In this Free Video Tutorial for Production Expert, Technical Editor James Ivey visits Dax Liniere at North London's Puzzle Factory Studio to talk about a technique that uses a Gate to enhance the sound of a drum part rather than shut parts of it down. Drummers are not too fond of Gates as a rule but this process could change that as it adds a subtle yet defined attack to the kick and Snare in this example. 

Dax starts by letting us hear the signal that is to be processed, in this case, it is a feed from the Kick and Snare bus. He then puts an instance of FabFilter Pro G Gate processor onto the bused track and the effect is dramatic at best.  We then hear the gated bus track along-side the full drum mix and instantly you can hear the drums have much more bite and impact. 

Finally, Dax treats the gated drum track with a very harsh EQ in the form of FabFilter Pro Q2 which he used to remove any unwanted low end and just concentrate on the top end ad attack of the gated drums.

The overall effect of this extra bus processing, when paired with the full kit mix, is a drum track with plenty of low-end throb from the kick and low tom, but you can almost hear the stick hit the head which I think sounds great.

If you want to find out more about Dax check out the Mix Direction website or check out our Podcast Extra Interview with Dax where he talks about his introduction to music and recording, moving to the UK and his new Puzzle Factory Studios.