The Brew - 'What I Want'

[pauli]

What settings are you using on the de-esser? I doubt the same settings you'd use for a vocal would work. If it's taming the noise but dulling the sound, try increasing the threshold slowly, or adjusting the bandwidth, until you get the right compromise between reduction and punch. You could also try a transient processor to boost the attack after the de-esser and see if it helps bring back the attack.

My spanish is weak but I think sergio is recommending using an analyzer to figure out which pitch is poking out, and that's really good advice. Those picking noise transients are so short that it's hard to tell by ear alone where they're hanging out in the frequency spectrum.

Where in the FX chain is the de-esser? If there's a strong compression after the de-esser it might be fighting your adjustments, and I could see that dulling the guitars.

This is all taste... some mix engineers are happy to leave pick noise alone, some people don't mind pick noise. Sometimes guitarists tend to focus on the guitars unduly so the pick noise might not be a problem at all.

I'm not sure where you've applied the saturation (which is a good thing) but there is a different color to the mix... good job! It's tough to improve the quality of a mix in a subliminal way like that.