In this blog, I’ll quickly explain how to remove sibilance in Adobe Audition using DeEsser. This will smooth out the harsh distortion of ‘sss’ sounds on a voice recording.
To know what you need to put into the DeEsser, open up spectral frequency display. The icon is near the top left of your screen, or you can press SHIFT+D on your keyboard. You’ll then be able to see just where the problem frequency is.
You can see even clearer if you bring up Adobe Audition preferences using CTRL/CMD + comma. Select Spectral Displays, check the Show gridlines box, and turn the opacity right up. Once you’ve finished looking, you can then return the settings to default.
Now, to smooth it all out, head to Effects > Amplitude and Compression > DeEsser. In Center Frequency, enter a frequency in the middle of the range you’d like to work with.
And there you have it. Every time the speaker says that ‘sss’ sound, you should see the gain reduction kicking in to smooth it out.
If it’s not, then your threshold is probably too high, and if there’s still too much on everything, you’ve got the threshold too low.
And that’s the simplest way to set up a DeEsser to make your sibilance sounds a little less harsh.
If you’d like to learn more about Adobe Audition, check out my audio production courses.
Learn More About Editing Audio In Adobe Audition
- Adobe Audition Multiband Compressor Tutorial
- How To Make Your Voice Sound Better In Multitrack
- Adobe Audition Autotune Tutorial – No Plugins
- 7 Tips For Starting As A Voice Over Talent
Adobe Audition Presets
If you are looking to speed up your audio editing, apply complex effects in seconds, then take a look at our Adobe Audio Presets here!
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