A variation of a sidechained noise gate used in electronic music production is a trancegate or just simply gate, where the noise gate is not controlled by audio signal but a preprogrammed pattern, resulting in a precisely controlled chopping of a sustained sound. Home » Columns » Mixing & Mastering » Here. You will hear the release because it's set fast. A noise gate is an electronic device that attenuates the volume of an audio signal by either allowing the signal to pass through unaltered or by closing off the possibility for the signal to pass through entirely. Noise gates often implement hysteresis, that is, they have two thresholds: one to open the gate and another, set a few dB below, to close the gate. Noise gates have a threshold control to set the level at which the gate will open. Hysterisis help the gate handlin fluctuating signals This means that once a signal has dropped below the close threshold, it has to rise to the open threshold for the gate to open, so that a signal that crosses over the close threshold regularly does not open the gate and cause chattering. There's no escaping this part, but it's easy once you understand it. We don't want that, so leave it at 0. He has also mixed, mastered, & recorded for countless independent artists. Another thing you can do is ducking, which reduces the volume of another track when the main track is playing. The first is EQ Filters to set a frequency band in which the gate acts. For example, a synth pad may play whole notes while keyed to a guitar or percussion part. Both noted levels should be close to one another. This helps you have a more accurate attack because it can act immediately without needing to calculate on the fly. It gives you two thresholds to give you more control over accidental chatter by closing and opening the gate too fast. 4) Lower the Threshold to the Noise Floor - Keep dropping the threshold until the instrument sounds completely normal except for the decay tail being chopped off by the release. The release is the opposite of the attack. Combine this image, if you can, with actually changing these controls while listening to audio and it'll make far more sense. More advanced noise gates have more features. You won't use this in live settings, which is why it's rare to see on pedals. It is the fade-out duration for when the audio dips below the threshold. If the volume of the audio exceeds that of the threshold (is louder) then the gate opens and all audio is allowed to pass through. Add this tool to your skillset. I won't go into detail but you can look them up. This should stop most of the "chopping" except at the ends of musical phrases with very long decay durations. If it's set too slow, you'll fade out so long you allow a bunch of noise through. So you add a gate and set the threshold to 11 dB, just above the volume of the noise. This allows you to have brief moments of low volume in your signal without triggering the gate to be closed. 1) Insert the Gate Inline - Remember, I've told you to always insert the noise gate immediately after your instrument or after the preamplifier for a microphone. You need to find the right length of time that you allow the audio to decay naturally but still chop out the noise before it's had a long enough time to be noticeable. Hysteresis is even more of a fade-out than Release. The release control is used to define the length of time the gate takes to change from open to fully closed. That's the beauty of a gate, it mutes or reduces the volume of the noise for you automatically so you can get right into the fun parts instead of slogging through manual, meaningless work. To state that in more basic terms, it either does nothing to your audio or it mutes it, with nothing in between. Often there will be complete attenuation, that is no signal will pass when the gate is closed.