So many ways to compress audio. I am wondering what people find themselves using the most? Slow optical, fast solid state, diode, VCA? Which do you find the most useful flavour ?

Fabfilters recently came out with a new desser -Pro-DS. I have their Pro bundle (Compressor, Limters, EQ, Gate) and they are my goto plugins for precision control. (I tend to use the UAD plugins for color.) I am mixing two songs (The Story and Someday Soon) with a new soprano. She's not terrible on sibilance, but as you can imagine, those songs benefit from some help.

[redirect]De-Esser[/redirect]

A special limiter, or limiter circuit, that is used to cut high-end frequencies. It is called a "de-esser" because it is often used to eliminate the vocal distortion created when pronouncing words that include the letter "s".

I'm wondering if there are any standalone software programs that competently de-ess a wav file. I don't want to spend the money for a hardware de-esser when I rarely use need it.

I haven't been happy with the embedded software de-essers I've tried in SoundBooth and Sound Forge, but it is probably fair to chalk that up to stupid user error.

Hello I am recording using an mxl 909 condenser mic connected to a samson c-valve preamp. I think my vocal tracks sound good overall but I am getting terrible and annoying "sss" sounds everytime I say a word that begins with the letter S. I'm recording rap vocals.

Greetings,

From my limited knowledge I understand that a de-esser is essentialy a compressor that limits certain frequencies of sibilance.

I also understand that an actual de-esser would be rather expensive due to its special function.

I would like to find a nice warm compressor to use for vocals, but also one with a de-esser so I don't have to multi-band that out in post. Is that something that is usually combined? Or is that something that needs to be a separate piece of equipment?

If I get a multi-band compressor, does it still have an overall compressor that is not band-specific?

I use logic 7.1, so it has to be AU. Thanks!

I cut dubplates on a semi-professional level and was wondering what hardware piece (digital or analog) might do me best for quick simple de-essing of troublesome music. This would be used alongside my high frequency limiters specific to cutting.