A very smooth way to achieve DeEssing

[25ghosts]

Own just about any deesser available but I was never happy with the result and after messing around with them for while I ended up with taking it off the track. The past weeks I've been messing about with getting the result that I like and I have found exactly what I've been looking for. And it is extremely fast and easy to setup too. So I thought I'd share that before getting hit
by lampmusic's whining-stamp

1) Duplicate the track which is to be processed
2) Route the output of the duplicated track to any free bus. Solo-Safe the audio track
3) Isolate the frequency/ies to be reduced with a very steep peak or high/lowpass filters (Eventide EQ65 - Steep Peak @ 8.4k & HiCut @ 13.5k)
3) Insert a compressor (Waves C1) with Side Chain capability into the track which is to be processed and select the bus assigned in step 2
4) Set Threshold to 0 dB, Attack to 2 MS, Release to 10 Milliseconds and Ratio between 2 & 4:1
5) Nudge back the duplicated track which is serving as a trigger by the exact same amount of milliseconds as the attack time of the compressor
6) Play back the track and adjust the threshold of the compressor to only react to the frequencies in question.

Note - You may want to experiment with the attack time of the compressor versus the Negative Nudge Back Time of the duplicated track.

[crizdee]

Forget all that rubbish and buy some BSS outboard compressors/de-essers

Chrisssssssssssssssssssssssssss

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by crizdee

Forget all that rubbish and buy some BSS outboard compressors/de-essers

...or try that Brainworx BX_Digital V2, it has one of the nicest de-essers I've tried, though it's a lot more expensive than Massey's :P

[25ghosts]

Originally Posted by crizdee

Forget all that rubbish and buy some BSS outboard compressors/de-essers

Chrisssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Well outboard cannot "Look into the Past" at least not without a significant amount of delay.

The way I am doing it now, is an automated way of chopping out all the SSes, putting them on a separate track and turning down the volume on them.

No compressor or deesser can do that. Even thought some have look-ahead the amount they look ahead aint far enough for being able to set a pleasant amount of attack. Attacking at 0.01 MS is weird for my ears...

[25ghosts]

Originally Posted by JFreak

...or try that Brainworx BX_Digital V2, it has one of the nicest de-essers I've tried, though it's a lot more expensive than Massey's :P

I dont really like that one. Tried their DynEQ too which is nice on many things but not for de essing - at least in my opinion.

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by 25ghosts

I dont really like that one. Tried their DynEQ too which is nice on many things but not for de essing - at least in my opinion.

I like the easiness of de-essing mono differently than stereo

[Russ M.]

I actually came up with a very similar setup for removing low freq pops, ala sm57, on a live, on stage recording a while back and it saved the tracks after trying everything else.

The added nudging back is a nice touch which I left out.

Normally I DeEss by just going from the top of the track until I hear or see one then just select that region and pull it down.

I too am not happy with plugin DeEssers, just not enough control.

[Chompers]

Really?
Automation, cant beat it.

[KingFish]

25 Ghosts - that's very clever - the "Look ahead " from your nudge in theory (Cause i haven't tried it yet, but I'm going to) should make it really transparent, not hearing the Reduction triggering artifacts. I still think of audio in an "Analog path" kind of way, it's hard for me to conceive ideas like this, but I sure like it when others do.

I've got several Software and Hardware DeEssers - even my Manley VoxBox's deEsser can't "Look Ahead"

I like the fact that so much is possible ITB and we're all finding our own workflows, and do things very differently.

Cool thinking 25Ghosts. I'm gonna try this.

[2fly]

I use an identical technique to open gates a little ahead of where they would normally open. It means I can use a slower attack, set the threshold harder and control the release better. Also by changing the balance of the incoming key signal and the threshold of the gate I can really focus in on what I want quickly.