De-Essing Male Vocals?

[Jathon Delsy]

Well, what about it folks?
How do y'all feel about de-essing male vocals?
I'm specifically interested in my vocal, which is a pretty average English guy light lyrical vocal, somewhere between Lennon and McCartney.
Or, is it an open question, like asking how long is a piece of string?
Still, I know there's a wealth of learned opinion among you folks!

[tacitus]

De-essing male vocals was much more of a job back in the days when they still used long esses …

I know some of us here are old enough for that comment.

[Jathon Delsy]

De-essing male vocals was much more of a job back in the days when they still used long esses …

I know some of us here are old enough for that comment.

I think we should bring back the long ess. It adds a sophisticated flourish to our prosaic melieu!

[amanise]

Well, I de-ess mine where I think it needs it. My esses are as good as any girls esses! I do as little as I think I can get away with because its painful. I use a de-esser outboard which is part of my compressor/limiter set to 'male' and then I use good old clip gain settings and volume envelopes in my DAW for the many that get through. There's no essssscape!

Ho Ho Ho

[sonics]

Like anything similar, it's an engineering/production decision. So yes/no/maybe/lots/twice etc.!

It'll depend on singer, technique, microphone, recording (compression/EQ etc.), music, arrangement and mix.

So my answer is the always reliable...it depends. (But mostly yes, at least a little.) Use your ears and if you're not sure, reference.

[Philbo King]

I've gotten into the habit of singing off-axis into the mic by 30 to 45 degrees. LDC mic, cardoid pattern.

I haven't needed a de-esser at all since I started doing it.

[Zukan]

De-essing is de-essing, be it for male, female, snakes...no diff.

I de-essed a cobra once. Barely talks nowadays.

[The Elf]

Vocals of any persuasion sometimes need de-essing, sometimes don't. It's not a given.

If they *do* need de-essing, then heading straight to a plug-in is not always the best option IMHO. I'd say that a bit of snipping and editing can produce subjectively better results. Sometimes multing and filtering is a good option.

As the good chap above said - it all depends...

[Kwackman]

I de-essed a cobra once. Barely talks nowadays.

[The Elf]

I de-essed a cobra once. Barely talks nowadays.

[Tim Gillett]

...How do y'all feel about de-essing male vocals?
I'm specifically interested in my vocal, which is a pretty average English guy light lyrical vocal, somewhere between Lennon and McCartney...

Esses are one of the consonant sounds including the t, f, c sounds. Often they seem too prominent because the vowel sounds from the throat are weak by comparison. Learning to sing with more power and control - such as in performing live to an audience without the help of a microphone - can as a side benefit help make the "ess" issue less of an issue.

[Jathon Delsy]

C'mon folkth I'm theriouth about my de-ething!

[Dynamic Mike]

Personally I cut the esses in Cubase and copy them onto a separate track. Then I de-esse them quite savagely, reduce their volume on the original track and blend the effected ones back in. It means the rest of the original track is unaffected and the final result retains some character.

It's probably the wrong way to go about it but it works for me and it's non-destructive, albeit a bit time consuming.

[resistorman]

Some of my favorite plugins for vocals and lots of other things are the PSP Old Timer Multiband, Vintage Warmer 2 (in split mode), and Eventide Split EQ, all of which can control problematic frequencies. I use the EIOS E2deesser too. I leave snakes alone.

[ConcertinaChap]

For tricky esses I use Melodyne. You can cut the note to make a blob encompassing just the ess and then reduce the amplitude. You're not going to want to do that too often but for the odd example it gives you great control and precision.

CC

[Drew Stephenson]

Easy! I just spend about three quarters of my total mix time on it and still end up with something I'm not happy with.

[Folderol]

_e _rouble i_ i__ _o ea_y _o overdo i_ _o you can'_ make ou_ a word.

[The Elf]

Personally I cut the esses in Cubase and copy them onto a separate track.

One of my approaches too.

However, I've recently found that the new vocal strip insert in Cubase is pretty much doing the job for me now. It maybe wouldn't work in every scenario, but I'm impressed so far.