Boston, MA (May 7, 2025)—iZotope has unveiled the latest entry in its Catalyst plug-in series: Velvet, a new de-esser plug-in that aims to hone in on specific attributes in specific spaces, allowing users to get surgical in their approaches to vocal shaping.
Velvet splits audio into separate sibilance and tonal channels, thus allowing users to separately de-ess, de-click and reshape only certain parts of a vocal that need it. The intention behind using separate channels is to allow for transparent and targeted processing of problematic parts, while allowing users to avoid overall harm to a vocal’s warmth and clarity.
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According to iZotope, this is handled through “Intelligent de-essing,” said to dynamically reduce harsh sibilance only where it’s needed, leaving the tonal quality untouched. Velvet automatically identifies sibilant frequencies and sets up intelligent EQ nodes for use in de-essing.
Elsewhere, Lift and Tame controls can be used to adaptively shape vocals toward target profiles, without affecting sibilance. Also, an intuitive de-click lets you remove mouth sounds, pops, and clicks just with a fader adjustment. The software also includes channel soloing, and a selection of 50 presets to get users started.
The Velvet plug-in has an MSRP of $49, but is debuting with a $39 Limited-time crossgrade from any paid iZotope product available through May 21, 2025.
