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DN530
Operator Manual 5
Chapter 2: What Is A Gate?
The natural sounds of everyday life, which can be caused by anything from, say, the
falling of a leaf to the roar of a jet engine, vary extremely widely in sound level. This
variance is known as the ‘dynamic range’ and is the difference — expressed in
decibels (dB) — between the loudest and quietest sounds in a piece of audio, such as
music or speech, or that can be reproduced by a piece of audio equipment without
distortion.
All of the sounds that we want to listen to, whether natural or electronically processed,
are accompanied by a certain amount of unwanted background noise, such as the rustle
of musicians turning the pages of the score in the studio. Even if, in the final
programme, the noise level is below the ambient noise of the listening area, it may still
be heard and is therefore undesirable.
The gate is a valuable tool for controlling the dynamic range. The gate of the DN530
not only allows you to minimise or eliminate unwanted low level noises, but also gives
you creative possibilities by providing the tools to artistically restructure the dynamics
of a signal.
Principles of gate operation
The gate closes when the input signal falls below threshold (position 1 in Figure 1
below). This cuts off the output signal altogether until the gate opens again (position 2
Figure 1 below) when the input signal goes over threshold.
Figure 1: Gate function
You would normally set the gate threshold below the lowest level of the performance so
as not to lose any of the performance, but eliminating any of the unwanted hum, low
level noise etc.
Input signal
Time
Signal level
Output signal
Time
Signal level
Signals in
this range
muted
Signals in
this range
muted
Signals in
this range
muted
Music signal
Threshold
Noise
1
2