Do it on the X32 · Step 6

Set up a gate

Why am I doing this?

A gate is an automatic mute. It keeps a microphone shut when its instrument isn't playing, so you're not hearing everything else on stage through it. The full explanation → Guide, Step 6

The short version

Already know the drill?

SELECT the channel · HOME → Gate tab
Threshold — above the bleed, below the quietest real hit
Range — 20–40 dB, not full mute
Attack fast · Hold short · Release medium
Listen through a whole song before you trust it

First: do you even need one?

Most channels don't. Gate only where there's a real bleed problem:

Gate it	Don't
Toms (silent most of the song, mic wide open)	Anything direct — bass DI, keys, tracks, electronic drums
Snare, on a loud stage	Vocals, usually — see below
Kick, on a loud stage	Acoustic guitar, piano, strings
Bottom snare mic	Anything in a quiet room

A direct source has no bleed to reject. There's nothing for a gate to do but cause problems.

A badly-set gate is worse than no gate

It chops the tails off notes, it chatters open and shut, and it swallows the quiet hit that mattered. When you're unsure, leave it off — a bit of bleed is far less noticeable than a gate misbehaving.

Step by step

Select the channel and open the Gate tab.

Press SELECT, then HOME, then the Gate tab. (The GATE section in the channel strip on the left does the same job with a physical knob, and its VIEW button jumps the screen straight here.)
Switch the gate on.
Set the threshold — this is the one that matters.

Threshold is the level a signal has to reach before the gate opens.

Get the drummer to play the part normally. Bring the threshold up until the gate stops opening on bleed from other drums, then back it down until every real hit gets through — including the soft ones.

Watch the gate's activity indicator while you do this. You want it opening on hits and staying shut in between.
Set the range.

Range is how far down the signal drops when the gate closes. Don't use full mute. Around 20–40 dB of reduction sounds natural — the channel ducks out of the way rather than slamming to silence, which is much less noticeable.

Set attack, hold, and release.

Control	What it does	Drums
Attack	How fast it opens	Fast — you can't miss the transient
Hold	How long it stays open before closing	Short, but long enough to stop chattering
Release	How fast it closes after hold	Medium — too fast chops the tail

If a tom sounds like it gets cut off mid-ring, lengthen hold and release. If the gate flutters open and shut on one hit, lengthen hold.

Test it against the real thing.

Have the band play a full song, not an isolated hit. Gates that behave perfectly on a solo tom fall apart in a full arrangement, and that's the only test that counts.

The key filter (for toms especially)

Here's the trick that makes tom gates actually work.

The problem: a tom mic hears cymbals. Cymbals are loud. So the gate opens every time the drummer hits a crash, and you get cymbal bleed through all four tom channels — exactly what you were trying to avoid.

The fix: the key filter lets the gate listen to a filtered version of the signal when deciding whether to open, while still passing the full signal through. Filter the key down to the tom's low fundamental and the gate stops noticing cymbals entirely.

Set the key filter to focus on the low end for toms. The gate now triggers on tom hits and ignores everything above.

About vocals and monitors

Vocals: usually leave gates off. Singers move, breathe, and come in quietly — a gate that clips the start of a line is a real problem, and bleed on a vocal mic is rarely the thing hurting your mix. If you have a genuine open-mic problem, use mute groups and ride the faders instead. DCA & mute groups →

Monitors and in-ears: be even gentler. A gate that chatters is far more distracting for the musician wearing it than a little bleed. When in doubt on anything feeding the stage, don't gate.

What good looks like

Check	Should be
Gate opens	on every real hit, including soft ones
Gate stays shut	during bleed
Range	20–40 dB, not full mute
Tails	ring out naturally, not chopped
Tested	across a whole song, full band
Direct sources	no gate at all

If it goes wrong

Quiet hits are disappearing.: Threshold too high. Bring it down.
Bleed is still getting through.: Threshold too low — bring it up. If raising it starts killing real hits, you've run out of room; try the key filter instead, or accept the bleed.
It sounds like the drum gets cut off.: Hold and release too short. Lengthen both.
The gate flutters on a single hit.: Classic chatter. Lengthen hold.
Toms open every time a cymbal is hit.: Key filter. See above.
It sounded fine at soundcheck, bad during the service.: They're playing harder now. Gates set at soundcheck volume often need the threshold nudged up.