You could do it either way. As long as the gate is cutting everything else out and still opening for the softest hits (ghost notes on the snare, etc...) there's nothing wrong with gating. But make sure your attack and release settings are perfect. A too long attack will cut out the initial attack of a drum, for example.Trimming away the dead air from kick and snare drum tracks is
a very tedious process as Im sure everyone hates. Would a gate be
a better option, or is trimming just a necessary evil?
I like to use side chain gating, it's only really a time saver in pro tools though. With Tab to Transient you can add a short burst of sound on each hit of the snare or kick on another track then move them all a bit backwards, say 5ms or so. Use that to open the gate on the snare track and you get all the little hits and ghost notes with all of the attack.
Hmmm...I wonder if there's a way to gate these double posts I keep seeming to end up with...
Hmm, I only have one noise gate plugin. It blows balls because I can't control the closure speed, (it closes instantly.) Can anyone suggest a smoother one?