In this video, I’m going to explain what a noise gate is and show you how to use them in your mixes. Noise gates are an essential tool in your mixing toolkit so it’s important to get to know what they are and how they can benefit you.
First of all, I over exactly what a gate is, then I’ll explain all of the parameters of a gate plugin. And finally, I’ll jump into a session and show you gates in action.
There are so many situations where gates can be helpful – and not just the obvious ones. They can of course be used to reduce noise. They’re exceptionally useful for reducing bleed from other instruments when recording multiple sound sources (e.g. drums). But gates can also be used for more interesting and more musical applications, too.
For example, you may have heard the iconic 80s gated snare sound. Gates can be really useful for shaping the decays of instruments and effects. Let’s take a deep dive into delays!