Noise Gate Suggestions ? noise problems? Are noise gates Needed?

L

ljgmsun

New member
I'm currently debating if I should get a noise gate for my setup. I've never used them and was wondering what you people thought about them for my setup and recording issues.

dbx 386
FMR RNC's
rode NT5's
Studio Projects B1/C1
Tascam US-428
Cool Edit Pro 2.0

I primarily record a lot of layered acoustic guitar,bass and vocals. Here are a few issues i've encountered when recording

1) noise bleeding from computer hums and background noise during 'rest' periods in tracks
2) Excessive Breathing sounds in vocal tracks singing ( along with breathy voices ) -> looking to minimize these sounds
3) sliding sounds from acoustic guitars during soloing, and rumbling and fumbling from background movement.
4)In the final, mix, the noise from multiple tracks usually start to build up and the plugins i use to clean it up take care of the sound the way i want it to.

I'm looking to pick up a noise gate for this, but i'm not sure what to get. Any suggestions on noise gate units? or alternative solutions to these problems?
 
ljgmsun said:
I'm currently debating if I should get a noise gate for my setup. I've never used them and was wondering what you people thought about them for my setup and recording issues.

dbx 386
FMR RNC's
rode NT5's
Studio Projects B1/C1
Tascam US-428
Cool Edit Pro 2.0

I primarily record a lot of layered acoustic guitar,bass and vocals. Here are a few issues i've encountered when recording

1) noise bleeding from computer hums and background noise during 'rest' periods in tracks
2) Excessive Breathing sounds in vocal tracks singing ( along with breathy voices ) -> looking to minimize these sounds
3) sliding sounds from acoustic guitars during soloing, and rumbling and fumbling from background movement.
4)In the final, mix, the noise from multiple tracks usually start to build up and the plugins i use to clean it up take care of the sound the way i want it to.

I'm looking to pick up a noise gate for this, but i'm not sure what to get. Any suggestions on noise gate units? or alternative solutions to these problems?
Click to expand...


Really, I think that a noise gate will not solve any of these problems. A noise gate is used to "turn off" the track when there is no signal. It will not take care of anything while there is a signal. Background noise should be fixed. The noise is there in the background when you are not playing/singing. However, when you are playing/singing, the background noise is being recorded along with the signal. This noise (low for one track) will build up in multiple tracks and basically ruin your whole mix. Niose gates are used to keep low noises out of the recording when you are not singing/playing. These noises are like moving around, touching the strings accidentny, breathing etc.
 
I agree with acorec, alot of your problems will not be solved by a noise gate.

What you should do to eliminate all that background noise is snip out the slient portions of each take in Cool Edit. That's basically the same thing a noise gate would do, but you ahve better control when editing it yourself.
 
Re: Re: Noise Gate Suggestions ? noise problems? Are noise gates Needed?

acorec said:
Really, I think that a noise gate will not solve any of these problems. A noise gate is used to "turn off" the track when there is no signal. It will not take care of anything while there is a signal. Background noise should be fixed. The noise is there in the background when you are not playing/singing. However, when you are playing/singing, the background noise is being recorded along with the signal. This noise (low for one track) will build up in multiple tracks and basically ruin your whole mix. Niose gates are used to keep low noises out of the recording when you are not singing/playing. These noises are like moving around, touching the strings accidentny, breathing etc.
Click to expand...

Wassup there acorec. In addition to what you have stated, gates
also control "track bleed" usually caused during mic'ing situations
of drum kits and git-amps where the mic is picking up signals from outside sources.
In certain cases, gates also aid in the elimination of annoying & unwanted audio artifacts such as "hiss & rumble" commonly found in drum machines and git efx units(my "canned drummer", the Boss DR202 is a notoriously known as the "SNAKE" due to it's
aggravating "hissing" on cyms,hi-hats and upper-reg percussion instruments).
A particular unit I found resourceful for attacking this prob is BEHRINGER'S INTELLIGATE. It's gating function adequately cut's the unwanted introduction of "hiss" to the unit's signal especially when a long delay & resonance is employed. It's serviceable Hi & Lo Cut Filters,aids somewhat in cutting freqy's that may be contributing to s/n ratio. @ $49 street (or maybe cheaper), the unit can lend a hand in certain noise-ctl situations.
Overall, noise s/b attacked at it's source. Recognizing and remedying the prob can be had by making an adjmt here & there.
Problems such as "siblance", signal-source peaking, levelling & bleed, if not controlled thru tracking, can be resolved thru the proper use of a dynamic processor or compressor.
 
Re: Re: Re: Noise Gate Suggestions ? noise problems? Are noise gates Needed?

MISTERQCUE said:
Wassup there acorec. In addition to what you have stated, gates
also control "track bleed" usually caused during mic'ing situations
of drum kits and git-amps where the mic is picking up signals from outside sources.
In certain cases, gates also aid in the elimination of annoying & unwanted audio artifacts such as "hiss & rumble" commonly found in drum machines and git efx units(my "canned drummer", the Boss DR202 is a notoriously known as the "SNAKE" due to it's
aggravating "hissing" on cyms,hi-hats and upper-reg percussion instruments).
A particular unit I found resourceful for attacking this prob is BEHRINGER'S INTELLIGATE. It's gating function adequately cut's the unwanted introduction of "hiss" to the unit's signal especially when a long delay & resonance is employed. It's serviceable Hi & Lo Cut Filters,aids somewhat in cutting freqy's that may be contributing to s/n ratio. @ $49 street (or maybe cheaper), the unit can lend a hand in certain noise-ctl situations.
Overall, noise s/b attacked at it's source. Recognizing and remedying the prob can be had by making an adjmt here & there.
Problems such as "siblance", signal-source peaking, levelling & bleed, if not controlled thru tracking, can be resolved thru the proper use of a dynamic processor or compressor.
Click to expand...


True. All true. Well said.
 
Hey Q, Is the Intelligate very transparent? Can you hear any clicks or anything when it fires on and off? Does it have sidechain inputs? I need to get some gates for drums.
 
i use gates quite often. drumsets are a prime example. they help to "tighten" up a kit. helps with phasing problems due to 'leakage". it's a lot easier to gate a snare than to edit between each hit. plus digital sucks and i'd rather run it through an analog gate. i use drawmer gates and kepex gates. i recomend on the cheap getting some kepex gates. you could probably get a lunchbox and a 6 cards for $500. your gonna have to learn how to solder your own cables though and wire up a barrier strip. There are is some mods you can do on them also. pretty nice. their use on dark side of the moon is a classic example. drawmer kicks ass but are expensive. Think of it as gate, not a "noise gate." there are many other results from the application besides just eliminating noise. Quit looking at your damn computer and look at the musicians. turn a knob for christ's sake.
 
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