glossary
De-essing turns down sharp sibilants without lowering the whole vocal.
A de-esser is a frequency-sensitive dynamics processor. It detects energy around sibilant consonants and reduces those moments more than the rest of the vocal.
The goal is not to remove brightness. It is to stop S, T, and SH sounds from jumping out of the mix.
Sweep the detector or listen mode until the processor reacts mainly to the problem consonants. If it reacts to the whole vocal, the band is probably too wide or the threshold is too low.
Small, repeated reductions usually sound more natural than one heavy stage that lisps the performance.
Compare the processed vocal at the same perceived loudness. A quieter sibilant band can make the whole vocal seem smoother, even when too much presence has been removed.
Meter Core helps keep output level honest while you check whether the vocal still cuts through.