Specifications

DigiRack Plug-ins Guide74
De-Esser III
The De-Esser reduces sibilants and other high
frequency noises that can occur in vocals, voice-
overs, and wind instruments such as flutes.
These sounds can cause peaks in an audio signal
and lead to distortion.
The De-Esser reduces these unwanted sounds us-
ing fast-acting compression. A Threshold con-
trol sets the level above which compression
starts, and a Frequency control sets the fre-
quency band in which the De-Esser operates.
Using De-essing Effectively
To use de-essing most effectively, insert the De-
Esser after compressor or limiter plug-ins.
The Frequency control should be set to remove
sibilants (typically the 4–10 kHz range) and not
other parts of the signal. This helps prevent de-
essing from changing the original character of
the audio material in an undesired manner.
Similarly, the Range control should be set to a
dB level low enough so that de-essing is trig-
gered only by sibilants. If the Range is set too
high, a loud, non-sibilant section of audio mate-
rial could cause unwanted gain reduction or
cause sibilants to be over-attenuated.
To improve de-essing of material that has both
very loud and very soft passages, automate the
Range control so that it is lower on soft sections.
De-Esser III Controls
This section describes controls for the De-Esser
plug-in.
De-Esser Levels Section
These controls let you track input, output, and
gain reduction levels.
Input and Output Meters
The Input and Output meters show peak signal
levels before and after dynamics processing:
Green Indicates nominal levels.
Yellow Indicates pre-clipping levels, starting at
–6 dB below full scale.
Red Indicates full scale levels (clipping).
De-Esser III
The De-Esser has no control to directly ad-
just the threshold level (the level that an in-
put signal must exceed to trigger de-essing).
The amount of de-essing will vary with the
input signal.
De-Esser III I/O Meter display
Gain
Reduction
meter
Input
meter
Output
meter