Adventures in Gateland

[Richard Monroe]

Well I just sniped an Audio Logic (DOD by any other name) quad noise gate for $56, and it seems to be in good working order. It has no manual of course. My experience with gating is limited to the gate in my Korg PXR-4 Pandora (which is a very useful tool, BTW). I understand threshold expressed in dbV, and release expressed in seconds or fractions therof. The third parameter is "range", expressed in db. Can somebody tell me what it does, and does it relate to keying gates from other inputs? Thanks in advance.-Richie

 

[Harvey Gerst]

Well I just sniped an Audio Logic (DOD by any other name) quad noise gate for $56, and it seems to be in good working order. It has no manual of course. My experience with gating is limited to the gate in my Korg PXR-4 Pandora (which is a very useful tool, BTW). I understand threshold expressed in dbV, and release expressed in seconds or fractions therof. The third parameter is "range", expressed in db. Can somebody tell me what it does, and does it relate to keying gates from other inputs? Thanks in advance.-Richie

If you consider a gate like a fast acting level control, the gate turns the signal down when it drops below the threshold, but how far down? Enter the range control. Suppose you just wanna lower the signal a little bit, or shut the channel off completely. That's usually the range control function.

At it's highest level, it will not cut off the background noise, even though the gate is "on". To not hear the gate working vigorously, you might wanna just lower the signal to maybe -10 to -15dB, just enough so that the noise doesn't stick out. Especially important when gating drums that aren't hit evenly.

 

[Richard Monroe]

Thanks, Harvey, You're a prince among men. So it becomes not a gate, but a screen door...Got it.-Richie

 

[sweetnubs]

Hiya rich, sweetnubs here at your disposal. First of all i'd drop that audio logic gate like a hot potato and pick yourself up a Valley Audio gatex off of ebay for around $100. It's the only cheap gate I'd recommend. It's based upon their kepex gates which are very good, just a little less parameter control. You can usually pick up a kepex gate (single) for around $100, but you need a luchbox with a power supply to run it. (about $100) then of course you need to wire up a barrier strip which will require soldering or stripping a snake on one end. If you can find the older Allison Research gates you are trippin' my man. Next up, drawmer gates. The harversters right, range is usuall indicated in decibals and shows they amount reduction that will take place. Don't think of a noise gate as a "noise" gate, just think of it as a gate. Think about how you can use it to reduce phase problems. Why thank you nubs.