If it’s below, the gate closes and no sound goes through.Īs a lot of effects like this, you also get an Attack and Release interface, as well as Hold.Īttack controls the speed at which your gate kicks in. When the sound is above the threshold, the gate is open, letting sound through. Threshold controls the level, at which your Gate will kick in.
Noise Gates are usually controlled by a combination of parameters. You can also use gates for the classic Eric Prydz reverb snare, so gates can be used creatively for sound design too, and are not just a mixing & mastering tool to clean audio up.
Gate plugins are fantastic to use when you want your drums snappier, and used in conjunction with transient shapers, can really help things to pop a little bit more.
They can stop unwanted background noise, hum, hiss and even mic bleed from causing too much of an issue, opening only at a certain threshold, so that the main parts of your audio can come through, but can make your audio much cleaner. If the sound is lower than the set level (threshold), then it won’t let the sound through. A noise gate is an audio effect that lets sound through if the sound is louder than a certain level – this is called the threshold.