DBX 163x, 263x De-esser, and 563x Silencer

[studiodrum]

Hey everyone,
I recently acquired a DBX 163x, compressor, 263x De-esser, and a 563x Silencer from a friend who was getting rid of some of his analog equipment. . . I'm recording with a Tascam 4 track 424 mkII w/ dbx cassette recorder, and about to lay down some vocal tracks.

I was just wondering what exactly a De-esser, and a Silencer actually do, and how they would best be used for recording vocals either during tracking or mix-down.

Thanks guys .. .

[The Ghost of FM]

De-essers reduce the amount of sibilance in vocal tracks and are most noticeable on words with the "S" in the word like "sibilance"! I would assume a de-esser would be used mostly on playback and mixdown so as to tame a sibilant laden vocal track.

A silencer I would take to mean a noise gate and is used to mute a signal when it falls below a certain volume threshold that the user adjusts to trigger when the music stops and the noise starts.

Noise gates are best used while tracking so that they can be re-used again on another track to keep a bunch of noisy tracks quiet like electric guitars as an example.

Cheers!