Review: McDSP DE555

I’m a sucker for a good de-esser. Whether it’s a hardware unit or a plug-in, I’m always searching for that perfect device, one that will remove offending sibilance without destroying the tone and dynamics of a vocal recording.

Unfortunately, good de-essers are hard to find. Many of the hardware varieties are difficult to adjust for the right amount of control; turn the range knob just a whisker too far on the industry standard dbx 902, for instance, and the singer sounds like they’ve recorded with their mouth full of mashed potato. Get it just right and it’s one of the best de-essers on the market. Some of the plug-in varieties, meanwhile, seem either too crude or largely ineffective, even when the gain reduction meter is measuring –8dB. I’m convinced that behind many of these plug-ins there’s an old lady in a rocking chair knitting a jumper, watching the esses fly by without so much as a sideways glance.

In many respects, the best form of digital de-essing is the one that comes free with most recording programs – automation. In ProTools for instance – drawing automation over offending esses and pops is usually the most effective method of control, but it’s also a relatively laborious and time-consuming task. Automation passes can effectively tame all kinds of dynamics, of course, allowing you to ditch plug-in compressors altogether if necessary, but I’d contend there are more fun things to do with your mix (and your day) than spend hours manicuring automated gain reduction paths for each and every instrument.

In the digital domain, the new McDSP DE555 has largely restored my faith in plug-in de-essers, living up to the high expectations that preceded its release. Like so many of the plug-ins in the McDSP range, the new DE555 de-esser, designed by the enigmatic Colin McDowell, is a well conceived and decent sounding plug-in. Offering more control than most others, it provides for the manipulation of three seemingly obvious parameters – the three ‘R’s: Range, Ratio and Release.

The Range control, like the threshold knob on a compressor, marks the point above which the de-esser begins to take effect – this is a control that all de-essers have, of course. The Ratio control meanwhile, marks the departure point from the standard parameters. Again, like a garden-variety compressor, the Ratio knob represents the compression scale of the de-esser (from 2:1 to 20:1), for gently reducing, substantially controlling through to virtually limiting the incoming signal. The DE555 also has a Release control, to alter the duration of your gain reduction, leaving the de-esser only an Attack control shy of a fully-fledged frequency-dependent compressor. Having control over these three parameters allows you to fine-tune the de-esser in subtle ways, and leaves you wondering why on earth all de-essers didn’t develop these features years ago.

THE KEY

The ‘Key Filter’ section of the de-esser (top left of the plug-in window) is also well featured, offering five controls in total. There’s a standard frequency knob (sweepable from 500Hz to 15kHz), for choosing the high-pass filter’s crossover point. Below this point, the de-esser has no impact, provided the high-frequency (HF Only) box is highlighted. De-selecting this control makes the de-esser act on all frequencies. The bonus feature of the Key Filter is a band-pass option, selectable on a button below the HF filter, which reduces the range of the de-esser’s sensitivity to a narrow group of frequencies, the ‘Q’ control for which is adjustable, wide or narrow, via the Focus knob. And if you’re looking for an ‘AM radio’ sound, simply wind the Range and Ratio knobs right back, and leave the Listen button highlighted to achieve that barky tone – good for delays and other crazy tonal switch-ups.

Other features of note on the DE555 are: an output knob for adjusting the gain ±24dB; input, gain reduction and output PPMs, with the gain reduction meter cascading from the top down and coloured orange; as well as some handy presets available in the settings menu, which most people forget are even there! Two graphs: a Frequency Response/Key and a Dynamics plot clearly represent the setting on the plug-in, and provide good (albeit modest) visual real-time feedback of the actions of the plug-in. I’d prefer to have been able to grab and manipulate the graphic displays themselves, as an alternative to twiddling the knobs, but not even the McDSP EQs offer this control, which I’ve always found a little odd.

The DE555 is a handy little de-esser with some great bonus control features, making it one of the best plug-in variants of de-essing on the market. Unfortunately, on its own the DE555 is not cheap by anyone’s standards, but if you’re looking for a quality de-esser for mixing etc – and who isn’t – this one is extremely well featured and well worth checking out.