Noise Gate
One cause of feedback is open microphones on the stage. You can use the Noise Gate in your ToneMatch mixer to shut down microphones that are not being used. When the sound presented to the microphone is loud enough (it reaches a predefined threshold), the gate will open allowing sound through.
You can use the Comp/Gate Noise Gate to automatically turn off a microphone when it is not being used. This can reduce unwanted background noise and increase the gain-before-feedback of your system. The Noise Gate prevents signals below a certain volume level from reaching the outputs of the mixer. You set that certain volume level by setting the Threshold.
- Press the CHEDIT button on the channel you want to control
- Turn the Rotary Selector to COMP/GATE
- Under the display, turn the Type button so you can see the menu
- Select Noise Gate
- Set the Thresh to -40.0dB
- (T4S/T8S) Leave Ramp/Speed at 50% (T4S/T8S)
If you find this cuts off the microphone even while you are speaking directly into the microphone try setting the Thresh to -50.0dB. You may have to experiment with the Thresh and Speed to get the Noise Gate to work with different vocalists and microphones.
Notes
- Noise Gate: Rotate the Thresh control to adjust the input threshold (trigger) level from –90 dB to –30 dB.
- Rotate the Speed control to set the gate closing speed to any value from 0% (fastest) to 100% (slowest).
- (T4S/T8S) Rotate the Ramp control to adjust the slope of the gate from 0% (horizontal) to 100% (vertical). The Ramp parameter is the slope of the opening gate allowing signal through. It can be thought of and perceived through time. A steep ramp (100%) will open quick and aggressively, while a shallow ramp (0%) opens slow and more gradually. This is different than Speed which affects how quickly the gate clamps down after the signal has passed.
Here's a quick video to show you how to do it.