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Mix Tip – another use for the de-esser

When mixing I often find the reverb I’m using is perfect except for one thing, certain bright or percussive elements cause the digital reverb to chatter. Sometimes it’s the attack of picking certain notes on an acoustic guitar, or finger squeaks when sliding down the strings. ( yes I know I can remove or reduce squeaks in protools ) It also might be sibilance on vocals, or hi hat bleed.

If you try to decrease the chatter by decreasing  the high frequency decay time, this often gives the reverb a bit more of a tubby bathroom like sound.
The second approach would be to decrease the high frequency response, usually this makes things cloudy.  If overall I am happy with the reverb settings I have, and the body of the song works, and I don’t want to reduce the air in the decay. I will insert a de-esser between the aux send and the chamber.  This will limit the high Frequency transients hitting the chamber and allow everything else to pass through unprocessed. It is now my default setup on long reverbs.
© 2009 Bradshaw Leigh

2 thoughts on “Mix Tip – another use for the de-esser

  1. joe says:

    Good stuff Brad

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