heh heh, RAK, yeah I did recommend expansion. I'm just glad to see that someone else is on the same page there for a change. It seems like every time I mention range expansion on this board I get the Internet equivalent of blank stares back at me. It's nice to know that someone else knows about expansion
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I do somewhat disagree with the phrase, "Gates are extreme version of Expanders" though. I can kind of understand where you're coming from, but they really perform entirely different functions, and I think that statement can be potentially misleading.
Gates are not the inverse of limiters; they do not alter the dynamics of the signal in any way like an expander, compressor or limiter would. They are really just glorified "mutes"; they simply set a threshold volume level where any signal coming in below the volume of the threshold is muted (it does not make it through the "gate".)
Mini Rant re: Gates
And as long as we're on the subject, I'd like to clarify something about gates that seems to be a widespread misconception that I've been reading since coming on this board. It showed itself again earlier in this thread, so this is not completly off-topic, even though it is a sidebar...
Like any other broadband signal processor (I'm not talking about fancy sidechain tricks here), gates only look at and work upon the whole waveform. If the amplitude of the waveform rises above the gate threshold, it "makes it through the gate" and the signal is passes unimpeded. If the waveform does not rise above the threshold, "the gate is closed" and the signal is muted. That's all a gate really does.
Since I have come to this board I keep reading repeated references to reducing noise in a signal by gating it out. Many times there is the implication that any noise in the signal is removed as long as the noise level remains below the threshold, and the rest of the signal above the threshold passes through. In other words, the idea is that the gate can act as a noise filter.
This is not really true. The gate works to mute the signal only as long as the amplitude of the whole signal remains below the threshold. As soon as the wave amplituse of the signal rises above the threshold,
the entire signal passes through the gate, noise and all. It does not "filter" the noise out of the signal; it passes
everything through. Why? Because "everything" is contained within that single amplitude wave that has crossed the gate.
Gates are effective at muting noise during the otherwise silent parts of a track, but once the instrument or voice comes in and pushes the track amplitude above the gate threshold, the gate is wide open and the noise is still there with the instrument or vocal.
Sorry for the slightly off-track rant there, but this is something that has been pricking the hairs on the back of my neck for a loooong time now, and this seemed as good a time as any to try and set the record straight...in one thread anyway
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G.
