Noise Gates Plugins Settings. Get Clean Vocals & Guitar

Have you ever wondered what you need noise gate plugins for? A noise gate is a tool that makes your vocal or guitar recordings sound clean and removes unwanted background noise. 

Learn how to optimize your noise gate settings in a noise gate plugin to optimize your drum and vocal recordings. This will make your mix sound much cleaner and tidier in the end.

Especially if you're using a cheap audio interface or pre-amp, the so-called noise floor can be very loud. This background noise can be significantly amplified during the mixing and mastering process by using compressors and limiters, and this must be prevented at all costs.

When dealing with the topic of music production, at some point, you will come across the term "noise gate plugins." 

Maybe this topic will seem unimportant to you at first. But for clean mixing results, it is essential to understand its meaning to get top-sounding results.

This article will help you understand the importance of using Noise Gates if you record Vocals, Guitars, or Drums and how to use them correctly. You will also learn which noise gate plugins are currently the best and which are worth buying.

The task of the noise gate is to process the audio material, removing unwanted noise while maintaining the desired sound. Usually, this is done by a noise gate plugin or a so-called noise gate pedal. 

To summarize, a noise gate plugin can mute the quietest parts of your recording. This removes unwanted background noise or sounds. The plugin must be set to the correct value from how much DB the sounds are muted. After that, you will only hear the clean rest of your recording.

Here's an example diagram to illustrate the idea:

Any noise in the red area below the noise gate (gate) in the graph will be reduced, usually to 0 dB. This process allows you to get cleaner and better mixes after the recording.

You can easily remember the concept by imagining an actual gate you can only get through when it is open.

Here are some of the best Noise gate Plugins

• SSL X-Gate
• Neutron 2 Advanced
• DMG Expurgate
• Sound Radix Drum Leveler
• Fabfilter Pro-G
• Metric Halo Channel Strip gate
• Boz Digital Labs Gatey Watey
• Sonnox Oxford Drum Gate
• Polyverse Gatekeeper
• Waves C1 Compressor gate

As I wrote above, the concept of the noise gate is very straightforward.

It works on a threshold that you set; every sound above the threshold passes through, while the threshold blocks every noise below it.

The noise gate plugins usually come with five main parameters, while the pedals have fewer:

The first main parameter is the threshold, the level you set to let the sound pass through. This parameter is the most important and will be on every plugin and pedal. 

You can set the threshold just by hearing and looking at the meters.

The following parameter is the ratio, which determines the amount of volume reduction on the audio. So, you can choose to keep the amount of gated sound below the threshold.

You can choose to use the ratio to make your signal cut sharper or less sharp.

The attack is how fast the gate works and opens after the input level goes above the threshold.

Usually, I would go with fast attack time, but you can play with it as you like and for your specific needs.

The release determines how quickly the gate closes after the level falls below the threshold level.

Open gate means sound pass.

Close means sound attenuated.

The hold is for how long you want to hold the gate open after the level passes below the set threshold.

*Some parameters can act differently on different plugins.

Don't use the parameters aggressively and listen carefully for the best results. 

Some plugins would have visual indicators but always stick to the sound with music.

The difference is straightforward. The compressor is made to reduce everything above the threshold, make the sound balanced and make the lower parts louder, while the noise gate is used to reduce the sound below the threshold. 

(This type of noise gate is also called an expander).

The limiter is an extreme compressor case that will mute everything above a chosen threshold.

Using the noise gate to absolutely mute sounds below the threshold is the opposite of the limiter. 

(This type is called a gate, and it's an expander with an infinite ratio).

Learn where to put noise gate in a signal chain when mixing.

Some reasons to use the noise gate may be obvious, and some not. 

The first desirable use of the noise gate is when you record, and you can hear some stuff going on in the background. 

It could be just the singer moving; the mic gets a little bit of sound from the headphones (if you use open-back headphones, this problem may become noticeable), the sound of your pc fans, the air conditioner, or just the sound of traffic that gets in from outside, a knock on the mic, breathing noises, and every little noise that recording can make.

Of course, there could be more situations, but this is the main idea. 

Another reason to use the noise gate on recordings is to create more natural silences instead of just cutting them.

Even with a noise gate, every recording will keep some noise, but you can make it much better. 

To get more specific, the examples of when to use a noise gate in vocals are to get cleaner separations between the singing, when the singer takes a breath or just being quiet, you want to clean the air, or the headphones bleed in the background, and as I mentioned above, it keeps the recording more natural.

With the vocals, you don't want to remove all the breaths in between because you want to keep a human aspect in them.

Another thing to remember regarding vocals is to take your time getting the proper parameters (threshold, attack, release, etc.) so you don't accidentally cut the end of sentences.

Sometimes overprocessing and setting the parameters incorrectly (too much) might result in further difficulties, such as choppy vocals, and it will not clean the thing you want.

A rule of sense of using noise gate on vocals is to use it after you have already set other mixing plugins in the signal chain (but before the reverb and the delay) to make the noise that wasn't audible before noticeable.

Some noise gate plugins offer a preset specifically for vocals, and you can first use it and then change the parameters to your will.

As for the vocals, various reasons could lead you to use a noise gate, and it also depends on how you use, record, and the type of effects on the guitar. But to give you an example, a screeching sound or if you are using an electric guitar with an amp set to a higher gain and then adding a treble booster pedal, there will be an unwanted noise that can be rid of with a noise gate.

Sometimes, when you still hear the noises while the instrument plays, you should use other solutions like a noise remover plugin.

The noise gate can be placed with guitars before setting other mixing plugins in the signal chain.

If your sample has an unwanted sound, you can often use the noise gate to reduce or remove it from the sample (if the sound is lower than the other elements).

With recording drums, depending on the room, you may want to use a noise gate to get rid of the room reverb or the room atmosphere and more reasons the same as for recording a guitar or a vocal mentioned above. 

And with the drums, the noise gate can be placed before you set other mixing plugins in the signal chain.

When placing the noise gate in the mixing chain, it is not always black and white so try to experiment with it.

Fl Studio noise gate, in action.

The example shown is a sample of an entire drum loop in which you want to side chain only the kicks out of him quickly with the help of a noise gate plugin.

First, I'll use a random full drum loop and a random instrument for this example.

As you can see, the stock limiter plugin in this software also comes with a noise gate.

Now the problem is that you are also sidechaining the hi-hats and not only the kicks from the loop. 

So, you need to add an equalizer to channel 2 and remove the frequencies of the hi-hats. 

Although the sidechaining will now be cleaner than before, some noises still interfere. 

And now the noise gate comes in handy. 

To get the best and cleanest side-chaining, add a noise gate plugin to channel 2 and adjust the parameters to eliminate unwanted noise.

Thanks to the noise gate, you have the cleanest sidechain you could get.

Pro Tip: sometimes, if the kick is four on the floor, the only thing you need is a sidechain plugin.

A noise gate is an excellent tool for recording, mixing, and fixing unwanted noises.

Although it's not in the spotlight, it's an essential tool for your music journeys like the compressor and the limiter. 

The concept is easy and has a lot of practical uses.

Remember to use it when you need it, and don't abuse it on every channel. If you utilize this tool appropriately, it can greatly improve your recordings.