bennychico11 said:
A de-esser let's you choose a range of frequencies where the S's are and it reduces the volume of them so they aren't as harsh.
Sorry bennychico11, not picking on you, but this statement is not true and should be addressed.
A "de-esser" doesn't reduce the frequency range of the offending frequencies. It actually turns down ALL the audio.
It is better to think of it this way.
A de-esser is just a compressor that reacts to a certain frequency, rather than ANY frequency like a normal compressor would. To clarify further:
A regular compressor will react to ANY frequency that exceeds the threshold.
A de-esser will only react to the frequency it is set up to react to.
A de-esser DOES NOT JUST REDUCE the offending frequencies, it turns down the audio when it's frequency dependent threshold has been exceeded, but ALL the audio is turned down.
The reason that I feel the need to clarify this is because I lot of people think that a de-esser is like having one band of multi band compression. Multi band compression of course splits the whole audio range into "bands" and allows you to compress a "band" in the audio range without effecting the other "bands". A de-esser is NOT like this at all.
The digitalfishphones SPITFISH is one of the best software de-essers I have heard. Funny, it is free too!
Anyway, you can also use a multi band compressor as a sort of "de-esser", and in a way, it is a more effective approach to doing so! Instead of turning down all the audio like a normal de-esser does, a multi band would allow you to only turn down the band of audio that is offensive, and in a sense, create a better balance between all the frequencies. I almost never have to deal with sibilance that is that offensive, thus, hardly ever use a de-esser. But next time I do, I will be reaching for a multi band compressor instead.
