· By The Vocal Market
TL;DR De-essing is compression on a narrow frequency band. Target 5 to 9kHz for most vocals. Threshold should only catch the harshest S sounds, not every sibilant. Use 3 to 6dB of reduction. Split-band mode beats broadband every time. And fix the mic/performance first if you can. A great vocal with harsh sibilance sounds painful on headphones, amateur on earbuds, and unusable on small speakers. De-essing is the fix. Done right, the listener never notices it happened. Done wrong, the vocal loses life and every "s" sounds like a whispered "th." This guide walks through what de-essing actually is, the...