Would using a gate on the guitar channel help to combat guitar amp noise when the player is not playing?
Yes, in most cases, that should work so.
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Iâve heard these called noise gates, so yes itâll do what you are looking for.
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It also depends as to what the ânoiseâ is caused by.
I am running electro acoustic, electric lead and bass guitars this morning at our Church service, and none of the channels require a gate.
If the ânoiseâ is hum pickup from nearby mains cables or an earth loop, you really ought to fix that issue. A gate will just mask it - but it will still be there.
I feed guitars into a passive (transformer coupled) DI box and then balanced cable to my mixer. The biggest ânoise generatorâ part of the guitars are the unbalanced signals from them. The shorter that run can be, the better.
The other source of noise from a guitar can be gain structure. I get this occasionally from our guitarists when they have âfiddledâ with their volume control - or the battery in their pre-amp is going flat!
I have asked that everyone sets their volume controls to mid scale, and I can then adjust my mixer head amplifiers gain accordingly. I have found this minimises thermally-generated electronic noise - but your results may vary.
Of course, if you canât get rid of it, use a gateâŚ
Dave
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In my experience: 90% of all (e-) guitarists who pass through my mixing console, prefer the sound of a guitar amp, and most of them prefer their own - essentially a sound unit of instrument and amp.
And often, the older a guitar amp is, the more distinctive its sounds - but also, the more background noise it generates.
Of course, but the order of things should be to eliminate the problem first (if you can) - mains interference and earth loops; then get the gains at the various stages correct, then gate it.
These are all tools in the box.
I have one bass guitarist who insists on using his old (and rubbish) bass amp and speaker. We have compromised in that we go from his instrument into my DI box (and to my mixer) then chained into his amp/speakers for his own foldback. If I take the signal directly from his bass amplifier - oh dear!
Dave
To my over simplified mindset, noise equals all unwanted signal thatâs not the musical input wanted. Example the guitar is wanted but room air handler HVAC isnât wanted (noise). Or others may have a drum kit, and certain mics would suffer from bleed from other drums etc. The wanted signal passes through the gate, the other signal doesnât, assuming itâs of a lower level than the wanted input.
The noise is amp buzz only so I was thinking of using a gate with fast attack and release to eliminate just the amp noise, the bass, acoustic gtr, elec kit and keys are all DI(ed) other than vocals
Actually use a slower release time it will sound more natural. Also set the threshold just high enough to gate off the noise, donât go too high on the gate attenuation.
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A noise gate does not remove noise from the signal itself; when the gate is open, both the signal and the noise will pass through. Even though the signal and the unwanted noise are both present in open gate status, the noise is not as noticeable.
This is in response to your comment âThe wanted signal passes through the gate, the other signal doesnât, assuming itâs of a lower level than the wanted input.â
Yes, OK, and a gate can close on the ânoiseâ assuming the noise is lower in level than the wanted sound. The gate could reduce the noise input coming through by whatever dB you want, or basically block it with a negative infinity reduction. Then there will be the potential of less perceived noise.
Just need the gate for when the system is quiet, I understand that the noise is is always there, just need it for when the gtr isnât producing any other sound