De-Essing problems

I've got the tools, I've read about how and I've done tutorials but I've had little or no success. What's the secret?

• I'm looking in the 7k freq range
• Detection thresh is 5 db
• Reduction 10 db

Playing with all those controls doesn't seem to make much difference. I've also tried zooming in and applying 6 db cut to the offending area of the clip, which makes it less but it's still sibilant.
 
This is for a male tenor. Anyone got THE tool or settings that work.
 
Thanks - rev 
 

Tonmann de-esser is the best de-esser I've ever used, and it's free! Very flexible controls. Pay special attention to the BANDwidth and frequency controls, then once you've found the culprit, adjust the reduction control. Use SPAN or another frequency analyzer if you need help finding the frequency.
 
if the person was generating a really strong S in their vocal apparatus (gap between teeth, dry mouth etc), AND they're on a mic that emphasizes those frequencies, AND they were recording too close to the capsule...then you might never get the most pleasant tone out of the recording. Try backing them off from the mic next time (or switching mics...or eating a green apple prior to their singing!) But if you have a few atrocious Ss in a really great performance, that no de-esser can quite kill--then chop an S that sounds OK from another part of their performance and drop it in! No joke. It's a pitchless syllable, and if you do it right it's undetectable.
 
 

First, identify the offending band. Keep in mind that it may not be the same throughout a track or between different vocal parts. Put an EQ on the track and create a BIG (+12 dB or more) and narrow boost, then move its center frequency around until you've made the sibilance sound as bad as you possibly can. That's where you need to apply compression.
 
If you attenuate the "S"s but it still sounds piercing, then your filter is too narrow. Or, there is a second band (a harmonic) in play. Also make sure it's actually sibilance you're dealing with; I've seen resonances (from recording too close to a window or an internal resonance within the microphone) cause essiness that masquerades as sibilance but cannot be treated with de-essers. A spectrum analyzer or (better) a sonogram can show you if it's one or the other.
 
What are you using? A de-esser, a filtered-sideband compressor, a dynamic equalizer, or a multiband compressor? Or maybe a more old-school method?
 
(BTW, I almost never use de-essers. Unless the recording is really bad, I prefer to address sibilance with hand-planted gain automation.)

Oh! And don't forget to put your de-esser next-to-last in your vocal plugin chain--after any EQ or compression etc, but BEFORE any volume automation.
 
In my experience, unless you have a pretty bad mismatch between your singer and your mic, a de-esser can get you where you want to be 95 percent of the time. But after you've set your baseline settings on your de-esser, you can manually address any other problems with gain automation (and in the most dire circumstances, S replacement. But IMHO, the less of that kind of finicky nitpicky stuff you can do the better!)

I use the old lovely Sonitus Multiband.

If I have an issue, I do one of four things:
 
1.  Follow one de-esser plugin by another de-esser plugin.  After all a de-esser is just a frequency dependent compressor, and following one compressor with another is often a good approach.
 
2.  Split the audio and isolate the offending ssssss, or phhhttt, or tttuhh.  Put a de-esser on the clip FX.
 
3.  Same as #2, but export the wave and process in an external wave editor, save, and pull back in.
 
4.  Do the old "Get back in the vocal booth and try not to slobber so much!"
 

richardskeltmusic
I find that if there are cymbals in the drum part this tends to create the effect of sibilence on my vocals even if it wasn't noticeable when the vocal is solo'd. Does anyone else find this?  Is it psychological or is there some physics/accoustics explantation?
 
To cure it I either edit the drumtack to remove splash/crash in the offending part of the song (normally the chorus) or else sidechain the vocals into a compressor on the overheads track to duck the cymbals when the vocals are active. 

Personally I rather get a great take than messing with fixes.
If the Cymbals are problematic, then do they belong there?

I think this is one of the biggest issues with project musicians, does the song need EQ?

For example. I used a RODE NTK to record my song (link below) and because this mic is so bright on my voice, I decided to add only around 200hz eq to give it some body. Meaning I added no high or mid frequency.

Please note: I am not implying you are not a pro, I am simply saying sometimes, just keep it simple and try getting a great take because fixes can be like plastic surgery, it will begin to become apparent. 

Wow, plenty to be getting on with there!
 
Thanks to all!
 
rev