[Ads-l] de-essing (1944), de-esser (1946)

[Ben Zimmer]

Neither "de-essing" nor "de-esser" can be found in OED, MW, etc., but both
are well-known terms in music production and audio engineering.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De-essing
https://ledgernote.com/columns/mixing-mastering/de-esser/
"A de-esser is a tool to remove sibilance from live broadcasts or
recordings of human vocals. [...] The de-esser exists to remove these
annoyances during or after recording. This is sometimes called de-essing
and less frequently called desibilizing."

* de-essing

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https://archive.org/details/journalofsociety43socirich/page/329/mode/1up
F.T. Dyke, "An AAF Portable Sound Recording Unit"
Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, Nov. 1944, p. 329
The compressor has been provided with a "de-essing" equalizer, an addition
found necessary for this type of recording.
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* de-esser

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https://archive.org/details/journalofsociety47socirich/page/312/mode/1up
M. Rettinger and K. Singer, "Factors Governing the Frequency Response of a
Variable-Area Film Recording Channel"
Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, Oct. 1946, p. 312
The colloquialisms, "de-esser" or "de-icer," are sometimes applied to this
compressor equalizer.
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--bgz

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