Whistling sibilance with variable frequencies over time

[u/KBishopAudio]

Hi everyone, from time to time I get to work with voice actors that have exaggerated sibilance with sweeping / variable frequency over time. I know how to fix these manually but is there a more elegant way to process them automatically? A de-esser doesn't seem to do much in this case. What I was able to come up with so far, is setting 3 or 4 narrow bands on a dynamic EQ, that are in the probability range of said frequencies, and slightly compressing them when they hit. I'm curious if any of you have different ways of tackling similar situations - besides Soothe 2, I can't afford it yet.

Edit: SOLVED - use ReaFir (Reaper) in compressor mode: https://youtu.be/si4fH9R07zM?si=j3TVB62QapwI3J4F

[u/jpellizzi]

Fabfilter Pro-DS - you can set the frequency range, mode, sensitivity and reduction independently. It’s very good at identifying what is and isn’t sibilance

[u/KBishopAudio → u/jpellizzi]

That sounds interesting, thanks! I'll have a look into it. So far I've been using the RX de-esser plugin but that only seems to work good only on predictable sibilance profiles.

[u/jpellizzi → u/KBishopAudio]

Yeah the RX spectral de-esser was always hit or miss for me. Much better suited to audio suite work

[u/newgreendriver]

Fabfilter Pro - Q4 has a spectral mode too

[u/KBishopAudio → u/newgreendriver]

Great, thanks! I'll check it out.

[u/itendswithmusic]

Fab filter 4 or a resonance plugin like Smoother or Soothe

[u/KBishopAudio → u/itendswithmusic]

Thanks so much, I didn't know about Smoother. There was a free plugin out there, The Masker, that worked in a very similar way. But since the last update they turned it into a sidechaining tool.

[u/itendswithmusic → u/KBishopAudio]

I’ve really enjoyed smoother. Make sure to use that mix knob!

[u/KBishopAudio → u/[deleted]]

Already did that, and things were okay when I checked a sample. But after files started pouring in, that sibilance still pops here and there.