Do your gates really swing? Maybe they are only operating at a fraction of their potential. Put simply, gates can open and close to only let in sounds above a particular threshold. Frequency conscious gating can further increase the accuracy and effectiveness of the gate. Read on to make sure you’re making the most of your gate… As a creative studio tool, gates can come into their own. Utilising the ‘key input’ of more sophisticated gates can open up a world of new ideas and sound experimentation. Here’s an article written in 1996 that’s well worth your five minutes. It starts out with some ‘understanding’ and finishes off with some ‘inspiration’…

USING THE DRAWMER DS201 DUAL GATE - DAVID MELLOR 01/96

There's more to gating than just getting rid of unwanted noise: the humble noise gate is capable of truly creative studio trickery. DAVID MELLOR reveals some of the unusual uses for your Drawmer DS201, but if you don't own a DS201, don't despair: these tips can be adapted for most good quality gates.

It is every hi-tech manufacturer's dream to produce a piece of equipment that will become so essential that every studio will just have to have one if it wants to be seen as a serious player. The Yorkshire company Drawmer has done that and more besides - it's not uncommon to see two, three or even more Drawmer DS201 Dual Gates in the racks of studios, and in PA circles, DS201s are bought in bulk, to eliminate unwanted noise getting from microphone to speaker. This, ostensibly, is their main function: cutting out unwanted noise when there is no wanted signal coming through - although there are other very useful things you can do with them, as you'll see after reading this article. - more