Waves DeEsser (Download)
Remove or Reduce Harsh Vocal “S” Sounds Easily

Inspired by the vintage gear used for precision de-essing and high-frequency limiting, DeEsser tames “ess” and “shh” sounds. As recordings boost high frequencies for greater intelligibility with narration, audiobooks, vocals, and podcasts, de-essing is now more important than ever.

However, de-essing isn’t only about voice. DeEsser’s gentle de-essing action can reduce amp sim harshness, tame cymbals in drum loops, sweeten the sound of digital synthesizers, and more.

Choose Your Solution

Choose one of two ways to suppress ess sounds. The highpass sidechain mode minimizes objectionable sibilants over the widest range, while the bandpass mode zeros in on problematic frequencies.

Fast and Simple

DeEsser uses a hard-knee compressor, so after choosing the frequencies you want to minimize, simply adjust the Threshold for the desired amount of suppression—as confirmed by the Attenuation meter.

Full Strength, or Full Fidelity

Split mode applies de-essing to only high frequencies, for maximum ess rejection. Wideband mode is gentler, and is useful for voice-only de-essing because it removes the crossover in the processing path.

Requirements:

mac:
cpu: Intel or Silicon Architecture
ram: 8
disk: 16
version: macOS Catalina 10.15, Big Sur 11, Monterey 12, Ventura 13, Sonoma 14
additional_requirements: Minimum: 1024x768 Recommended: 1280x1024 / 1600x1024 USB displays are not supported as the primary display.
internet_required: False

windows:
cpu: X64 compatible Intel or AMD CPU
ram: 8
disk: 16
version: Windows 10 64 bit and Windows 11
additional_requirements: Minimum: 1024x768 Recommended: 1280x1024 / 1600x1024
internet_required: False

Licensing:
methods: computer,usb