Avantis Toms 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. Play a tom fill and watch the gate meter: if soft hits don't open the gate, lower the threshold; if the gate chatters on cymbals, raise it or use the key filter. 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: Set up one tom, hold Copy and touch its Gate (or PEQ) block, then select each other tom, hold Paste and touch the same block. The gate's Side Chain key filter helps stop cymbals triggering it.
1High-pass filter
60-80 Hz (rack), 40-60 Hz (floor)
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 70 Hz, the middle of the card's 60-80 Hz. The card also lists 40-60 Hz (floor).
Keeps the tom's fundamental while removing kick bleed and rumble.
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 ~50 ms · Release 300-500 ms (longer on floor toms)
Illustration in the style of the Avantis gate screen, not a screenshot. Range drawn at 12.5 dB, the middle of the card's 10-15 dB. The threshold is an example only; set it by ear.
- Use
- Common
- Threshold
- Above cymbal/snare bleed, below a soft tom hit
- Attack
- Fastest
- Hold
- ~50 ms
- Release
- 300-500 ms (longer on floor toms)
- Range
- 10-15 dB
Toms are idle most of the song; gating them cleans up a lot of cymbal and snare bleed.
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 70 Hz, 12 dB/oct
- 1 Bell 150 Hz, +1.5 dB, width 1.5 oct
- 2 Bell 500 Hz, -4.0 dB, width 0.9 oct
- 3 Bell 6 kHz, +1.5 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; where the card lists alternatives, the first is drawn.
| Frequency | Gain | Q / width | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100-200 Hz (rack) / 80-120 Hz (floor) | +1 to +2 dB | Wide | Fundamental 'thud'. |
| 400-600 Hz | -3 to -5 dB | Medium | Boxy, papery tone, the most common tom problem. |
| 5-7 kHz | +1 to +2 dB | Medium | Stick attack so fills cut through. |
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 ~15 ms · Release ~150 ms (timing, not shown on graph)
Illustration in the style of the Avantis compressor screen, not a screenshot. The threshold is an example only: it is set so a −6 dB peak gets about 3 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
- Attack
- ~15 ms
- Release
- ~150 ms
- Gain reduction
- 2-4 dB
Gentle control only; toms are mostly a level/gate job.
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
Small send to the drum reverb
Drum reverb (plate / room), about 1 s decay, send around -18 to -12 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.
Helps fills sound bigger without washing out.
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
Play a tom fill and watch the gate meter: if soft hits don't open the gate, lower the threshold; if the gate chatters on cymbals, raise it or use the key filter. 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.
- IntermediateKey filter to stop cymbals opening the gate
Cymbal bleed is high-frequency; filtering the key ignores it.
On the Avantis: Processing > Gate > Side Chain: switch in the HPF just below the tom's note and the LPF just above it (no Q control; the LPF goes no lower than 120 Hz).
- IntermediateCopy one channel's settings to the others
Saves time when several mics need the same starting point.
On the Avantis: hold Copy and touch the processing block (e.g. Gate) on screen, select the next channel, hold Paste and touch the same block. Save finished channels to the Input Channel Library (Preamp tab).
- AdvancedSource Expander instead of a gate
A softer, faster expander can sound more natural than a hard gate.
On the Avantis (needs dPack): Gate Library > Source Expander (Threshold, Depth, Slow/Medium/Fast).
Common gear for Toms
- Sennheiser e604 · Tom mic
- Shure Beta 98AMP · Clip-on 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: Engineering Drums Live, Part Two
Didn't find your answer? Ask a question