Effects & processing
Gate
A gate mutes a signal whenever it falls below a set threshold, so only the loud parts get through. It is the mirror of a compressor: one works on what is loud, the other on what is quiet.
In practice
A gate keeps the hit and loses the room around it — set the threshold by ear, then check it on the quiet passages.
The threshold is the only setting that really matters, and the mistake is always setting it while the loud part plays: a gate tuned on a chorus will swallow the verse. On a DJ mixer the beat-locked gate is the more useful version — running it against a sustained record turns a pad into a rhythmic figure, and it sits naturally with whatever is playing because it is locked to the same grid.
Threshold
The setting that matters
Below the quiet bits
Where to set it
Beat-locked
The version on a mixer
Where these come from: Conventional settings and mixer behaviour, not catalog figures. For what we can measure, see the effect this mirrors.
Why it matters
A gate is how a drum keeps its hit and loses everything around it. Set the threshold above the room, the bleed and the tail, and what comes out is the transient alone — which is why gated drums sound tight and abrupt in a way no amount of EQ achieves.
On a mixer the beat-locked version is a rhythmic tool rather than a cleaning one. Gating a sustained record on the beat chops a pad into a pulse, which is a fast way to give something static a rhythm that matches what is playing against it.
Frequently asked
What does a noise gate do?+
It mutes anything below a set level, so quiet material — room noise, bleed, the tail of a sound — is silenced while the loud parts pass through untouched.
What is the difference between a gate and a compressor?+
A compressor reduces the level of loud material. A gate removes quiet material entirely. They act on opposite ends of the same scale.
How do DJs use a gate?+
Mostly the beat-locked version on a mixer, chopping a sustained record into a pulse that matches the grid. The studio use — cleaning up drums — happens before the record reaches you.
Related terms
Compressor
A compressor reduces the level of anything above a threshold, narrowing the gap between the loud and quiet parts. The result can then be turned up as a whole, which is how records get their density.
Ducking
Ducking pulls one signal down whenever another plays — almost always everything else dropping on each kick. It is the pumping motion at the heart of most house and trance.
Beat FX
Beat FX are the effects section on a DJ mixer that locks its timing to the detected tempo. Every delay, echo, roll and gate is set in beat divisions rather than in milliseconds, so one setting stays musical across records.
Transient
A transient is the short burst of energy at the start of a sound — the click of a kick, the snap of a snare. It is what makes percussion readable and what beat detection listens for.
Explore: Compressor · Mixing guides · Transient · All DJ terms