SPL De-esser Collection Review

I know I said I was done with buying plugins unless they were a game changer, unique enough, or something I didn’t already have. The SPL de-esser collection fits two of three,  the unique and something I don’t already have. The first reason I purchased this is because it does m/s. I’ve been doing a lot of mastering lately and this would be perfect if I needed to de-ess vocals while mastering. The second is that it only has two frequency settings (male and female) unlike most de-essers which allow you to dial in the exact frequency you want. So why would I want a de-esser with “less” options? Because it will either simply work, or not. Instead of spending time dialing in the frequency, I try the two chosen for me. If it doesn’t work, then I go to a different de-esser that's more precise.

The de-esser collection comes with two plugins, the SPL classic de-esser, and dual band de-esser. The latter being a de-esser that has a lower band of 1.44k. On the SPL classic de-esser the male frequency is 6.4k, and female is 7.2k. In the dual band de-esser male is the same 6.4k, but female is set to 7.6k. The dual band is interesting to me because I never thought sibilance to be as low as 1.44k. What makes this more interesting is the bands interact with each other. If using both bands together the signal is processed by the low band first and then by the high band. Kind of like using a compressor in series. Because of this the low band affects how the high band processes the signal.

Another great feature is the auto threshold. On the dual band it's always on, on the classic de-esser you have a button to engage it. What this does is automatically change the de-essers threshold depending on how the input signal varies allowing for the best performance. Without this feature you’d spend time dialing in the right threshold to cover a whole vocal take, or even automating the threshold for louder and softer parts for smooth de-essing.

One thing I noticed with these de-essers is there is no way to audition what the de-esser is seeing. Most de-essers have this and it's helpful for getting the de-esser set just right. By listening to what the de-esser is seeing you can easily adjust the frequency until you hear strong sibilance coming through. This is isn’t a deal breaker but I find it odd this feature was not included.

In use I found it quicker to get dialed in than any other de-esser with just having male or female settings to choose from. With the dual band I figured the low band would remove some presence from vocals being so close to that 2-4k range but it didn’t. If you don’t have any other de-esser plugins I wouldn’t recommend this one because you may need to get precise with it, however if you have others this is a great addition, especially if you mix and master. I have not had to use it in m/s mode yet but when the time comes I’ll be ready. For more information visit www.plugin-alliance.com