New Gear Review: SPL 1503 DeS 500-Series De-esser

SPL, makers of acclaimed instant-classic outboard gear dating back to the 1990s like the Vitalizer and the Transient Designer, have a couple of new 500-series units out, and I was fortunate enough to get my hands on one of them: The 1503 “DeS” de-esser.

SPL has never been known for mic pres, digital effects boxes or vintage gear emulations. Instead, they tend to make products designed entirely for new approaches to mixing—products that twist, morph and enhance sounds. They are a company that tends to make products that are neither cheap nor expensive, yet are very useful, very pro and built pretty well. This new piece fits all of those descriptors.

“DeS”, the new 500-series De-esser from SPL.

SPL has a winner here, in my eyes (or ears), and here’s why:

There are a slew of de-esser plugins on the market. The only problem is that most of them seem to be at least partially if not fully ineffective. Some of them even seem to make sibilance louder. Some of them work pretty well for some voices but then are useless on others. Some of them sort-of do the job but then destroy your high-end, even when the plugin isn’t de-essing.

While I do manage to get by with plugin de-essers (often using two different instances on a single track to get the job done, and regularly resorting to doing simple level rides on S’s) I just haven’t found any de-esser plugins that are as effective as those classic outboard de-esser modules from the 80s. This has not been for a lack of looking, and I know I’m not alone.

The SPL DeS promises a step up from not only the available software de-essers, but from many of the best of the hardware de-essers from the past. Like most of SPL’s line, it offers a very novel solution to an age-old problem for audio engineers. And, one more thing that the SPL 1503 has going for it: It keeps the quality-to-cost ratio high by fitting perfectly in a single space of your 500-series rack.

Features

The biggest feature of the 1503 is that it is really two de-essers in one, processing different bandwidths, serially—first starting with a circuit that processes the high-mids (switchable between “Male” and “Female” ranges of 6.4kHz and 7.6kHz respectively) and then running into a circuit that processes the highs (with a wide range centered at 11.2kHz).

The controls are fairly straight forward, though it is worth reading the short but easy to understand manual that comes with it. The “Lo-S” and “Hi-S” knobs essentially control the threshold, and therefore amount of processing. There are bypass controls for each of the two serial processors, as well as a master bypass control to hardwire bypass the entire unit.

In Use

As SPL states in the manual, this de-esser does not work the same way most de-essers do.

Normally, a de-esser is really just a super-fast compressor that responds only to the high frequencies. Instead of this, the SPL DeS processes the S’s by way of phase cancellation.

I was immediately curious to see if this alternative method of de-essing actually works. It does. Totally well.

I put the DeS to the test on two different projects: One, a pop/rock mix with a female lead vocal, and the other, a male voiceover track. In both situations, I was not only left satisfied, I was overjoyed at the realization that the the lower-band processor is not only helpful for de-essing, but is also excellent for reducing mid-range vocal harshness. (While the manual says the lower band processes at 6.4kHz or 7.6kHz, it seemed to also have an effect in taming that more often problematic 2.5kHz range—to my ears anyway.)

If you’re mixing a female singer with a sort of thin voice, and she’s belting, then the Lo-S knob on the SPL 1503 is your answer—even if you aren’t looking for de-essing necessarily.

Whether or not you end up setting that switch to “Male” or “Female had little to do with the actual gender of the source, I found. You just have to spend 5 seconds flipping between the two, and use your ears and see what works best for the song.

The “high” processor works very well too, doing more of a traditional de-essing job on those airy S frequencies. With a little bit of fiddling of both knobs, plus a flip of the Male/Female switch, you can tame pretty much anything—and way more effectively and cleanly than any plugin de-esser I’m aware of can. Excellent work, SPL.

Another test that is absolutely crucial for de-essers is what happens to the signal when it isn’t processing. Good news once again: Nothing. A 0dbVU signal going in is a 0dbVU signal coming out, and the SPL 1503 is virtually colorless with both processors engaged and both thresholds set to off. I tried hard to hear some degradation, but didn’t really have any luck. I wouldn’t hesitate to put this on a pristine vocal sound, knowing I won’t lose any detail. When in full bypass, there was absolutely no sign of the unit being in the chain.

Summing it Up

The SPL 1503 is a unit whose only weak point is that it takes maybe 1 minute to set as opposed to the 15 seconds another de-esser might require. (Then again, some de-essers will take 5 minutes of messing around with before you realize you’re better off without it).

While I have never tried SPL’s de-esser plugin (and would be very curious to hear it in an A/B comparison with this unit), I can safely say that this device is much more effective, as well as transparent than any plug-in de-esser I have tried so far.

At the time of this writing, the SPL 1503 DeS has a street price of $579, and although it’s more than the average person probably wants to spend on one de-esser, this thing works, and it works well. I would highly recommend having at least one, if not two or four.

Ari Raskin is a freelance producer, mixer, engineer and guitarist based in Manhattan. Find his discography, musical samplings and contact information at AriRaskin.com

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