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bikescene
New member
What exactly is meant by gating the drums? I've seen this term frequently, yet each time I'm clueless as to what it means.
Purge
Traitorous Usurper
I know I won't have a good way of explaining this, so here's my shot at it...
"Gating" generally means to cut a portion of the signal out of the sound. Think about hitting a snare drum in a concrete basement--long after the initial "thwack", you're going to hear a massive amount of reverberation. If you "gate" that drum signal when you're recording or mixing, you're looking to chop off some off the nasty ding noise that makes the drum sound like...well, like you recorded it in a concrete basement. You might have also heard the term "gated reverb", in which you would add reverb to the signal in order to prolong the "thwack", and then gate off the end of it in order to get a very thick drum sound.
Gates are also used to get rid of some of the drum "bleed" that occurs when your using several mics to record a kit. You might only want the snare mic to pick up just the snare, but chances are good that you're going to hear some of the toms or other drums in that mic as well. By setting the gate to letting only the sound above a certain threshhold (i.e.--"I just wanna hear the loud one"), it will help to get rid of some of the other sounds that you didn't want creeping in there.
Hope this helps. I know other people can explain that better than I just did, especially since it's likely that they will actually know what they're talking about.
"Gating" generally means to cut a portion of the signal out of the sound. Think about hitting a snare drum in a concrete basement--long after the initial "thwack", you're going to hear a massive amount of reverberation. If you "gate" that drum signal when you're recording or mixing, you're looking to chop off some off the nasty ding noise that makes the drum sound like...well, like you recorded it in a concrete basement. You might have also heard the term "gated reverb", in which you would add reverb to the signal in order to prolong the "thwack", and then gate off the end of it in order to get a very thick drum sound.
Gates are also used to get rid of some of the drum "bleed" that occurs when your using several mics to record a kit. You might only want the snare mic to pick up just the snare, but chances are good that you're going to hear some of the toms or other drums in that mic as well. By setting the gate to letting only the sound above a certain threshhold (i.e.--"I just wanna hear the loud one"), it will help to get rid of some of the other sounds that you didn't want creeping in there.
Hope this helps. I know other people can explain that better than I just did, especially since it's likely that they will actually know what they're talking about.
hasbeen
New member
A good explanation. Gating drums were HUGE in the late 70's and thru the 80's when drums were getting 100,000 mics and their own mixing console. As of late, more natural and less mics seem to be in favor.
You can gate anything you record. Experiment if you have one.
You can gate anything you record. Experiment if you have one.
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bikescene
New member
Thanks for the explanation, Purge. That really helped me understand the term.
I don't have a gate. Are there particular popular products that do this?
hasbeen said:
I don't have a gate. Are there particular popular products that do this?
Kevin Deschwazi
Well-known member
If you think of it as a physical gate, with hinges, that opens and shuts.
You set a threshold. When the signal is above that threshold the gate is open and so the signal can pass through unaffected. When the signal drops below the threshold the gate shuts and the signal is cut off.
Most gates have attack and release settings also, so that when the signal goes off/comes back it's gradual.
Purge's explanation for use on drums is pretty good. Also very good for using on noisy guitar amps to cut out the hum when the guitar isn't being played.
You set a threshold. When the signal is above that threshold the gate is open and so the signal can pass through unaffected. When the signal drops below the threshold the gate shuts and the signal is cut off.
Most gates have attack and release settings also, so that when the signal goes off/comes back it's gradual.
Purge's explanation for use on drums is pretty good. Also very good for using on noisy guitar amps to cut out the hum when the guitar isn't being played.
Purge
Traitorous Usurper
I don't really want to recommend this as a good product (many people on this board will absolutely tell you it sucks as a compressor), but a good place to start learning what these do might be the Alesis 3630. It's a 2 channel compressor and noise gate that you can almost always find used for around 40 or 50 bucks. The compressor isn't so hot, but the gate is at least functional and will give you an idea of how they work. Quite a few of the "budget companies" out there (Behringer et al) make compressor/gate combo units that are affordable. Rocktron is another company that has been doing this for years with their "Hush" products. As far as really good noise gates go, I can't help ya much there--I'm in the same boat as most of the people here trying to make a decent sound with affordable equipment.bikescene said:
MadAudio
Damned if I do
It would be a lot easier to recommend something if we knew what you current set up is. Analog? Digital? Soundblaster or real audio card? Mixer? Recording whole band at once? Type of music being recorded? You know, that kind of stuff.