TL Audio 5051 - Manual (Page 17)

5051 more sensitive to the boosted frequency, thus compressing it to a
greater degree.
4.18 Gate.
A gate (or noise gate) is a device that can completely shut off or mute the
signal path in order to prevent unwanted low level signals from passing. The
closing of the 5021 gate is triggered by the level of the input signal falling
below an adjustable threshold point (in this case the threshold is adjusted by
the ‘Gate’ control over the range -10dB to ‘OFF’). Gates are commonly used to
shut out background noise or hiss from noisy signals or to isolate a louder
signal from other quieter signals. An example of this would be when miking up
a drum kit with a number of individual mics on specific drums. Each mic will
pick up not only the drum it is directly miking but also all the neighbouring
drums. By gating out the quieter neighbouring drums each drum track can be
“cleaned up”. The trick to using the gate successfully is to adjust the threshold
to the point where the desired signal opens the gate and the undesirable
signal is below the threshold point and is gated out. This is never an easy task
as the threshold point remains constant but the point between desirable signal
and undesirable signal is continuously changing. Gating can be a tricky
process to get right as success depends a great deal on the signal
characteristics.
The gate on the 5021 is situated before the compressor stage and has a red
LED indicating when the gate is active (i.e. shut). At the fully anti-clockwise
position the gate is at its ‘off’ position and is completely inactive. Turning the
gate clockwise towards the -10dB maximum setting raises the threshold point
so that the signal needs to be increasingly louder (as the threshold is raised)
to open the gate. At the lowest setting, just above the ‘off’ position, low level
signals such as background noise can be gated. Raising the threshold point
allows gating of higher level signals such as drums. If you are having trouble
selecting the threshold point, one tip is to select different threshold points
suitable for specific parts of the signal and mark them with a chinagraph
pencil. For example the intro to the signal may be quite strong - so the
threshold can be set quite high - and the end of the signal may have a gradual
fade out, so the threshold can then be adjusted to suit this ending. This of
course is only practical with recorded signals where the track can be
constantly replayed to practice the settings.
4.19 Stereo
Link.
Two 5051s can be used to process a stereo signal by inserting a link cable
between the two (see section 3.9) and depressing the ‘Link’ switch on both
units. This feature Iinks the compressor control voltages of the two units,
ensuring that the same amount of gain reduction is applied to both - even if
the signal exceeds the threshold on one side only.