Fixing Sibilance Manually For Better Vocal Control

Moments of sibilance (those harsh “S” sounds on a vocal track) are one of the quickest ways to make a vocal sound unpleasant. The solution is often to use a de-esser. A de-esser turns down those harsh frequencies for you whenever they happen.

But here’s where things can sometimes go wrong: Too much de-essing can make a vocal sound dull, squashed, and lifeless.

So sometimes, rather than fixing the problem, it just creates a different one. That’s why, often, rather than relying on a de-esser to control sibilance, I’ll control the sibilance manually.

Here’s how I do it:
I cut each region so that the letter “S”, “T”, “Sh”, etc, is its own region, and I lower the clip gain for those letters. This makes these potentially harsh moments lower in level. Doing this manually often sounds more natural than heavy processing using a de-esser. Sometimes I do this instead of using a de-esser. Other times, I’ll use both in conjunction, with a de-esser applied lightly to work on the lighter moments of the sibilance, and my own manual approach taking care of the harsher moments.

This stops the de-esser from working too hard and making things sound dull and squashed. Give this a try — use it to control those harsh “S” and “T” sounds without letting things sound overprocessed.