Use Clip Gain to De-Ess a Vocal Track - Pro Tools

By TOM BOWSER

This Quick Start will teach you how to use "clip gain" to manually "De-Ess" or reduce the level of an S sibilant at the beginning of a word in a vocal track. In some cases, manual editing can be more effective than using a specialized De-Esser plug-in. You may choose to use both manual editing and a De-Esser plug-in simultaneously.

REMINDERS:

• Clip gain in Pro Tools allows you to adjust the gain/signal level of a clip before it reaches plug-ins inserted on the track or the tracks output level fader.
• The Clip Gain Line is only visible if the track is set to size small or larger.

Decrease the level of an S sibilant at the beginning of a word:

1. Listen to locate an S sibilant you want to decrease. The S sibilant has a distinctive appearance that helps identify it (see the image below).

2. Press and hold down the SHIFT + Windows logo keys and then press the - key (hyphen) on your keyboard to show the Clip Gain Line. Press the - key again to toggle the visibility of the Clip Gain Line. The Clip Gain Line is used to adjust the clip gain level.

3. Select the S sound (sibilant) you want to reduce. See the image below.

4. Hover your mouse cursor near the Clip Gain Line until it changes into the Trim tool as in the image below.

5. Press and hold down the SHIFT + Windows logo keys on your keyboard.
6. Roll your mouse scroll wheel backward to reduce the clip gain level of the S sibilant. Roll your mouse scroll wheel forward to increase the clip gain level if you've reduced the level too much. See #2 under TIPS: if you don't have a mouse scroll wheel.

   Listen to verify that the change you made sounds natural (if that's what you want).

TIPS:

1. To verify the current clip gain level:
   • Hover your mouse cursor over the Clip Gain Line until it changes into the Trim tool.
   • Press and hold down your left mouse button.

The clip gain level will display in a rectangle located at the top of the clip. I have underlined the clip gain level in red within the image below.

2. A different way to modify the clip gain level once a selection has been made is to:
   • Hover your mouse cursor over the Clip Gain Line until it changes into the Trim tool.
   • Press and hold down your left mouse button.
   • Drag the Clip Gain Line down to reduce or up to increase the clip gain level.

3. For finer control over how much the Clip Gain Line moves when you drag it up or down:
   • Hover your mouse over the Clip Gain Line until it changes into the Trim tool.
   • Press and hold down your left mouse button.
   • Press and hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard.
   • Drag the Clip Gain Line up to increase or down to decrease the clip gain level.