5 Gating Tips For Better Live Shows

[@johnmcquay82]

Some great tips here. I use gates a lot; I'm often having other sound engineers tell me I shouldn't use them, and then later they ask "how did you get that sound?" well, a lot of it is down to the way I use gates in conjunction with compression. It's amazing what you can achieve with relatively basic dynamics controls.

[@NickGazard]

Thanks will explore gates beyond just thresholds on our X32s. Appreciate you showing it on different systems.

[@OffshoreAudio]

Thanks! It's my pleasure.

[@obijuan8466]

OMG! The key input frequency! I had no idea. And I just figured out the nasty clicking I have been hearing when I use the gate a few weeks ago. I knew it was something I was doing, but didn't know what.

[@OffshoreAudio]

Aha! That's great 😁 so glad it was helpful

[@sky.london]

It was useful, thanks. Like the tip about Jazz.

[@OffshoreAudio]

Thanks! Glad you liked it.

[@RobInnell]

I always try to find out if any backing vocalists are going to be talking to the crowd between songs because if I leave an expander on their talking voice often isn't loud enough to open the channel up properly

[@OffshoreAudio]

Yeah there's a lot of caveats to the whole expander thing. It works best if you've got really good communication with the band/ know the material. Either way it's a tool to have in your arsenal that can sometimes help solve a problem.

[@Bobby_Uterus]

You have some great videos! You really deserve more views and likes. Are you a church sound tech by chance?

[@OffshoreAudio]

Thank you so much! I'm not, I'm about 50/50 between concerts and conferences.

[@Bobby_Uterus]

@@OffshoreAudio Awesome! Nothing against those church sound guys. I’ve learned a lot online from them, But all the religious stuff is kinda off putting. They also tend to mix only church type music.