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Many of us never touch a de-esser. Of all the plug-ins at our disposal, it's the one that we would normally only reach for when we're in trouble.

The scenario usually runs like this: we're faced with a vocalist who sounds fantastic in real life, but everything changes when they sing into a microphone.

Each time they pronounce words with an 'S' in it, the 'S' sound leaps up in volume and they sound like a hissing snake.

The same occurs with the sound of the letters 'T', 'F' and even 'Ch'. It's not that they can't sing; some singers just sound a little hissy in front of a mic.

You try reducing the high frequency content of the vocal with an EQ, but the result is just a dull-sounding vocal and the sibilant noises still leap out!

What you need is a de-esser - a plug-in or hardware unit that dynamically reduces a particular band of frequencies whenever it detects that there's too much of those frequencies passing through.

These units are a godsend in a session, but they can be problematic - if set up badly, they can reduce your vocal take to a lisping mess, but reduce the de-essing and you're very often back where you started.

Finding a happy medium is extremely time-consuming, not to mention frustrating. Enter Eiosis, who have produced a new plug-in that hopes to solve these problems.

By giving the user a large amount of control over the de-essing effect, they hope to remove the problem of overly sibilant vocals once and for all.

Overview

Installation is simple but you'll need an iLok for authorisation. I'm pleased to report that the E2 De-esser installed on my MacBook Pro without fuss, and survived the AU validation process in Logic 8 too.

I first tried the E2 De-esser on a collection of spoken word recordings I had made for a podcast where I was annoyed with the sound of my voice.

Unfortunately, the best vocal takes had occurred when I was far too close to the microphone, so there were all sorts of hisses and clicks that would distract the listener. I suspected that this was going to be a tough challenge.

However, as soon as I inserted the E2 De-esser I discovered a fantastic vocal sound hidden beneath.

Up to this point, I had attempted to control the sibilance in my recordings by automating a high-cut EQ, dipping the amount of high-frequency content whenever I thought the listener could hear the sound of my teeth!

This was a fairly successful approach, but by simply using the 'male speech' preset, the E2 De-esser instantly corrected all the failings in my microphone technique, with no tweaking required!

The result was brilliant: smooth de-essing without any telltale 'lisping', dulling of the sound or changes in level. I was stunned by the fact that with just two clicks of a mouse I had completely eliminated the problems with the audio.

The same applied when using the E2 on some troublesome singing takes. I chose a recording from a singer whose vocal sound I had frequently struggled with. I simply loaded the 'female singer basic' preset and I was done.