Recording - February 2017 - 32

BY PAUL VNUK JR.

newest version of this 2-band de-essing box is the DeS,
part of SPL's growing line of 500 Series modules. (We
looked at the TDx transient design module last month.)
The DeS, like the TDx, is housed in a single-slot 500
Series enclosure.
From top to bottom, the DeS has an on/off toggle, a
signal LED, then the two frequency sections, each with
a single black knob marked 0-10 (dB), a yellow De-S
LED that lights when signals are being processed, and
a bypass toggle for that section. The Hi-S section has a
center frequency of 11.2 kHz and 3 kHz bandwidth,
and the Lo-S section (which has its own Male/Female
switch) has a center frequency of 7.6 kHz (Female) or
6.4 kHz (Male) and a 1.44 kHz bandwidth.
Some specs: the balanced I/O has a 20 kΩ input
impedance, 150 Ω output impedance, maximum input
and output levels of +22 dBu, 10 Hz-100 kHz frequency range, -93 dBu noise level, 116 dB dynamic range,
CMRR > -80 dBu (at 1 kHz, 0 dBu input level, unity gain),
and THD of 0.03% (at 0 dBu input level, unity gain).

SPL 1503 DeS 500
Series De-esser
Sibilance control with style
One of the most annoying issues audio engineers
face is vocal sibilance. Some of it can be drawn and
ducked out of the way with fades and automated
track riding, but excessive sibilance often requires the
use of a specific tool known as a de-esser.
To quote Wikipedia, "Vocal sibilance is an unpleasant
tonal harshness that can happen during consonant
syllables (like S, T, and Z), caused by disproportionate
audio dynamics in upper midrange frequencies.
Sibilance is often centered between 5 kHz to 8 kHz,
but can occur well above that frequency range."
Personally, I would expand that frequency range down
down to the 2.5 kHz range. In simple English, sibilance
is that whistling, spitty, tonal-tizzy sound that often
escapes the lips, tongue and teeth of many singers and
voiceover artists. The best and perhaps most exaggerated
example is the old Spike Jones 1944 classic "All I Want
For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth."
Elsewhere in this issue we will be looking at software-based
and "part of a channel strip" tools for sibilance control. We'll
start, though, with an elegant and focused hardware de-esser:
the SPL Model 1503, simply called the DeS.

Solving sibilant syllables
Most traditional de-essers use a tight, super-fast frequency focused
sidechain compressor/limiter that clamps down on and ducks the
sibilant offender out of the way. When you find and nail the proper
frequency, they do their job well and are valuable tools.
However, if you are off in your frequency choice, they can actually
make the sibilance worse. If you dig too deep and wide, you may
end up with consonants that sound slurred, lispy, or even metallic. In
other words, this "simple" tool can sometimes be quite frustrating.

A different phase from SPL
SPL is no stranger to the world of de-essers, offering its own
unique approach since the early 1990s with the Auto-Dynamic
De-Esser. The "Auto" part references SPL's detection circuit
that homes in on the offending frequency automatically; its
only setting being a general Male/Female choice. Rather than
being compression-based, SPL uses phase cancellation; the
detected frequency is fed back into the signal chain with its
polarity reversed, "phasing out" the offending sibilance.
SPL expanded the concept into a dual design with low and
high band de-essers that could work alone or in tandem. The
32

RECORDING FEBRUARY 2017

In use
I tested the DeS in a Radial Workhorse enclosure and
an API lunchbox® with zero issues. I tried it out on male spoken
word, female pop, male indie rock, and male Americana vocals.
Until now, most of my de-essing work has been with software
versions of the stock DAW variety. To be honest, it takes hours for
me to de-ess individual sibilant sections of any given song. As
mentioned above, when I hit the right frequency they work well,
but in another verse they may affect parts that don't need it, making
the vocal sound muffled and/or giving the singer a lisp. Let's just
say that I look forward to de-essing about as much as tuning vocals.
That has all changed with the SPL DeS. It is one of the few "set it
and forget it" de-essers I have ever used. In general, Male/Female is
a tad more gender-neutral than the name suggests, but it does work
well to differentiate between tenor and alto vocal styles. Overall, I
found settings of 5-7 of both bands in tandem worked best on voice,
and the Hi-S even took the edge off some hi-hat tracks bleeding into
a snare track. It was not so much a "phase out" as a softening.

So
Unlike a compression-based de-esser, the SPL DeS wipes out
sibilants in a very transparent way, rather than clamping them
down and making them sound jumpy or un-natural.
If you do a lot of vocal work-from voiceovers to books on tape
or singers in all styles-this is one of those rare tools that does
exactly what it advertises, does it cleanly and transparently, and is
quite affordable as well.
Price: $579

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - February 2017