These sounds should come through a recording as natural as possible, not exaggerated or distorted as in “shh” or even “ch”. It mainly occurs when pronouncing consonants, syllables, or words with the letter “s”, and sometimes “t” or “z”. Sibilance is an unpleasant sound that can completely spoil an otherwise perfect recording. These “ess” and “shh” sounds are also what we refer to as sibilance. It essentially works as a compressor that only reduces the loudness of a specific frequency range at a given time, reducing or even completely removing those sibilant sounds. What is a de-esserĪ De esser is used to attenuate the “S” and “Shh” sounds by lowering the loudness of those frequencies when that type of sound occurs. Looking for guitar VST/AU plugins? Here are the 21 best ones. In this post I will explain what a De-esser does, how Sibilance occurs and some ways you can remove it. It’s one of those things that I just can’t stop paying attention to, and I guess that this must also be the case for many of you.īeing able to remove Sibilance from a recording is a very important mixing skill you should develop. If you ever heard a singer that tends to be very sibilant, then you know how distracting it can be to listen to.