Spectral Gate

Parameters

Threshold — Per-band level (in dB) below which the gate closes for that band. Each band gates independently — frequencies above their threshold pass through, frequencies below get pushed down by range dB. The wide negative floor (−92 dB) lets you target very quiet material like noise floors and bleed.

Attack — How fast each band’s gate opens once its level crosses threshold, in ms. Fast attack preserves transients in the bands that contain them; slow attack softens the open edge.

Hold — Minimum time in ms each band’s gate stays open after first triggering. Prevents flutter on tonal material that hovers around threshold. Generally 30–100 ms keeps the gate stable through musical phrases.

Release — How fast each band’s gate closes after hold elapses, in ms. Slow release fades smoothly band-by-band; fast release cuts cleanly. With many bands and slow release you can get a gentle, evolving spectral fade that no broadband gate can produce.

Range — Maximum attenuation in dB applied per band when the gate is closed, −96 to 0. At −80+ the gate effectively silences the band; lower values leave residual signal audible — gating shades into expansion at shallow settings.

Additional controls

Hysteresis — Difference (in dB) between the per-band opening and closing thresholds. Prevents per-band chatter when a band’s level hovers around threshold. 3–6 dB is typical.

Bands — Number of frequency bands processed independently, 1–32. Spectral gating is dramatically more transparent with many bands — you only silence the frequencies actually below threshold rather than dropping a whole frequency range. 16–32 for noise reduction; 8 for clearly multi-band character.

Detection Mode — Peak for fast, surgical detection; RMS for smoother, more program-aware response.

About Spectral Gate

Spectral gating reduces noise band-by-band rather than time-by-time. Tape hiss, air conditioning rumble, mic self-noise — these are noise frequencies present continuously rather than noise moments. A spectral gate, with enough bands, can remove the noise from the silent gaps while preserving everything in the program material. It’s the spectral version of what classical noise-reduction tools like the Sony Oxford NoNoise or RX Voice Denoise do. For mass-removal of broadband noise, see the Restoration category; for targeted per-band silencing, this node is the right tool.

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