How Do Gate And Expander Work?

DRAWMER DUAL GATE DS201

Although Gate and Expander have a very similar structure to compressors, their working mechanisms are almost the opposite. Compressors and limiters apply a certain amount of gain reduction after the audio signal passes the threshold. Gate and Expander reduce the audio signal below this threshold and keep it at lower levels. Sometimes the gate, compressor, and limiter may be on the same audio signal processor.

DRAWMER MX30

These two audio signal processors can be used in many places in projects. It can generally be used on Vocal, Kick, and Tom microphones. For example, when there are no vocals during a concert, the vocal microphone also captures environmental sounds. With Gate, it can completely eliminate unwanted sounds when the vocal is not singing.

Gate:

The gate is also called a noise gate. The gate passes signals above the threshold level you specify without any action or change. When the signal level drops below the threshold level, the gate closes. Now let's take a look at the parameters of the noise gate!

Fabfilter Gate Pro G

Threshold: Expressed in dB. Signals above this level pass through the unit without any change. Signals below this level are cut off according to the attack, retention, decay, and range parameters you specify.

Attack: Expressed in milliseconds (ms). This parameter determines the activation time and speed of the unit, as with the compressor, limiter, and expander.

Hold: Expressed in milliseconds or seconds. It determines how long the gate will remain open after the signal drops below the threshold level while the gate is open. This parameter is used to prevent signals close to the threshold level from constantly opening and closing the door. Continuous opening and closing of the door at short intervals is quite disturbing for the ear.

Decay/Release: Expressed in milliseconds or seconds. It controls how long or how fast, the gate will close when the signal falls below the threshold level.

Range/Floor: It is expressed in dB. This parameter determines how many dB the signal below the threshold level will be reduced. In some cases, the signal below the threshold level should not be completely lost in order not to disrupt the naturalness of the sound. To solve this, the range parameter can be set at lower levels.

Expander:

Unlike compressors, it expands the dynamic range of the signal. It expands the dynamic range by reducing the signal coming to the Expander when it is below the threshold. The difference between a Gate and an Expander is that the gate eliminates the signals below the threshold, while the Expander allows the signal to pass at a very low signal level. It has the same parameters as the gate and compressor.

Waves Expander