What Is a Gate & how it adds to your mix

A gate in audio engineering or audio mixing is much like a gate in the real world. A gate is used to keep sound out of your mix.

An audio gate is a dynamic processor that will allow you to keep an audio signal past a certain threshold while cutting the audio signal under a certain threshold.

A common example of gate use is on the toms of drums.

The microphone will continue to pick up unwanted background sound if a gate is not applied.

With the gate applied only the attack and decay of the tom hit will pass though your mix.

This is useful if you would like to add effects to that particular drum without adding the effect to ambient or background noise. Even with directional microphones some noise will pass.

How to use a gate

Open and Closed are the basic modes of operation, but the signal can be further shaped and structured by the different controls of a gate. The basic controls of a gate are:

• Threshold – (measured in dB) This is the point in which the audio signal opens or closes
• Attack – This is measured in milliseconds and is the time it takes for the gate to open after the threshold is surpassed. It is common to have a fast attack so the ‘punch’ is still audible.
• Hold – This is the minimum amount of time the gate will stay active after the threshold is surpassed. This can be measured in milliseconds and sometimes seconds.
• Release- (or decay) this is the amount of time it takes the gate to completely close once the audio signal falls below the threshold.

*Not all gates will have every function listed about and some might have more*

A very great tool for any audio engineer is the Yamaha sound reinforcement handbook.

 Sound reinforcement is the use of audio amplification systems. This book is the first and only book of its kind to cover all aspects of designing and using such systems for public address and musical performance. The book features information on both the audio theory involved and the practical applications of that theory, explaining everything from microphones to loudspeakers. You can find a copy of it here

Gates are all about listening to what sounds best to you and your audience. Always listen to your tracks in the mix and how the gate interacts with the mix So listen close, trust your ears, and add noise gates accordingly! Gate is a simple tool that can greatly clean up your mix.