AnalogObsession LOADES Review: The Best Free De-Esser You've Never Heard Of

You finally did it. You stopped using your laptop’s built-in microphone. You bought a decent USB condenser mic, maybe even a boom arm. You plugged it in, hopped on your first call, and…

Ouch.

Every time you say “Save,” “Slack,” or “Status,” it feels like someone is stabbing an ice pick into your eardrums.

Welcome to the world of sibilance.

Condenser microphones are incredibly detailed, but they are also unforgiving. They love high frequencies, and they tend to hype up the S, T, and Ch sounds in human speech. If you are tired of sounding like a snake hissing at your Project Manager, you need a de-esser.

Usually, good de-essers are expensive (which is weird, considering how simple they are). Cheap ones effectively work by turning the volume down rapidly every time you hiss, which often makes you sound like you have a bad head cold or a lisp.

But then there is LOADES by AnalogObsession. It sounds like expensive hardware, acts like a smooth operator, and costs literally nothing.

Who is AnalogObsession?

If you haven’t been down the freeware rabbit hole yet, meet Tunca. He is the developer behind AnalogObsession, and he is essentially the Robin Hood of the VST world. He builds meticulously modeled plugins that look and behave like classic analog gear, and he releases them all for free on his Patreon.

There is no copy protection. No dongle. No account login. You just download the file and go. (If you like his stuff, you should absolutely support his Patreon, but it’s not required).

What Makes LOADES Different?

Most de-essers are surgical. You tell them, “Find 7000Hz and kill it.”

LOADES works differently. (Fun fact: It’s actually the de-esser section pulled from his massive “LOADED” channel strip—hence the name). It describes itself as a “Smoother” rather than a harsh cutter. It seems to handle the high-end in a broader, more musical way. Instead of just ducking the volume of the “S,” it softens the texture of the high frequencies.

In technical terms, it feels less like a pair of scissors and more like a very expensive pillow.

The Interface: Knobs, Not Graphs

If you are coming from FabFilter or iZotope, the interface might shock you. There are no dancing spectrum analyzers. No frequency curves. Just knobs.

This is a good thing. It forces you to use your ears.

• Thresh (Threshold): This is the big knob. Turn it to the left to catch more “S” sounds. Turn it to the right to do nothing.
• Release: How fast does it let go? For speech, I usually keep this fast so it doesn’t swallow the next vowel.
• Mix: A built-in blend knob! This is huge. You can crush the sibilance heavily, then dial the Mix back to 50% to bring some life back.
• Output: It’s a volume knob. You know what this does.

The Magic “Soft” Button

This is the secret sauce. There is a tiny button labeled SOFT.

When you click this, the plugin switches from a more aggressive compression to a transparent, gentle smoothing. For remote work and spoken word, leave this on. It is practically invisible. It doesn’t sound like “processing”; it just sounds like you bought a more expensive microphone.

There’s also a BAND button, which changes it from a “shelf” de-esser (reducing the volume of everything above a frequency) to a “bell” de-esser (reducing the volume only around a specific frequency range, usually where the ‘S’ lives). Personally, I prefer the sound when this is turned off; the default shelf mode sounds more natural to my ears.

Pro Tip: Try turning the Threshold down until the effect is way too obvious (where you sound like you have a lisp), and then use the Mix knob to dial it back to 50%. This is called “parallel de-essing,” and it can sound even more natural than just using a light threshold.

The “Treasure Hunt” (Read This!)

The software is amazing, but getting it is a bit unusual.

AnalogObsession releases everything via Patreon. When you click the link below, you won’t see a big “Download” button at the top of the page. You won’t see a “Get it Now” banner.

You have to scroll down. Past the description. Past the update logs. All the way to the bottom of the post body, just above the comments section. This page is basically the product page, change log, and manual, all in one.

There, hiding in plain sight, you will find a list of links (usually labeled simply as Mac Installer, Windows Installer, etc.). It feels like you are hunting for secret files in a 90s forum, but trust me, it’s worth the scroll.

Once you find the file, installation is refreshingly simple. In the past, these unsigned plugins used to trigger all sorts of security warnings on macOS, but in my recent testing, the installer ran without a single complaint. It just works.

The Verdict

If you have $150, go buy FabFilter Pro-DS. I hear it’s amazing, but de-essing is such a subtle improvement that I can’t imagine dropping that much on it.

But if you are doing the $0 Upgrade Challenge , or if you just want a tool that adds a little analog “vibes” to your sterile digital audio, LOADES is a no-brainer.

I put this plugin on my chain when I’m using my travel mic (which tends to be a little harsh in the top end). I turn on the “Soft” mode, dial the Threshold until the “S” sounds stop hurting, and then I forget it exists. Unlike many options out there, this one is a breeze to set up quickly.

That is the highest compliment I can give a utility plugin: It does its job so well that I forget I’m using it.

Download LOADES via Patreon