Gates and expanders

Gates and expanders once played a vital role in every studio, but are now being increasingly sidelined due to the prevalence of software alternatives. Mark Cousins expands his horizons...

In a time before the advent of the hard disk recorder, it wasn’t uncommon to see gates or expanders performing a vital role at the heart of every mix. At that time, they offered the only realistic means of tidying up and tightening a performance – short of time and patience with a razor blade. Nowadays, the same objectives can be easily achieved in any audio sequencer, but does this mean that the gate and expander should be consigned to recording history, or do they still have a valid contemporary application?

This feature first appeared in Music Tech Magazine issue 21
Filed under Ten Minute Masters

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