Noise Gate Recommendation?

[MAC2]

I've been looking into purchasing a noise gate and would appreciate anyone's insight who has experience using them.....specifically a Behringer Intelligate XR2000 'cause it's pretty much the only unit I've found in my price range. If there are other makes/models in the same price range ($100-$150) I'd appreciate any recommendations. Thanks for any help!

 

[acorec]

I am finally lost. This is a thread NOT about who makes the best Mic Pre for under $XXX! I actually have no answer for you. When I come out of shock, I will post my recommendations.

 

[SteveMcB]

Out of interest, what are you gating exactly? (Lotsa people here (myself included) don't use gates a lot is all)

I've heard some quite positive things said here about the behringer, things like "it does its job and doesn't screw with the sound too much" which I guess is great for a gate. On the rare occasions I use the expander/gate on my Behringer Composer Pro I have had no problems with it (although I did have to get a channel on it fixed a few months ago). I believe Samson make something in your price range, but have no experience with it/haven't heard anything about it.

Steve

 

[MAC2]

acorec: ....ha!...lol....that's a first for me too!......I don't think any one has been stumped by one of my posts before

Steve: I had some experience using the pod for recording guitar tracks and it had a noise gate on it.....worked really well.....anyway I went and bought a FlextoneII XLPLus thinking I was getting a pod in an amplifier....I was wrong, there is NO noise gate on it. So I started toying with the idea of getting a decent noise gate....something that "does it's job and doesn't screw with the sound too much". Since I started looking into it I've found it might be very useful in more ways than just recording git tracks from noisy amps. I've also found there are noise eliminating plug ins but I'm leaning towards a rack mounted noise gate to get the tracks I want recorded correctly from the start. Thanks for the reply!

 

[MISTERQCUE]

Owner of Beh's Intelligate. Average gating capabilities needing a wider range than most gating units for normal operation. Nearly impossible to level unit to it's "HOLD" position when desired settings are in place.
Unit provides more than decent de-essing(sssssiblance) and ducking operations under normal circumstances.
The ONLY reason I use this unit is it's HI/LO pass filters which gives me more fine-tuning control of freq'ys(similar to using a para eq) when side-chained to my graph eq.

I have the prev model of the XR2000 and got it new @ $56.00
from Sammy's (Sammy's at 1 time, had a Behringer giveaway
a while back when they discontinued their contract of selling Beh gear of which they took off d@mn near 65-70% off the regular price)

 

[Downside Studio]

Steve makes a good comment...do you really need a gate, and if so, for noise cancellation or drumkit adjustments? If it's the first one I would spend my money improving the recording traject. If it's the second one I would recommend a course of tuning drums for that amount!

 

[MAC2]

Hi Mr.Q....good to hear from you! I'm not exactly sure if that's a "good" review though....since I really haven't worked much with noise gates myself I don't know what you meant when you said "Nearly impossible to level unit to it's "HOLD" position when desired settings are in place". Could you elaborate a little on that? Sure would be nice to pick up a $130 unit for $56....then it would only be a $56 mistake if I didn't like it!

Downside: I started out looking for something that would do the same thing the POD's noise gate would do (which was cut noise from noisy amps) but after reading the other things you can do with a noise gate I believe I'd answer your question by saying "both". (Plus I started to wonder if I could leave the heat on during the winter & the air conditioning on in the summer while tracking ) What did you mean by "recording traject"?...signal chain?...how do you eliminate noise from amps?...mic placement? BTW I visited your site and was impressed...wish I could read the text though

Thanks to you both....I appreciate the help!

 

[Downside Studio]

Mac2, what I ment was that it better to tackle the problem at the source, than trying to fix it later. Though that's easy to say for me because I indeed have the luxury to do both. But the funny story about this all is that I used to mix with almost everything gated.

Now I have a mixing console with 48 automated gates inside, and I find myself not using them at all. Start at the source. If a guitarplayer has an amp that is really noisy, I bet you the guitarsound won't be all that great either. I mean if the dude isn't able to get set it up.....

For altering the sound for eg drums it's another story. I don't use gates for that anymore, because a lot of drummers slam very inconsistent resulting in false triggering the gate. I use Protools to get rid of crosstalk in very chaotic drumrecordings (eg live recording), because a normal gate would not function. I'm not trying to shorten the sustain on toms, just cleaning up tracks.


One thing to say still.....I did learn a lot using gates, especially why I don't want to use them now. That is worth a lot to, so even though it might not be the most logical buy, you'll gain from it anyway!

 

[MAC2]

Thanks Downside.....I see your points. I suspect your present equipment (and that of the people you record) has a lot to do with the fact that you no longer need a noise gate. I like what you said about learning from the experience of using them.....sometimes experience really is the best teacher!

Chances are if a person that comes down to record has a noisy amp I'm not gonna furnish him with a quiet one....I've only got the Flextone mentioned above and it makes noise That being the case the noise gate idea seemed like a cheaper way to go than buying another amp or some other item in the signal chain (with the possible exception of a plug-in such as the Protools feature you mentioned).

I agree with the philosophy to get things tracked correctly from the start....thus my research on the noise gate idea (I'm presently incapable of utilizing a plug-in in real time while tracking without encountering latency problems between the input signal and the processed signal). Using a plug-in program after tracking is still an option though....are you suggesting that doing so is better than using a noise gate during tracking given your experience?....do you have any recomendation for a "noise eliminating" plug-in (other than the one included in Protools)?....anyone else have any exerience with "noise eliminating" programs ("Sound Soap",etc.) that would serve my intended purpose?.....would I get more "bang for the buck" using a plug-in? (I'm running Sonar by the way...)

 

[acorec]

OK Now that the shock has worn off, I use the Samson S-com. I got it at least a year ago and am very pleased with the noise gate. Th gate is fully adjustable and is totally transparent. I get no tail cutoff and it is smooth. I use it all the time with no problems. It also has an expander which is sometimes very useful. A noise gate turns the sound "off" below the threshold. An expander turns the volume"down" below the threshold. I like the S-com. It was worth the money to me. I paid something like $145.00.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

I agree with Q and Downside... many times, a gate is used to fix a problem that really should be fixed at the source instead.

The Behringer is ok - usable, but not great. Honestly though - it's been a good year since I last used it!

 

[MAC2]

acorec: Thanks for revisiting this thread....the simple "noise gate" & "expander" descriptions were very helpful. I've also had a look at Samson's S-Com and it's certainly in the running.

Blue Bear: Thanks for your take on this! Especially "cause you have experience using the Behringer. I gotta say I'm a bit surprised that the more accomplished sound engineers say they no longer use noise gates. Makes me wonder who's buying up the more expensive models

 

[Downside Studio]

I gotta say I'm a bit surprised that the more accomplished sound engineers say they no longer use noise gates.

I am deeply honoured.

 

[acorec]

I am deeply honoured.

I will say that I use a noise gate all the time. The main reason is that most of my recording is in the 16-24 track range. With this many tracks, the noise does build up. Especially in digital recording. 24 tracks of background noise is too much. Also, a gate is useful if you are recording yourself. You don't have to worry about being totally quiet when you are doing guitar punches etc. If set correctly, a gate is great (rhyme). If you are quiet, with very low background noise, then a gate is probably not necessary.

 

[dizzlano]

Spend the extra cash, and buy a dual- DRAWMER, DRAWMER, DRAWMER.

The gates on these things are as tight as a dolphins you know what.

They will last, work amazingly, and you'll never be sorry you spent the extra loot.

-dano

 

[acorec]

Spend the extra cash, and buy a dual- DRAWMER, DRAWMER, DRAWMER.

The gates on these things are as tight as a dolphins you know what.

They will last, work amazingly, and you'll never be sorry you spent the extra loot.

-dano

No offense, but this guy has $200 bucks to spend. What planet are you from? Drawmers cost $1000 bucks! I think he would be very sorry he spent the loot as there are many things he could do with a grand that would add better sound. The last thing I would spend a grand on is a noise gate.

 

[cavedog101]

If you must gate, then find a set of used dbx363's....very usable and more than likelt you'll have less than $100 tied up in to 2 channels.
Also as has been suggested...try to solve this at the source..whether this means tighter patterned mics, or better placement technique, or perhaps better control of the volumes, only experimentation can tell.
Personally I stay away from most Behringer products.Symetrix makes very good gates and used are quite cheap. Most gates these days will be cheap as nobody uses them much. Although with some of the recordings I've heard on the mp3's they maybe should have.
Remember this about gates.....the attack and release sound can become your friend if used in a musical rather than a mechanical way.

 

[scottboyher]

I will say that I use a noise gate all the time. The main reason is that most of my recording is in the 16-24 track range. With this many tracks, the noise does build up. Especially in digital recording. 24 tracks of background noise is too much. Also, a gate is useful if you are recording yourself. You don't have to worry about being totally quiet when you are doing guitar punches etc. If set correctly, a gate is great (rhyme). If you are quiet, with very low background noise, then a gate is probably not necessary.

I agree with this totally! I personally don't have anyone sitting behind the sliders while I am playing so a gate is a good choice.

 

[sweetnubs]

sweetnubs is feeling extra sweet today and instead of engaging in my favorite hobby of making fun of beringher i'd suggest scrounging around for some kepex gates. you could probably get four used in a luchbox for $400. they are made by valley people, sometimes people call them valley audio or allison research. the kepex II's are the best of the lot. of course this company doesn't exist anymore but their stuff is pretty robust. I've had various kepex units since the mid 80's. there are definately better gates but I still use my kepex stuff on occasion. shit they were used on dark side of the moon, which isn't a terrible sounding album. I think "noise" gate is a bit of a misnomer and confuses people. there are many other uses for gates and I use them quite a bit during mixdown.

 

[acorec]

sweetnubs is feeling extra sweet today and instead of engaging in my favorite hobby of making fun of beringher i'd suggest scrounging around for some kepex gates. you could probably get four used in a luchbox for $400. they are made by valley people, sometimes people call them valley audio or allison research. the kepex II's are the best of the lot. of course this company doesn't exist anymore but their stuff is pretty robust. I've had various kepex units since the mid 80's. there are definately better gates but I still use my kepex stuff on occasion. shit they were used on dark side of the moon, which isn't a terrible sounding album. I think "noise" gate is a bit of a misnomer and confuses people. there are many other uses for gates and I use them quite a bit during mixdown.

I forgot about those! They were great gates. Sweetnubs has a rare find. But, when I got my S-com, the record labels finally noticed me and have alot of interest!