De-esser question for the wizards here please...

Colin Campbell · Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007, 02:25 (GMT) Post subject:

I really want an SM7 but I'd need another boom and processor. By the time I am done it will be $1000. But, I will do it someday to compliment my KSM32, so that I have both a soft and hot mic.

Brian Hart · Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007, 02:36 (GMT) Post subject:

Ronald T Robinson · Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007, 13:14 (GMT) Post subject:

Great post, Colin.

And by moving the tongue even further back, everyone gets to work on their impersonation of Sean Connery! Further forward and it's a hairdresser's convention! Smile

Dick Rodstein · Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008, 09:51 (GMT) Post subject: After a suitable pause.....

Hi,

I understand this thread died a while back, but there are a few points that need to be made.

It's not always the talent's fault.

Most of the mics the catalogs tempt us with are made in China. Though some parts of mic design and fabrication have come easily to the Chinese, negotiating the top end has proven problematic. Many mics have veiled or fizzy top ends, anything but clean and natural. If you have a problem with "esses" these mics will complicate your life one way or another.

OTOH, expensive mics tend to be quick and detailed, so all sorts of strange mouth noises will be put under the microscope. Many superb mics are designed for music, and pop and sizzle awkwardly when faced with a VO. Some exceptionally trendy mics have hyped top ends, which may clean your teeth at 20 paces, but will accentuate any "esses" mercilessly.

So spending money will not get you out of your masochistic self-flagellation. Do the exercises if you must, but if your mic makes your "esses" stand up and salute, it's not necessarily because of your vocal placement.

There are many de-essers in the plugin area. Waves has a DeEsser, which works well but sounds gray and grainy, and a Ren DeEsser, which works and sounds better, but will muddy up an already bass-y mic.

The much maligned Blue Tubes from Nomad actually boast good de-essers in both V2 and V3, the best in an uneven assortment of plugins. These also add a vintage flavor to your sound.

Spitfish is fine (and free) but has no numbers to enable you to reproduce your settings from one session to the next - it'll be a guessing game every time you set up to record.

Also free, but allowing calibration and repeatability, is the Modern DeEsser plugin from Antress, which comes in both silver and black faceplates. It will require a greater amount of experience or experimentation from the user than Spitfish, but the preliminary results so far are quite satisfactory.

The db audioware De-Esser is shareware, and also requires work, but if you're into tweaking, it'll let you. I find it a bit medicinal, but there is a free 21-day trial period, so you can download and draw your own conclusions.

The most stupendous software DeEsser is part of the URS Strip Pro, which will also do your laundry, detail your car and spay or neuter your pets, but it costs. OTOH, you get a great hobby out of it and your wife will always know where you are in the evenings. You may find it money well spent.

And of course, for the "cut-to-the-chase" crowd, there's the spectacular SPL De-Esser, which exists as both standalone hardware and software plugin. No frequency or bandwidth hunting at all, you just figure out how much sizzle you want to remove, and it finds it and kills it, with minimal coloration of the original sound. And if you don't even want to mess with that much decision-making, put it on Auto, and then you only have to chose whether your Esses are Male or Female, and it will detect and remove all by itself.

Cheers,
Dick Rodstein