Silencer: Drum Gate Plugin with De-Bleed by Black Salt Audio Free Download

Bleed from cymbals and other drums is the main problem Silencer targets. A conventional gate only reduces volume when the signal drops below a threshold, so bleed that sits close to the drum's level can remain audible or make the gating obvious. Silencer adds a de-bleed circuit that the developer says works across the frequency spectrum, filtering out high-frequency bleed from other parts of the kit.

Black Salt Audio says the DeBleed circuit was tuned by ear to keep a natural high end that blends into a mix. Because the gate is cleaner, you can apply more EQ, saturation and compression to the drum track without bringing the bleed forward.

Silencer includes multiple predefined drum modes, covering Snare Top, Snare Bottom, Kick and Toms. Each mode has its own gating threshold, which you set with a waveform visualizer that shows the signal as you adjust it. This helps when deciding where to set the threshold for each drum.

The mode-dependent lookahead is designed so that transient snap and attack are not cut off. A Gate Decay curve controls how gated drums fade out at any length. The Ghost Note toggle lets quieter hits pass through even when they fall below the threshold, which is useful for automating soft notes. A user-adjustable Reduction control sets whether gated material is fully muted or only partly reduced and blended back in.

Sidechain support lets the gate respond to inputs from other sources, which opens up creative uses beyond cleaning up bleed.