Part of the company’s Master Perfection Suite of plug-ins, GateEx is a superb tool for minimizing the presence of background noise in a dialog recording (though it could be used on any acoustic instrument recording, as well). Typically, background noise is far more noticeable in the spaces between a narrator’s words or phrases. By using GateEx, the rising amplitude of the voice triggers the gate to open, allowing the dialog to pass through uneffected, then as the words trail off and amplitude drops, the gate closes to prevent any low-level noise from being audible. This would be particularly useful when creating your own personal podcast. Naturally, as with any noise gate, you can set your own threshold levels or try one of the onboard presets. GateEx also includes a downward expander that can be used to increase the apparent dynamic range of a recording.