ToneKnob SSSniper

Witness the S-pocalypse

What’s it for?

Sssniper is basically a smart de-esser — a handy effect that reduces harsh sibilance. Those annoying hissy “S” sounds are a common issue when recording vocals — whether singing or spoken word — on a microphone.

Sure, you can treat some of that at the source during tracking: mic position, pop filters, and all kinds of nylon socks in front of the mic. But those mostly help with low-end plosives — like the “p,” “b,” or “d” sounds. Sibilance is a different beast. It can still sneak through and ruin your mix even with proper mic technique. Or on the flip side, you overdo it, and the singer or speaker suddenly sounds muffled and lispy.

That’s exactly why Audified built Sssniper! It hunts down and snipes out all the nasty S-sounds for you — and you can easily control how much reduction you want with a simple twist of the knob.

Red or Blue?

Unlike the rest of the ToneKnob series — where everything works in a predictable left-to-right fashion (from subtle to strong) — Sssniper works a little differently. Its default starting point is smack in the middle — 50% on the knob. Even here, with the effect just turned on, it already starts working gently, giving you smooth, natural de-essing.

Red ring on the left:

This side is tuned for female vocals — sharper sibilance, usually in higher frequencies. Sssniper targets the S-sounds in your audio, and the more you turn the knob to the left, the stronger the reduction.

Blue ring on the right:

This side is tuned for male vocals — deeper voices with a different sibilant profile. Turn the knob to the right to increase reduction.

*The brightness of the ring also reflects how much sibilance is being reduced — the more it lights up, the more aggressively those S-sounds are being trimmed.

Pro tip:

While the default setting has been tested on a broad range of voices, sibilance is a personal thing — and no single setting fits all. So don’t let the colors box you in. Try both sides of the knob and find out which one works best for your voice.

Why you want Sssniper:

There are a bunch of de-essers out there — but most of them require know-how and some pretty advanced tweaking: calibration, finding the exact frequency, dialing in thresholds... Sssniper takes care of all that for you. It locks onto sibilance and takes it out — effectively but gently — so your vocals still sound natural and clean, without the dreaded pumping effect that bad de-essing can cause.

Audified believe Sssniper will become an essential tool in your workflow — saving you time and frustration that sibilance can cause in a mix. And it fits perfectly into the ToneKnob family of effects!