Izotope has today launched Velvet: a new de-esser plugin that will smartly split audio into sibilance and tonal channels to let users de-ess, de-click, and re-shape troublesome vocals into a perfect performance.
The idea is that while traditional de-essers can often dull the overall character of a vocal, Velvetʼs more precise control and smart features allow users to be far more accurate in rooting out the problems.
It's the latest plugin in iZotope's affordable, fast, easy to use and task-focussed, Catalyst series, appearing alongside new offerings such as Aurora - an 'intelligent reverb for cleaner mixes' - and Plasma, the tape saturation plug in for 'adding precise warmth, depth, and character'.
Velvet features what iZotope calls 'intelligent de-essing' which dynamically reduces sibilance only where it's needed, leaving the tonal quality of the vocal untouched.
It can automatically identify sibilant frequencies and then create 'intelligent' EQ nodes to hone in and zap those problem frequencies.
Meanwhile, Velvet’s Lift and Tame controls allow users to shape vocals toward a variety of smooth and polished vocal tones, all without affecting sibilance.
And its de-click feature will eliminate any unpleasant pops, clicks, mouth-noise and other accidental knocks and thuds with a simple fader tweak.
Most powerful of all though, Velvet's separate processing for sibilance and tonal channels allow users to tweak one without having an adverse effect on the other. Then hit the delta button to hear exactly whatʼs being processed.
“Velvet is an instant problem solver for vocals! It replaced 3 plug-ins on my vocal bus... I love it!ˮ says Dave Cerminara, the producer and mix engineer for Father John Misty and Bartees Strange.
Like all of iZotope's simple but powerful Catalyst series, users will get one powerful effect per-plugin, with just the right number of parameters to achieve quick, creative, and clean results.
And, with 50 presets on board it seems like it'll be simple to deploy and get your noisy vocals sounding great without fuss - but we'll report back after taking it for a spin soon…
Like the rest of the Catalyst plugins, Velvet is keenly priced at just $49 or $39 in a limited-time crossgrade from any paid iZotope product (anytime prior to 21.05.2025).
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