Why you need a Noise Gate

This post was first published in June 2014 at projectstudiohandbook.com/PSHforum

Why you need a Noise Gate
Post by FairFax » Fri Jul 11, 2014 8:10 pm

Everyone has a gear wish list, and we're willing to bet that a hardware noise gate is not high on yours, if one is on it at all. After all, who needs a noise gate when we have low noise DAW systems with effective level automation and the ability to easily silence noisy passages in our audio files?

It wasn't always this way. Pre-DAWs, studios had racks of Keypex's or DS201's to strap across tape returns to keep noise and hiss at bay. But in the last few years, they have been selling them off, and as we write there are 19 on eBay at bargain prices. So why would a home or project studio owner want one?

Because they are one of the most brilliant and satisfying creative tools you can buy, that's why! The DS201 has remained in production, unchanged for decades. And the reason is that Drawmer got it right. Like Fender and the Strat. Or MXR and Phase 90. Or Neve and the 1073.

The trick is to stop thinking of them as noise gates and consider their creative potential. Because they are analogue devices, and have a simply brilliant compliment of tweakable knobs and features, you can run signals through them and "mould" a signal.

Firstly, the attack, hold and decay controls allow you to shape the envelop of a sound, softening attack or cutting a sound down to its bear transient.

The side chain allows you to trigger the gate from an external signal. A classic treatment is to turn a legato sound, such as a pad or guitar chords, into a sequence, by feeding a hi-hat signal into the key input. But you can go further and control the envelop and rhythm of any sound with another. We love to record power chords and then trigger them with a gurio.

Another neat trick is to use the stereo channels as 2 mono channels in series, with the first channels output triggering the seconds key input. We took a snare drum and a massive reverb and created a stereo effect which sounded like a match being struck followed by an slowly blooming reverb tail.

And even better, the range control works like a mix pot, allowing you to balance treated and untreated signals, for parallel gating effects.

Oh and it has filters so you can achieve frequency conscious gating effects, and you can switch between ducking and gating action!

We know that all this can be achieved in a DAW, but with analogue signals and the DS201, everything is so organic, more enjoyable, and just .. well .. better!

So if you have a spare 100 bucks, why not invest in a studio classic that will still be working and bringing a smile to your lips long after software support has been withdrawn for your precious plug-ins.

More here .. http://www.drawmer.com/products/pro-series/ds201.php

Thanks for reading.
FairFax