Avantis Snare starting point
Beginner Skill level for the five steps below. Optional intermediate and advanced tips are in Going further.
Dial these in, then adjust by ear in the full mix. Listen for hi-hat getting louder when you push the snare fader; that's bleed, address with mic angle before EQ. Headroom: drum hits peak much higher than they look, so keep the loudest peaks on the main LR a few dB below clipping.
Avantis note: Keep the gate Depth shallow (around 10 dB) to keep ghost notes. The Copy/Paste keys + touchscreen make it quick to copy this gate to a second snare mic.
1High-pass filter
80-100 Hz
Illustration in the style of the Avantis low cut / HPF, not a screenshot. Drawn at 12 dB/oct; the shaded area is what gets cut. Drawn at 90 Hz, the middle of the card's 80-100 Hz.
Removes kick bleed and low rumble; a snare has little useful content below ~100 Hz.
On the Avantis: Select the channel (touch its Name Block on the touchscreen, it shades green), set Screen Mode to Processing, then the Filter tab: HPF 20 Hz-2 kHz, slope 12 or 24 dB/oct, Butterworth or Bessel type (there's also an LPF). Gain, Pad, 48V (hold 1 s), Trim (+/-24 dB) and Polarity are on the Preamp tab.
2Gate
Attack Fastest · Hold ~40 ms · Release ~120-250 ms (longer keeps more ring)
Illustration in the style of the Avantis gate screen, not a screenshot. The gate is optional here (often skipped); the graph shows it in case you use it. The threshold is an example only; set it by ear.
- Use
- Optional (often skipped)
- Threshold
- Just above hi-hat bleed
- Attack
- Fastest
- Hold
- ~40 ms
- Release
- ~120-250 ms (longer keeps more ring)
- Range
- ~10 dB
Light gating reduces hat bleed; a full-range gate eats ghost notes, so keep the range shallow or leave it off.
On the Avantis: Processing > Gate tab: Threshold, Depth (Avantis' name for range), Attack, Hold, Release. Side Chain lets you pick the key source and switch in an HPF/LPF key filter. The Gate Library also offers a Ducker in place of the gate.
3EQ
- HPF 90 Hz, 12 dB/oct
- 1 Bell 200 Hz, +1.5 dB, width 1.5 oct
- 2 Bell 650 Hz, -3.0 dB, width 0.6 oct
- 3 Bell 4 kHz, +2.0 dB, width 0.9 oct
Illustration in the style of the Avantis EQ screen, not a screenshot. Curve shows the midpoint of the suggested ranges; HPF drawn at 12 dB/oct.
| Frequency | Gain | Q / width | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| ~200 Hz | +1 to +2 dB | Wide | Fatness/body of the drum. |
| 400-900 Hz | -2 to -4 dB | Narrow-medium | Boxy honk or ring. Sweep to find the worst spot rather than cutting a fixed number. |
| 3-5 kHz | +1 to +3 dB | Medium | Crack and stick attack. |
On the Avantis: Processing > PEQ tab: 4 bands, +/-15 dB each. Width is set in OCTAVES, not Q (roughly: 1.5 oct = Q 0.9, the widest; 1 oct = Q 1.4; 1/3 oct = Q 4.3). LF and HF bands switch between shelf, bell, or 12 dB/oct cut. Drag the dots on the graph, or pinch for width. PEQ runs before the compressor by default; swap per channel via Options (saved in the Show, not in Scenes).
4Compression
Attack ~10 ms · Release 80-120 ms (timing, not shown on graph)
Illustration in the style of the Avantis compressor screen, not a screenshot. The card gives a ratio range (3:1 to 4:1); the graph shows the first value, 3:1. The threshold is an example only: it is set so a −6 dB peak gets about 3.5 dB of gain reduction, the middle of the card's target. Set yours by ear while watching the gain reduction (GR) meter. Drawn hard-knee with no makeup gain. Attack and release shape timing and don't change this curve.
- Ratio
- 3:1 to 4:1
- Attack
- ~10 ms
- Release
- 80-120 ms
- Gain reduction
- 3-4 dB
Evens out loud and soft hits while letting the crack through.
On the Avantis: Processing > Compressor tab: Threshold, Ratio (1:1 = no compression up to Infinity = limiter; the steps in between aren't published, so read the value on screen), Gain (makeup), Soft Knee, Attack, Release, Manual RMS or Manual Peak detector, Parallel Path for dry/wet blend, and a sidechain HPF/LPF. dPack adds DEEP compressor models (Opto, 16T, 16VU, etc.).
5FX send
Moderate send to a short plate/room
Short plate / room, about 0.9 s decay, send around -12 to -8 dB.
Illustration in the style of the Avantis sends view, not a screenshot. Bus numbering depends on how the venue file is patched; set the level by ear.
A little short reverb puts the snare in a space; too much washes out a small venue.
On the Avantis: 12 RackExtra FX slots. In the FX screen's Back Panel, set the unit to Mix->Return and pick the FX send bus. To set a channel's send: press that FX send's Mix key on its master strip (input faders become send levels), or open Routing for the channel (On/Off, Pre/Post, level). Hold Pre + touch a Name Block to toggle pre/post.
Avantis specifics
- Avantis Solo runs the same Continuity UI, processing and 64-channel/42-bus engine as dual-screen Avantis, just with one 15.6" screen and 12 faders (Avantis has two screens and 24), so the steps above are the same on both.
- Dyn8 (multiband dynamics + dynamic EQ) only exists if dPack is installed (paid; 16 instances, or 24 on firmware 2.0+; check Setup > Config > Add-Ons). Insert it from the channel's Processing > Inserts tab: Insert A sits after the gate, Insert B after the PEQ/Comp. Handy for de-essing vocals or taming boomy acoustic guitars, but these cards don't assume you have it.
- Continuity UI: the strip rotaries handle gain or pan, and one button press folds the bank view to show EQ or compressor settings for every channel in the bank. Three soft rotaries take parameters you assign. Firmware 2.0 adds Smart Rotaries and PEQ, Source Expander and Dyn8 rotary options.
- Save a finished channel to the Input Channel Library (Preamp tab, or touch the selected-channel area). It stores filters, gate, PEQ, comp, delay and name/colour (plus preamp if you choose, and sends on 2.0 firmware). You pick which parts to recall.
🎧 What to listen for
Listen for hi-hat getting louder when you push the snare fader; that's bleed, address with mic angle before EQ. Headroom: drum hits peak much higher than they look, so keep the loudest peaks on the main LR a few dB below clipping.
Going further (3 optional tips)
Not needed to get a good start. Try these once the basics above sound right.
- AdvancedGated reverb for an 80s snare
A big reverb that cuts off sharply gives size without washing out the mix.
On the Avantis: FX screen, load Gated Verb in a slot set to Mix->Return (Back Panel) and send the snare to it.
- AdvancedParallel compression for a fuller, steadier sound
Blend a heavily compressed copy under the dry sound: more weight, punch stays.
On the Avantis: Processing > Compressor > Parallel Path: turn it on and balance dry against compressed.
- IntermediateKey the gate from a low-cut key
Stops the kick from opening the snare gate.
On the Avantis: Processing > Gate > Side Chain: switch in the HPF around 150-250 Hz.
Common gear for Snare
- Shure SM57 · Snare mic
- Sennheiser e604 · Drum mic
Scene / preset file
Coming later: downloadable Avantis channel preset for this card.
Sources
- Sweetwater InSync: EQ Frequencies of Musical Instruments Explained (Music Instrument Frequency Cheatsheet)
- Sweetwater InSync: How to EQ (Almost) Anything
- Shure: Microphone Techniques for Live Sound Reinforcement (PDF)
- Allen & Heath Support: Avantis Processing (Preamp, Filter, Gate, Inserts, PEQ, Compressor), updated 13 Apr 2026
- Allen & Heath Support: Avantis Continuity UI (screen modes, Name Blocks, Pre/Copy/Safes keys), updated 13 Apr 2026
- Allen & Heath: Avantis Firmware Reference Guide V1.30 (PDF; Routing > Aux and FX sends, FX Back Panel)
- Allen & Heath Support: Avantis 2.0 FAQ (dPack, Dyn8, Smart Rotaries, models)
- Allen & Heath Support: Avantis Solo Getting Started Guide
- Allen & Heath Support: Avantis Getting Started Guide (Mix key send modes)
- Sound On Sound: Parallel Compression
- Sound On Sound: Vocal Production (parallel compression, de-essing)
- Sound On Sound: Engineering Drums Live, Part Two
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