pitch so it will stay the same thru tha same signal chain
How did you knowThat he was doing anything special
pretty surgical listening
Reaper's ReaComp allows to compress a particular frequency or band, and it's a free plugin. And ReaComp requires very little CPU resources, while using a duplicated track for sidechain de-essing doubles CPU and RAM usage.
I certainly need to check that out
Yea Reacomp allows you to do all this without the complicated routing, as it has a sidechain filter with high and low passes built in to the plugin.
Same story with Studio One's stock compressor
and actually, there's sidechain built into Pro Tools stock compressor as well
I click on these things for the info but then I'm always floored by the quality of the music/artists being used for the production tips... amazing stuff ... This is the kind of music that should be all over the charts in my view.
I saw Thorn's video the other day and thought, "Wait...what's he doing there?" Now I know! Thanks for the great explanation!
Thanks Brandon! You Rock!
Recently I’ve been doing volume automation for DeEssing and it’s working well.
Takes away the harshness of the sss and the also the hard hitting T’s
Also helps to clean up some of the breaths if they’re a bit too loud for me
Love how you teach and not monkey see monkey do. Struggling to wrap my head round this. The clearer I get vocal the harsher the ss feel this is the last part of vocal processing I need to master
Thanks! I would suggest gaining down, manually, the esses.
@@Producelikeapro the task sounds daunting as its for rap vocals while recoding live. to find every ss in a 3 minute track would take too long. i have deessing softwre just dont know how to use them yet gaining down seems simple seeing you do it on your daw not same.with fl studio tho
De-essing first, separately or manually is a good idea. Sibilance doesn't change much in overall volume so it's good to tackle is immediately
I was sucked in when Warren said "this is an old skool technique" get in ! love old skool ! ;)
Haha thanks ever so much
I love this kind of simple but effective tricks. I'm finding this good as an all around "de-harsher"
Another great example of how just having tools available will not make us masters; but only knowledge and experience will. Thank you for sharing, Warren! Cheers from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Wow...since I'm just workin on a track with exactly those problems, this video didn't just come at the ryt time, it is also a simplifier, rescuer, life saver...blessing. Thank you...thank you...thaaank you!
GUYS! You’ve just re-invented the ACTUAL de-esser! 😄
In the analog world where these devices were created, this is precisely how they work. Pretty straightforward really.
When there are few outboard gizmos that even exist at all, you find yourself doing a lot of experimenting.
Back in the early 80’s when I finally discovered side-chaining, my friends and I tried side-chaining anything and everything we could solder an input to!
👍😎👍
Modern de Essers are frequency specific. So typically people use two to three (or something like Oeksound Soothe 2) to tame multiple frequencies. This just turns down the entire Ess. It’s the most basic and best sounding way of doing it for guys like Bob Clearmountain
I usually set double de-essing in my chain, pre-EQ and post EQ/compressor. It maintains the natural sound of the vocal.
Hi Warren. I’ve enjoyed many of your videos. And I have learned much from you. But after struggling with some sibilants on an original track I’m finishing production on, I saw this video. And I gotta say, this is one of the best practical approaches to controlling sibilance that I’ve seen. Period. Thanks for this and all you do for the community! Cheers 🙂
Most progressive day of my life. My ears and and mental state thanks you. Thx thx thx.
I agree. Broadband de-essing sounds better than just turning down specific frequencies. Over using the latter ends up making the vocalist sound like they have a lisp.
This worked better than waves desser, nectar desser etc etc Thankyou for the knowledge
Fantastic! Glad to be able to help
Lately, I find myself processing it with melodyne more since it's a much more flexible way to get in on the specific phrases instead of using a traditional de esser
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing!
Yes, the new Melodyne 5 is absolutely amzing with this new feature. It kinda makes all other de-essing techniques obsolete when it comes to recorded vocals.
This is the best video about this technique if you are using other DAWs than Logic and you have the Waves plugins. I have been searching for a way to de ess my vox since the year 2000. Always the same problem with the deessing plugins, lipsi or harsh final result. The Waves De Esser and RDe esser are not too bad, but yet. I find out about this way of de essing from the Mix and Master tutorial of Audiopedia, but the compresor ussed there was a stock plugin of Logic with integrated EQ. Was looking a way to use it at my Cubase. I saw 5 6 other videos. Not good. But this one here was simple and working. And what's more intresting, this way of de essing is the way used by professionals even when the analogue expensive gear was used to mix. Thank you!
This is literally what a de-esser is in it’s most basic form. The issue with many de-essers are that they are usually very set in their Qs or are shelf filters. This amazing trick allows you to cheaply create a de-esser that you have complete control of.
I have actually switched from traditional de-essers to dynamic EQs/comps like a C4. The standard de-essers just aren’t as flexible as I’d like.
Also i thought you were gonna suggest doing something with phase again. Also i think a bunch of compressors have a frequency key. I feel like so many people want a de-esser but don’t realize they already have the tools to accomplish that goal to solve the issue in their mix.
Your videos and community are such a help to the audio community! Thank you Warren!
Yep. I wondered what great new 'trick' Warren would pull out of his bag. Then he demonstrated how to make a de-esser...just like we've done for decades. These young'uns with their fancy plugins, they don't know they're born! Harrumph!!
@@randszzob8590 yes! Haha As I said this is a very common tool for many of us that have been working for years! However, there are many expensive Plug Ins that people buy when they could just use the free plug ins they already own!
This is great! De-essing was one of the last aspects of mixing for me to feel confident about. The best trick I've had for this is very, very similar: I use a multiband compressor on the vocal chain instead of a de-esser, and do the same but all on the multiband plugin - narrow the the band to the offending frequency and compress it only when it goes over the set threshold. Really looking forward to trying this one out now, though!
TBProAudio DSEQ2 is my go-to now for de-essing and taming any harsh resonances. It's amazing.
I always do this with my vocal tracks:
1. duplicate the vocal track and insert a hard de-ess on the new duplicate
2. take this duplicate track out of the mix, only use it to send the de-essed vocal to the reverb bus
sometimes this is enough and the original vocal can remain intact
You'll never stop learning, this would had help in my mix of Patiently but I´ll sure use it on my next mix. Thanks👍🤠
I absolutely love that you always have a summary in the description. I get to trying these tricks myself much faster.
What a time saver and very simple trick. Going through a vocal track and trimming the esses can be so time consuming. Thanks again Warren!
Makes all the difference. Oldie but a goodie.
Yes! Hugely simple and used by pretty much every major mixer!
Terrific - in so many areas of computing, the construction of a GUI (graphical user interface) to make a bolt-on control panel that looks pretty just ends up costing $$ and consuming precious CPU resources, and yet does not do anything more than we already have tools for. Job done, and done well. What a great workflow - thank you so much :-)
There is an urban legend that the pleats in a chef's hat represent the number of ways they know how to prepare an egg.
We could do something similar for sound engineers, representing the number of side compression tricks they know.
I think if we know how to use well compressor and EQ we are already engineers haha
Unrelated, but Warren, your hair is fabulous at the moment. 🤩
Haha thanks ever so much!
In reaper, if I'm not using a de-ess plug, I use rea-eq, pick the band closest to irritant, set that band to narrow bandpass, (no need to high or low pass), sweep around to pin-point, then chose to cut it, or automate, (boost/cut/boost and cut), it out. If it's a constant hissing or noise, it'll be a cut. But automating only takes a couple extra seconds. The same process is used for removing resonance and works well. As others mention, reafir as well but that one is more surgical I think. I use that one primarily for removing hum/buzz and tape noise. Rea-eq is fast and keeps me out trouble, lol. Oh yeah - as many bands cut or automated as the machine can handle as far as I know. I've never needed that many. CHEERS!
Hi, another great video, thanks.
I have discovered that Melodyne lets me easily apply manual fixes to sibilants and plosives.
I have also discovered a second technique where I edit in melodyne to leave only the sibilants and plosives and bounce this down to a separate sibilant track. This has two applications:
1 - As a sidechain source to a compressor for de-essing the main track.
2 The sibilant track can be used over a vocoded track to increase clarity.
Hope this is of interest.
Excellent choice, since this is one of the songs I downloaded from the Academy. Incidentally, before joining, I also downloaded some of the free courses on offer. Haven't really looked them until now, but the one I'm currently loving is the Ariel Chobaz Hip Hop. I'm taking another end to end view gain, today. Lovely jubbly
Absolutely love it. Old skool styles. Used to spend ages riding the vocals back in the day.. or drop a 902 over it.. fun times. 🎛🎤
This is an excellent trick that produces very natural-sounding results. A keeper!! Of course, automating the comp threshold or the EQ can be useful too. Thanks so much!!
Thank you. My De-esser wasn't working super well and this actually worked a lot better
I didn't have a de-esser back in the day, when I worked on a Yamaha digital audio console running Avid Audiovision. So I worked out how to do this.
So, as some people have said, this *is* basically what a de-esser does - applies compression controlled by a narrow-band sidechain filter. HOWEVER, and I think this is part of Warren’s point, this “trick” can be achieved without the cost of a dedicated de-esser plugin. Also, I like the idea of applying a negative delay to the duplicated track to give a look-ahead. There were times in the example here when I thought the attack wasn’t quite fast enough, and triggering the compression slightly early would help.
I've seriously needed this. Some of my own tracks have two or three De-Essers on them. Still, I can't find the point between shrill brain drill and lisp for days. You can bet I'll be trying this.
Reaxcomp multiband compressor in reaper has a great preset to start with. Thanks for all the great info Warren. I'm finally getting comfortable using some of your tricks and every bit helps. Good work as always.
Excellent trick! Can you do a video on how to control vocal breaths in a mix?!
These tips are so cool to learn, big or small! A wonderful video as always man!
Man, you really are everywhere :)
Watch again and again, still and even more, fantastic tech tip. Best regards.
To all previous posts, saying, the trick is basically the same process as with de-esser. Yes, it is! Almost all de-essers in wideband mode does the same like external filtered sidechain to "normal" compressor. If you don't have any other reason to do that via this trick, you can achieve the same effect for sole vocal track with de-esser (which is among built-in effects at many current DAWs, so it isn't necessarily another expense) and without clutter of additional tracks, sidechain routing etc. Similarly you can also directly use compressor with internal sidechain filters (like default Dyn3 in Pro Tools, C1 from Waves or Comp in Logic X) without need for external keying and another bus.
Not sure, if Warren mentioned that, but actually one of main reasons, why this trick was/is so popular during mixing at analog console - you can very easily ride this additional fader and dynamically adjust threshold through different sections, vocal lines or turn it off, when necessary. The fader and mute button is way easier, hands-on and precise than messing with some fiddly rotary knob from outboard compressor or de-essers during mixdown pass. Plus you could also automate fader and mute with some consoles.
Of course with DAW mostly used without actual physical faders, this aspect isn't so groundbreaking, as you can easily draw any automation curves for threshold, bypass or ratio directly in DAW with high precision.
You can do this with fabfilter pro-c without any routing as it has a built in sidechain.
🤘🤘Awesome trick, will definitely try it instead of turning it down manually, can't wait for the next tip !
This is brilliant! Thank you Warren - wow, possibly the best and most useful technique I have ever learned on RUclips.
Waves Sibilance is the only plugin/trick I use for de-essing. I still can't believe they gave it away for free.
That is the first and only de esser I have had any luck with.
Best deEsser by a mile
Yes! That's fantastic Ryan!
I am ashamed to say I haven't even tried that... and I got it when I upgraded to gold included. Time to go back and kill those Sssssss
I also use it. Before I was using waves deeeser and reissenance deeser. When they doesn't work, just put sibilance and that's it.
Very interesting! Melodyne 5 is solving the problem in the most surgical way these days; quite incredible!
Woooow! This is a de-esser I can afford! Thank you so much Warren!
thank you..... needed this and found it after ten thousand other vids on de essing..
Listen to juice WRLD’s song “Screw Juice” how do they make his S’s so crisp yet not harsh whatsoever
They just have the most Hollywood ass engineers bro lmao
There's a lot of factors that go into that. From using a mic that's not super sibilant but has a smooth top end, running it through let's say some tube pre that give it some saturation, volume automation on any harsh S's, parallel techniques, and again saturation that kind of roll that high-end off while still maintaining it's clarity. A lot of ways to get there just have to experiment!
Look up who was juices engineer for whatever song you like if you want to get it exactly, otherwise look at people like Alex Tumay, mike dean, and mixed by Ali for tips, they are on twitch and RUclips. Literally some of the best songs ever mixed by them.
It’s the easiest thing to find all offending s’s and bring down the “S” part of the sibilance with automation. This can work better than a de-esser because it still leaves the sharpness of the S without letting it take over the vocals like a lot of de-esser plug-ins seem to do. It’s actually really hard to make a de-esser plugin work universally on an entire song without big amounts of sacrificing sound quality.
@@GabeconstantinemusicSUPER FACT
Oh man this is SO clever.
Thanks ever so much
Thank you for this trick. I always find myself boosting the highs when using a de esser cause most of them take too much out of vocals brightness. I will definitely try this one.
You’re very welcome
I just did manual de-essing and noise gate last week, for like 12 hours straight. At least they are perfect and cheap :D
What an incredible trick - I cannot wait to try this!
Man, that's one slick trick. Thanks!
Enlightening maestro!
Thanks ever so much
Brilliant Warren, that's another really great, fast solution. Thank you!
Great video! I'm a beginner but that sounds more natural to me than the de essers I own. Will use that tip often. Thanks again Warren!
I try and keep learning to "listen" for it and find it with EQ.
Absolutely!
Eqing seem mysterious for me and I am working on it. I can definitley tell when it is done well, however many songs are just, out, as is and everyone accepts it and loves it!
De-Esser and Gate plugins I find to be the most time consuming plugins to set correctly for the entirety of a project. So much time can be spent making sure every unwanted event is processed and every wanted event is not. For gates now I literally just trim the audio up to wanted events, this could be a good alternative to De-Ess plugins for me, thank you!
Just like we learned at school, nice
Exactly!!
Thanks for sharing this awesome idea, I will try it at my next opportunity. I think there's an even better way to do it, however, now that I know about this: using one of those volume duckers the EDM producers use for ducking the bass from a kick. With some of them, you can draw the exact curve you want, and have absolute control over what it does and how it does it. I've never been happy with de-essers, but this might be the silver bullet.
Can't wait to try this one!!!
Oh my god! Thank yooou so much, I have been struggling with harsh S in a vocal for weeks
Hi Warren, wow! a fantastic tip, Thank you, awesome! all the best.
Technique works terrific! Thanks warren
Love this. I actually learned this trick in a Reaper tutorial just days ago. Unfortunately after I submitted my contest mix of Patiently, which could have needed this . Oh well. :D
I've used this technique and it does work well. De-essing has become my least favourite part of audio production and eroded the joy of using my lovely condenser mics. Has sibilance become a bigger problem in the digital era? I've always wondered if the high end boost found on modern vocal mics is just a holdover from the analogue days, a way to compensate for high frequency loss going to tape. Now that most of us capture flat up to 20kHz and beyond, should vocal mic tuning evolve to reflect this? Anyway, my love for an SM7B through a Cloudlifter grows with every session. Hardly any de-essing required in my experience, coupled with the bonus of managing poor room acoustics and instrument bleed like a champ. In a busy mix, I'll take the small hit to detail and openness most days.
I’m thinking of getting this setup but wonder if this’ll work with my scarlett or my UAD Apollo
@@ProdbyTrehnt I have a SM7B hooked up to a 3rd gen Scarlett in a secondary room with no issues. The Scarlett alone provides enough clean gain, with only subtle improvement when adding a Cloudlifter. I'd guess your UAD preamps provide even more gain than the Focusrite.
So stupid simple and obvious when you look at it. Thanks for that tip!
Great trick,. Thanks ever so much for taking the time to do these videos
Thankyou brother . Hug from Córdoba Argentina
Same as you, if it's an important song vocal I manually edit them down. If it's something like a long podcast or something that needs to be done fast I use the "warmth" feature of my UBK fatso to soften them.
Great trick. Thank you for demonstrating it, Warren. Old School ... that suits me ;-)
So you pretty much fabricated your own de-esser at home. Awesome
By the way, I love your videos, Warren!
Thanks ever so much my friend!!
TDR Nova is a great free dynamic EQ that can be used as a deesser.
i love using deessing in series. i use it more often than not like that. on vocals, drums, guitars. each instance does max 3dB of GR
Hey Warren, like @Ash_Win said. The new Melodyne 5 feature which seperates vowels and sss-sounds (and also t's, f's etc.) is absolutely incredible. You can independently decrease (or increase) the sss-sounds of your vocals. It's a game-changer that makes all other de-essing obsolete. This new version also links the pitchless sss-sound to the rest of the word, so it's not an orphaned note, but connected to the rest of the sung word. Check it out. It's some kind of magic ;-)
Thank you, thank you, OH thank you for this! You're the best!
awesome! great video as always!
What a great trick! Thanks so much Warren!
Thank you for sharing such a killer but simple tip.
Nice trick! Thank you Warren.
Thank you Warren, I just watched that video with Pete Thorn and Bob Clearmountain, fantastic tip! I will certainly look for a place to apply that as I continue to develop my mixing/producing skills.