Tascam TA-1VP Owner's Manual

TASCAM TA-1VP 13What is a De-Esser?When recording spoken or sung material, the sibilants(Ss, Ts, CHs, and SHs) in the track often sound louder thanthe rest of the signal. The effect is unnatural and oftenirritating. The solution to this problem is to compressonly the sibilants, thereby lowering their level relative tothe rest of the track. Processing a signal this way is calledde-essing.The diagram below shows how analog hardware istraditionally configured to accomplish de-essing.COMPRESSORIN IN OUT OUTSIDECHAININPUTHIGHPASSFILTEROnly the sibilants pass through the highpass filter. Whenthe input signal contains sibilant material, the output ofthe filter causes the compressor to compress the signal.The compressor only operates when a sibilant is present.The TA-1VP uses a digital algorithm to implement the de-esser function. While the details of the algorithm are quitecomplex, the resulting effect is functionally equivalent tothe diagram above.EqualizationThe TA-1VP’s two bands of equalization each offer sevendifferent filter types: Low Pass (6 dB/octave and 12 dB/octave), Low Shelf, Band Pass, Notch, Peaking, High Shelf,and High Pass (6 dB/octave and 12 dB/octave). Eachfilter type has its own characteristics and applications.The graphs used in the next section show the frequencyresponse for each type with the settings used to generatethe curves notated next to the graph.Low Pass - High Pass FiltersThe low pass and high pass filters available in the TA-1VPoffer both a 6 dB per octave and a 12 dB per octave roll-off characteristic. The 6 dB per octave versions offer amore subtle effect, while the 12 dB per octave roll-off isuseful for attenuating sub-sonic noise, rumble, mic standnoise, high frequency hiss, and other environmentalnoises encountered in the recording process. Additionally,the 12 dB per octave versions provide a “Q” control thatallows you to create a variable height peak at the cut-offfrequency.LOGMAGNITUDE(dB)FREQUENCY50-18-12-606100 300 1000 3000 10000 22050LPLOW PASS FILTERFrequency: 1,000 HzGain: N/ABandwidth: N/ALOGMAGNITUDE(dB)FREQUENCY50-18-12-606100 300 1000 3000 10000 22050HPHIGH PASS FILTERFrequency: 1,000 HzGain: N/ABandwidth: N/A2 – Introducing the TASCAM TA-1VP Vocal Producer