Owner`s manual

15
What is a De-Esser?
When recording spoken or sung material, the sibilants (Ss, Ts, CHs, and
SHs) in the track often sound louder than the rest of the signal. The effect
is unnatural and often irritating. The solution to this problem is to com-
press only the sibilants, thereby lowering their level relative to the rest of
the track. Processing a signal this way is called de-essing.
The diagram below shows how analog hardware is traditionally config-
ured to accomplish de-essing.
Only the sibilants pass through the highpass filter. When the input signal
contains sibilant material, the output of the filter causes the compressor
to compress the signal. The compressor only operates when a sibilant is
present.
The AVP uses a digital algorithm to implement the de-esser function.
While the details of the algorithm are quite complex, the resulting effect
is functionally equivalent to the diagram above.
Equalization
The AVP’s two bands of equalization each offer seven different filter
types: Low Pass (6dB/octave and 12dB/octave), Low Shelf, Band Pass,
Notch, Peaking, High Shelf, and High Pass (6dB/octave and 12dB/octave).
Each filter type has its own characteristics and applications. The graphs
used in the next section show the frequency response for each type with
the settings used to generate the curves notated next to the graph.
COMPRESSOR
IN
IN OUT
OUT
SIDECHAIN
INPUT
HIGH
PASS
FILTER