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Message: [QUOTE="Shamiso, post: 93130, member: 160"] Dyn3 Expander/Gate reduces signals below its threshold, while its ratio and range determine whether the result behaves like expansion or hard gating. If you came in wondering whether Pro Tools has a noise gate, Dyn3 Expander/Gate is the processor inside the Dynamics III suite built for that job. The [URL='https://goldmidi.com/community/threads/how-often-do-any-of-you-use-avid-pro-tools-dynamics-iii-plugin-suite.5016/'][B]Avid Pro Tools Dynamics III plugin suite[/B][/URL] also puts the Compressor/Limiter beside it, but the two solve opposite-level problems. The useful difference between an expander and a noise gate is how aggressively they turn down material below threshold. An expander can leave low-level sound quieter without erasing it, while a gate can make the same transition much more severe. For most cleanup jobs, especially vocals, starting as an expander sounds less obvious and gives you room to tighten the action only if the recording needs it. [HEADING=2]Start with range and ratio before threshold[/HEADING] A lot of bad expander gate settings come from pushing the threshold first. Set the expander gate range to decide how far the quiet material should drop, then use the expander gate ratio to decide how strongly the processor moves toward that reduced level. If you are learning how to use a gate as an expander, the basic move is simple. Use a shallower range and a lower ratio instead of trying to make every pause perfectly silent. Set the expander gate threshold while looping the weakest wanted phrase or hit, not the loudest one. For expander gate settings on vocals, the soft consonants, breaths you actually want, and word endings matter more than the chorus peak. Raise the threshold until the unwanted floor starts disappearing, then back it off if quiet syllables stop opening the processor cleanly. A hard gate makes more sense when the source has obvious events separated by clear gaps, such as close-miked drums or a noisy guitar between riffs. What a gate expander does poorly is distinguish two sounds that are active at the same time. A gate can lower spill between events, but [URL='https://goldmidi.com/community/threads/noise-reduction-cannot-untangle-two-speakers.77681/']two voices recorded into one channel[/URL] can both pass whenever their combined level keeps the detector open. [HEADING=2]Timing keeps the gate from eating the performance[/HEADING] Once threshold, range, and ratio are sensible, attack, hold, and release determine whether the result feels clean or clipped. Dyn3 also provides Look Ahead, which can help the processor react without shaving the front edge off fast transients. Use attack to protect the beginning of the sound, hold to stop rapid open-close chatter, and release to shape how naturally the tail returns to the reduced level. On vocals, a noise gate is not necessary simply because a track contains some room tone. Short release times can bite the ends off words, while a completely closed gate can make the pauses unnaturally dead. A gentler range often sounds better because [URL='https://goldmidi.com/community/threads/a-noise-gate-cannot-remove-room-sound-while-it-is-open.77468/']room sound while the gate is open[/URL] still rides underneath the active voice anyway. Once you know how to add a noise gate in Pro Tools, the bigger skill is knowing when to stop using it. A noise reduction Pro Tools plugin is a different tool when hiss, ambience, or steady background sound remains audible during the performance itself. Gating is strongest when unwanted material lives mainly in the gaps. It is much weaker when wanted and unwanted sound occupy the same moment. [HEADING=2]Sidechain filtering fixes false triggers[/HEADING] The detector does not need to hear the same tonal balance as the listener. Dyn3 lets the sidechain be filtered so the gate can react more strongly to the part of the spectrum that best identifies the wanted event. The same idea lets a [URL='https://goldmidi.com/community/threads/what-actually-changes-when-you-switch-from-e-to-g.75975/']high-pass filter in the dynamics sidechain[/URL] keep low-frequency energy from opening a vocal gate when the voice itself is what should control the decision. An external key can also trigger the detector when another track should decide when the gate opens. Pro Tools key inputs are mono, which is usually fine for detector jobs because the gate only needs a control signal rather than a full stereo image. A [URL='https://goldmidi.com/community/threads/pro-tools-needs-a-different-deltascope-routing-trick.78002/']mono Pro Tools key input[/URL] becomes a limitation for stereo comparison work, but ordinary gating is exactly the kind of job where that routing remains useful. A free noise gate plugin for Pro Tools is only worth adding when it solves a specific problem your current setup cannot. Get the Dyn3 decisions right first, then judge the result by whether quiet details stay intact and unwanted gaps actually get quieter. [/QUOTE]

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