In today’s world, when creating music, clarity and control over sound are key factors for success. Often, recordings of individual instruments or vocals contain unwanted noise: amplifier hum, extraneous sounds in the room, the performer’s breathing between phrases. This is where dynamic processing comes to the rescue, or more precisely, a noise gate. And the Bob Perry Gate plugin from Bob Perry Audio is a powerful and flexible tool for this task.
Bob Perry Gate is not just a standard gate. It is designed with the needs of modern producers in mind, offering advanced control options and unique operating algorithms. Its primary purpose is to mute or completely remove a signal when its level drops below a set threshold, leaving the useful signal above this threshold untouched. This allows you to “clean” tracks from unwanted background noise, make pauses between sounds absolute, or use the gate as a creative effect, for example, for “slicing” sound.
Bob Perry Gate: Your Tool for Clean Sound and Creative Effects
This plugin is distinguished by its versatility and ease of use, despite the depth of its functionality. At first glance, the interface is intuitive, allowing you to quickly master the basic functions. But the true power of Bob Perry Gate lies in its unique capabilities, particularly in the choice of different operating modes and sidechain support.
Key features of Bob Perry Gate:
- Three unique operating algorithms: Choose between different gate response curves to achieve the desired effect – from the fastest to the smoothest and most natural.
- True sidechain (optional): Control the opening/closing of the gate with a signal from another track. This is ideal for the popular “ducking” effect, when, for example, the music level automatically decreases during a speaker’s speech, or for tighter mixing of the kick and bass, when the bass “dips” under the kicks.
- Simple and intuitive graphical interface: Easily adjust parameters thanks to a visually pleasing and logically organized interface.
- Gain Reduction Metering: Visually monitor how much the gate is attenuating the signal, which helps to accurately adjust the threshold and other parameters.
- Numerical data input: For maximum precision in setting parameters, convenient numerical input is available.
- VST3 (32-bit and 64-bit) and AU formats support: The plugin is compatible with most modern DAWs on Windows and MacOS operating systems.
Detailed control parameters:
The plugin gives full control over how the gate responds to the input signal. Key parameters include:
- Attack, Hold, and Release: These three parameters define the time characteristics of the gate’s operation.
- Attack: The time it takes for the gate to fully open after the signal has exceeded the threshold. The range from 1 ms to 500 ms allows you to adjust the response from instant to very smooth. Fast attack (low values) is ideal for percussive sounds, slow – for preserving the attack of more sustained instruments.
- Hold: The time the gate remains open after the signal has dropped below the threshold before the release phase begins. This helps to avoid “fluttering” of the gate on signals close to the threshold. The range is also from 1 ms to 500 ms.
- Release: The time it takes for the gate to fully close after the hold phase. The range from 1 ms to 500 ms allows you to control how quickly and smoothly the sound disappears. Fast release can be abrupt, slow – more natural.
- Algorithms: Linear, Logarithmic, and S-Curve: The choice of algorithm affects the gate’s response curve between open/closed states. Linear provides a linear change in volume, Logarithmic – logarithmic (often perceived by the ear as more natural), and S-Curve offers a different curve shape, which may be useful for specific sounds or creative effects. Experimenting with algorithms allows you to find the optimal mode for each specific audio material.
- Gain Reduction: Determines the maximum signal level reduction when the gate is closed. Possible reduction from 0 dB (gate does not attenuate the sound) to -∞ dB (complete sound attenuation).
Bob Perry Gate is a versatile plugin that will be useful both for routine audio cleaning from noise and for creating interesting dynamic and rhythmic effects thanks to sidechain capabilities and the choice of algorithms. Its simplicity combined with flexible control makes it a valuable addition to the arsenal of any musician or sound engineer working in a DAW on Windows or MacOS platforms.
