There are de-essers, and then there’s Re-Esser. Wavesfactory’s latest creation takes one of the most essential — and least glamorous — parts of vocal mixing and turns it into something exciting, elegant, and surprisingly creative.
This isn’t just another sibilance tamer. It’s a complete re-thinking of what’s possible when you separate sibilant and tonal elements entirely.
First Impressions
If you’ve followed Wavesfactory’s work — from Trackspacer to Equalizer and Spectre — you know they don’t make ordinary tools. Each plugin feels like a clever, musical experiment in signal processing. Re-Esser continues that tradition.
It’s positioned as “the next generation of de-essing”, and it lives up to that bold claim. Instead of simply compressing the top end of your entire vocal like a traditional de-esser, Re-Esser splits the signal into two fully independent layers: sibilant and tonal.
You can then process each side however you like — EQ, compress, saturate, even add reverb or modulation — and blend them back together in perfect phase.
“If you can separate the two elements entirely, that’s pretty baller.”
And indeed, you can.
Simple Controls, Deep Results
One of the biggest appeals of Re-Esser is how quickly it gets results. The central “Sibilance” knob feels like a genuine one-control solution — turn it down to reduce sibilance, or up to enhance it. No thresholds, no guesswork. However depending on the voice you are treating, you will usually have to adjust the sensitivity and smoothing controls, allowing you to fine-tune how it bites into the incoming audio.
When testing it on vocals from my track Darkling (feat. Symbion Project), I could completely mute harsh S’s or dial them back just enough for a natural feel.
“Even if this plugin did nothing except volume-based sibilance control, it would already be worth it.”
And when you want to go deeper, Re-Esser gives you sixteen high-quality effects — from compression, EQ, and saturation to delay, reverb, flanger, chorus, and tremolo — all assignable independently to the sibilant or tonal layers. It’s like having two mini channel strips in one.
Creative Potential Beyond DS’ing
The creative uses here are where Re-Esser really shines. You can, for example:
- Add reverb only to the tonal layer, keeping S’s clean and tight
- Saturate the sibilant layer to smooth harshness instead of just reducing volume
- Or even do the opposite — boost the S’s to restore brightness in over-de-essed recordings
In one experiment, I applied convolution reverb just to the sibilant layer — something I’d normally avoid — and it unexpectedly created a sultry, atmospheric texture that gave the vocal a cinematic edge.
“This plugin made me realize DS’ing could actually be fun — and that’s not something you can say often about signal processing.”
Usability & Design
Wavesfactory’s trademark minimal design is present here: clean, futuristic, almost Portal-lab-like. Every control feels immediate, and the plugin window is fully resizable. There’s no iLok, no painful activation process — just a simple serial number.
I’d love to see a real-time analyzer added in future updates, especially since it would make EQ decisions on the sibilant layer even faster. But overall, the interface encourages experimentation in a way that most utility-type plugins never do.
Real-World Tests: Vocals & Voiceover
On sung vocals, Re-Esser was brilliant — particularly with midrange and low-register voices where I could “set and forget.” On airier falsetto takes, I found myself fine-tuning sensitivity more carefully, but once dialed in, it held steady across performance changes.
Then I tried it on my Be a Better Artist podcast voice — a completely different scenario with outdoor ambience and room noise. The result? Still clean and effective.
“Even in a noisier podcast recording, it locked onto the sibilance like a pro.”
And in post-production, being able to subtly bring back S’s in muffled or dull recordings feels almost magical. I genuinely haven’t seen another tool that can do that.
Final Thoughts
Re-Esser is one of those rare plugins that redefines a whole category.
It’s not only a smarter de-esser — it’s a creative mixing environment for the most delicate part of the human voice. Whether you’re polishing vocals, cleaning dialogue, or exploring sound design, this thing feels like a must-have.
“Re-Esser doesn’t just tame harshness — it reshapes it. It’s both surgical and musical.”
“It could easily be your one-stop vocal toolkit.”
At €99 (or €69 intro), it’s competitively priced for what it offers — and if you already own other Wavesfactory plugins, you might even snag a loyalty discount of up to 25%.
All in all, Re-Esser makes you rethink how “de-essing” really should be done.
💬 Prefer video?
🎥 Full review: https://youtu.be/HNcRUpu3nTM
