Jon at Audio Geek Zine gave me the tip the moment I managed to roll out of bed and turned on the computer that Massey has now released his much awaited De:esser. As is common with Massey plug-ins, you can download an almost fully functional demo and use it for however long you want. If you want the save functionality, multi-mono support and a few other features, you’ll have to shell out $89. Not a large sum of money at all for a plug-in, but it’s on the more side when it comes to Massey.

I’m downloading it and will be back later this week with a comparative review. In the meantime go download it yourself and give it a go, or you can stick around here and read more about it (in the case of XP users, your almost forced to do so since you’ll have to wait for your release until August).

Basic operation

From Massey’s website

And, the reduction control determines how much gain to apply to the sidechain control signal, to push it over that threshold. (The markings on the reduction slider are simply reference points, and do not indicate dB reduction.)

The frequency control determines the cut-off for the internal high-frequency filter, which then forms the compressor’s sidechain signal.

When the band-split option is enabled, the plug-in splits the audio input into a low-frequency portion and high-frequency portion (using a linear phase filter.) This allows the plugin to affect the high-frequency portion of the signal, and leaves the lower frequencies less affected. The frequency cutoff point is defined by the frequency knob.

The dry-wet (a.k.a. ratio) control lets you blend the input signal (dry) back into the affected and compressed output (wet) signal. It’s useful to note that applying a wet/dry mix to a compressor simply results in a reshaping of the compression curve. Effectively, you are reducing the compression ratio as you blend back to the dry signal. You can think of the dry signal as passing through a compressor with a 1:1 ratio (no compression.) Mixing the two signals then gives you a ratio in-between. You will notice that this nature is reflected directly on the reduction meter — as you decrease the dry-wet control setting, the amount of metered reduction will also decrease.

Listen modes

The Massey De:Esser has two listen modes that can help you find the most optimal settings. The default listen mode is called invert (indicated by the null symbol). The second is called filtered (indicated by the high-pass curve icon). The filtered mode is pretty typical for a de-esser plugin and lets you hear the high-pass filtered signal that is feeding the internal sidechain portion of the algorithm.

In invert listen mode, the plugin subtracts the input signal from the normal output. This results in an output signal that is very quiet when the compressor isn’t operating, but lets through the de-esser’s result when it is compressing.

I find invert mode to be much more useful. It really lets you isolate what the plugin is doing and when. It becomes very obvious when the de-esser is digging too far into the voiced portion of a vocal, indicating that you need to increase the frequency setting (or decrease the reduction control.)

The top-most button in the listen section determines when the listen mode is enabled. When auto is indicated, listen mode is enabled whenever the frequency control is touched. When on is shown, listen mode is constantly enabled. Off disables listen mode altogether.

More controls

If you click the very bottom of the plug-in’s user interface, four additional controls will show up:

The response control changes the behavior of the dynamic threshold. There are three modes with the cryptic labels X, V, and D. On vocal material, V and X are probably the most useful, with X being more aggressive than V. D responds more slowly and was designed to useful for drums.

The speed control alters the reaction time of the de-esser. Moving the slider to the left (towards +6) increases the speed. Moving it to the right (towards -7) slows the action of the de-esser.

The re-ess option inverts the operation of the de-esser and actually accentuates any sibilance. What for? I don’t know. I’m sure you’ll find a use for it.

Perhaps some glitchy fellow will enjoy this?

Last, the output trim should be pretty self-explanatory. It lets you change output levels of the de-esser. The re-ess option inherently brings down the signal 12 dB. So, the output trim might be useful in that situation.

Massey