The easiest vocal de-essing trick?

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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[Producelikeapro]

What are your favorite de-essing tricks?

[jurgenschuler]

The beauty of this trick is the possibility to process multiple tracks at once. Thank you so much!

[adamscott]

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.

[hellstone-project]

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!

[ZoldarMusic]

This was honestly one of the best mixing tricks ever. Thank you Warren!

[sm]

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!

[neuroxik]

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

[RaddDronzy]

Sound Engineer here. Still learning. Best tutorial ever....thank you so very much....

[mikesparks]

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!

[Fiveash-Art]

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.

[hafimula]

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.

[soundmonkey]

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 YouTube content creator and teacher!

[DeadlyMixKrew]

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.

[rafael_bartolome]

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.

[miketable]

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!

[CreativeMindsAudio]

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!

[WeLoveOurJesus]

Most progressive day of my life. My ears and and mental state thanks you. Thx thx thx.

[Edge_]

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!

[Dave-Rough-Diamond-Dunn]

I wish this video had come up sooner! Great tip, thanks Warren!

[cosmicclayton]

I love this kind of simple but effective tricks. I'm finding this good as an all around "de-harsher"