Lessons

This month in Studio Edge, we’re going to go over a subject that can turn solid recordings into a high-definition mix: noise gating. Proper use of noise gates can result in recordings that are crystal clear, and will take your project to that next level.

What is Noise Gating?
Simply put, a noise gate is a device that’s used to cut any unwanted noise out of your mix or your instruments. This process is called “gating” because of the way that this process happens. Think of a noise gate like a fence gate in a garden: it opens and shuts. The last thing you want are unwanted pests (noise) in your garden, so we want to be able to open this gate for things that help our garden (mix), and shut it for things that don’t.

Setting up Your Gate
The gate is fairly simple to set up as long as you understand what the controls are doing. Let’s look at a digital gate plug-in (such as WAVES C1 Gate, pictured), since it will illustrate all of the ins and outs of a gate for a more structured understanding.

Threshold: This is the first parameter you’ll adjust when you begin gating. There will be Threshold/ Gate Open and Gate Closed settings. These settings are used to set where in your signal you want the gate to open and where the signal should be cut. The best way to start your gate is by having it completely off (past -100db), then gradually move it back until the desired gating starts.

Make sure and listen to the louder signals as well as parts that are soft before setting this, otherwise it will cut out your softer nuances. A great way to get this set right is to record your track without the gate, then play it back and adjust your gate accordingly.

Attack: The attack control determines how quickly the gate shuts after the signal has dropped below the threshold you set up. For newcomers, start this around the 2.00ms to 5.00ms mark. After you have more time to play with it, you can really hone in and adjust this setting perfectly.

Hold: The hold control determines how long the gate remains open at full volume after the signal drops below the threshold. If you set the hold to 0ms, gating can sometimes cause audible “chattering” when the threshold is too close to the signal’s lowest volumes. This chattering will sound like helicopter blades in flight, and you will easily know something’s wrong. Try setting it at 1.00ms and then adjust accordingly.

Release: The release control determines how long it will take for the gate to open back up after the signal has gone above the threshold. This setting is something that you should start around 30ms, or whatever the default setting is. This one is a little tricky to get right, but find a guitar part that has the most pick attack and work on getting the gate to capture every little part, without cutting off the beginning of it. Adjust accordingly.

Using Gates
As guitarists, we’ve begun to see many amp companies start to integrate noise gates into some of their high-gain heads. Why is this? For you chugga- chugga rock and metal players, a gate will clean up the unwanted noise in-between palm mutes and other desired silenced areas including amp hiss. Normally pedals like the ISP Decimator and built-in amp effects will only have a knob for Threshold, which makes it easier to adjust how the gate will affect your sound. When it comes to using gates in your mix, use them the right way.

The best gating will only be noticeable in dead silence because it will be deathly quiet. There should be no audible irregularities (chattering) or missing pieces to any of your playing. Just get rid of those unwanted elements for your mix to really pop. This is because any unwanted noise, even if it’s extremely faint, is noise that affects the overall quality. When a CD goes through the mastering process, those small subtleties will turn into noticeable problems if not dealt with earlier.

Understand that gating is a time saver if you’re patient setting it up. If you rush through the setup, you’re bound to run into problems including unwanted “chatter” and other artifacts. My suggestion for anyone gating for the first time is to record the tracks without the gates in place. Then, after you’re happy with the recording, take some time and mess with the settings until you’re comfortable with them. If after that you’re still having some issues getting the gates locked in, don’t be afraid to turn off the gate and dive in and manually cut out the problem dead space by hand. Doing it old school can sometimes save the day too!

Until next time, happy experimenting!

Folks have asked me in clinics, “When do you use the harmonic minor scale?”

“When I damn well please,” I say in return.

I then search for a moment of quasi-lucidity in the hope that I might actually, effectively answer the question at hand (these moments can be hard to come by whilst on the road, and this is coming from someone who only medicates with caffeine).

I don’t know if I have gone into the fact that I was not a very good student at music school. In fact, the only thing I can remember being told to me in music theory class was “Get out.” Not that I’m bragging about it. Had I to do it over again, I would have behaved myself and listened a little more in college, but seeds were planted then that would yield a savage musical harvest down the road.

I remember hearing the harmonic minor scale back then and thinking that it was an exotic scale, conjuring up the sights, sounds and smells of the Far East, and perhaps I would use it if a musical occasion should ever arise that warranted it. I then began to realize that those crazy jazz cats like their harmonic minor scale and use it with great aplomb. So, I began to pick up some applications that I will now share you with you.

Fig. 1
The application in this example is indicative of how I got my feet wet, so to speak, with the harmonic minor scale. I had played the tune “The Thrill Is Gone,” made famous by the mighty B.B. King, in every band I was in during high school and college. A guitar instructor somewhere along the line told me that I could use the harmonic minor scale over the bVI and then the V chord of that minor blues. I usually played that tune in the key of A, so this example is over F9 and E7#9 (and E7%9) and then resolving to Am7. I’m using the A harmonic minor scale here (A–B–C–D–E–F–G#).

Fig. 2
I then learned that you could use the harmonic minor scale to play over a minor ii–V–i chord sequence. In this example, I am using the A harmonic minor scale over a ii–V–i in A minor, but I’m also adding in the A blues scale for a little added flavor once the progression resolves back to A minor. There’s nothing fancy here, but it’s a useful little snippet.

Fig. 3
I realized somewhere along the way that if I wanted to take the listener to Spain during an improvisatory excursion, I could play the notes of the A harmonic scale but start on E and end on E (a harmonic minor mode starting on the 5th scale degree). Technically, we could call this the E Phrygian dominant scale. Let the good times roll!

When looking for inspiration for new licks and riffs, it’s only natural that guitarists search out their current favorite guitar hero or magazine for some ideas. After all, the fundamental way of learning the guitar vocabulary is by copying other players of the same instrument. The only problem is that by going to the obvious source every time, we only get one perspective on good lead and rhythm playing.

When I practice, I like to think about what kinds of phrases other instruments would play and try to emulate them. In previous lessons, I’ve illustrated some riffs that were piano-like in their approach, but what about the other instruments on the bandstand? How would an organ comp behind a guitar solo? How would a horn section punctuate a melody line?

With this in mind, I’ve come up with a blues head in the key of G, inspired by a call-and-response pattern that might happen between an organ player and a horn section. It features an ascending line through the Mixolydian scale, starting on the 5th of each chord (D on G7) with a double- stop slide at the top. That’s followed by a riff that bounces between the root note on the 6th string and a sliding triad shape, which outlines the seventh chord.

I approach the triad move two different ways throughout this example, sometimes sliding from a half step below, and other times hammering on. A similar effect is created either way. When the IV and V chords (C7 and D7, respectively) come around, this twomeasure riff pattern can simply be moved up the neck to match the changing harmony. The moveable nature of this riff also makes transposition to other keys a breeze.

Guitarists of all styles and levels can find inspiration in the musical ideas played by other instrumentalists. Initially, it can take a little work to translate those sounds to the guitar, but that work will pay off in a big way with an expanded, unique palette of sound.

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No matter what style of music you’re into, be it rock, jazz, bluegrass, or polka, sweep picking is a great technique to have in your arsenal. Let’s jump on the broom and take a look at sweeping and its companion technique, the rake, and then we’ll cap it off with a fast arpeggio lick that makes use of both techniques.

Sweeping involves picking arpeggios across multiple strings with one continuous pick stroke. Essentially, you’re pushing (ascending) or dragging (descending) your pick across the strings—“sweeping” the strings—instead of using the conventional up-and-down approach of alternate picking. The successive notes of a sweep should not ring into each other like a chord; rather, each note should sound individually. Try using a slight palm mute to minimize extraneous noise and release frethand pressure after each note sounds.

Try a sweep-picking exercise with an E minor arpeggio at the 12th fret [Fig. 1]. Follow the picking directions in the music that specify where to use down (п) and up (v) strokes. When you reach the notes G, B, and E on the top three strings, barre your index finger across the 12th fret, but roll your finger vertically as you ascend and descend so the notes don’t ring together. Start slowly and deliberately with this exercise at first and repeat it in a loop. Use a metronome and gradually increase the tempo every day. Strive for a clean, tight sound. A rake consists of the same picking mechanics as a sweep, but the rhythmic duration of the notes is much quicker. Many times a rake is executed with muted notes, giving more emphasis to a final target note. In this lesson’s main lick [Fig. 2], I took the sweep picking exercise and made it more musical with a combination of sweeps, rakes, and lots of speed. The rakes are played quickly and notated with grace notes (indicating no rhythmic duration), whereas the sweeps are written in deliberate sixteenth-note rhythms.

Mastering these techniques can really expand your speed, range, and musicality. Listen to players like Yngwie Malmsteen and Frank Gambale and you’ll hear what I mean!

Listen to the Figure 2 from the lesson