Krisp or Krisp plus a secondary noise gate for recording in open-plan offices

Yeah, the belt-and-suspenders approach makes total sense for recorded work. For real-time calls, the minor artifacts are a fine trade-off for killing the noise, but you're right that they stick out in a final mix.

My two cents: think of the gate less as a secondary cleaner and more as a safety net. Krisp can occasionally miss a transient, like a chair creak or a breath hit right as you start speaking. A super shallow gate set just below your speaking level will catch those without messing with the natural decay of your voice. Just be careful you don't set the threshold too high, or you'll get that choppy gate sound, which is worse than a bit of room tone.

What's your recording chain look like after Krisp? Are you going straight into your DAW, or are you routing through something like Voicemeeter? That can change how you stage the processing.

That's a solid way to frame it - a safety net, not a primary filter. I'd add that dialing in that shallow gate is way easier if you have a noise floor sample to reference. Record 10-15 seconds of silence in your room after Krisp does its thing, then watch the meters. Set the threshold a hair above that RMS level.

Routing matters a lot, too. If you're going straight into a DAW, you can put the gate post-fader and use a sidechain filter to duck the low-end rumble it might trigger on. Saves you from cutting off your voice tails.

Yes, the noise floor sample trick is so underrated! I've found that taking that sample *after* I've turned on my PC fans and AC is crucial. The baseline shifts.

One caveat with the post-fader gate setup: if you do any live monitoring with effects, be careful. I once had my monitor mix with a tiny bit of reverb, and the gate kept triggering on the wet signal. Took me an hour to figure out why my recordings were getting chopped. Now I monitor dry when setting levels.

Oh man, the point about monitoring with effects is a real trap I hadn't considered. I record straight into OBS for my work streams, and I always monitor with a tiny bit of compression just to hear myself better. I bet that's messed with my gate settings before and I never knew it.

So just to make sure I get it, you're saying the gate "hears" that processed, wet signal in the monitor and can trigger off the reverb tail, right? That makes total sense. I guess the rule is to set your gate threshold while listening to the raw, dry input only, and only add your monitoring effects back after it's dialed in?

Exactly! You've got it. Setting the gate on the dry signal is the way to go.

That monitor effect trap is so sneaky. It happened to me once when I was using a voice changer for fun, and the gate kept cutting off my laughs. Took me forever to figure out why my audio sounded robotic.

Do you think it's better to set the noise floor sample with Krisp already on, or before you turn it on? I'm still trying to get my levels right.

You've identified the core trade-off perfectly. That "underwater" effect isn't just an annoyance for published audio, it's compression artifacts from Krisp's aggressive noise suppression. It's literally removing data.

Using a gate as a safety net is fine, but it treats a symptom. If your room tone after Krisp is still bad enough to need gating, you're already losing voice quality. For professional voiceovers, you're better off investing in a physical barrier first - a moving blanket or a proper mic shield - and using a lighter software filter. Krisp is built for the chaos of live calls, not for final masters.

Always sample the noise floor with Krisp *on*. It's the post-processed signal that the gate will be reacting to, not the raw input. The whole point is to see what the residual noise floor is after suppression.

I'd add that the sample should be taken during a typical recording session, not just in silence. Your own idle PC noise might change slightly under CPU load from your DAW or browser, which can affect that RMS level.

You're absolutely right to be suspicious of Krisp for a final recording. That "underwater" effect is the sound of it mangling your voice's transients and high-end to kill noise. It's a necessary evil for Zoom calls, but for a podcast? You're better off with a quieter source.

Your belt-and-suspenders idea is treating the symptom, not the cause. If you're layering a gate *after* Krisp, you're just cleaning up the mess it left behind. The artifacts are already baked in.

A cheap moving blanket hung behind you will do more for recording quality than any software gate. Use a gentle high-pass filter instead of Krisp and you'll sound ten times more professional.

You're spot on about the artifacts being baked in. It's a classic case of "you can't polish a turd" - the gate is just trying to clean up the mess after the fact.

One compromise I've used for client recordings in a noisy home office is using Krisp on a very low setting, almost like a gentle noise reduction, paired with a much more aggressive high-pass. That way, you're still getting some of its clever suppression on keyboard clacks without it totally wrecking your vocal presence. But yeah, a blanket is still cheaper and better!

That "low setting" trick is key! I've found Krisp's suppression can be way too aggressive on its default mode. Dialing it back to like 30-40% lets it catch the sharp, intermittent stuff - a door slam or keyboard clack - without constantly processing my voice and causing that weird phasey sound.

Have you tried pairing that light Krisp with a transient shaper instead of just a gate? A little attack boost after it can help restore some of the life that gets smoothed over. It's not perfect, but it helps in a pinch when you can't fully treat the room.

That "helps in a pinch" logic is how you end up with a permanent, half-baked setup. You're just adding more plugins to fix problems created by the first plugin. Now you're managing a noise suppressor, a transient shaper, and probably an EQ to fix the phasey sound. All that CPU for a result that's still worse than a $20 blanket.

That "belt-and-suspenders" setup is exactly how you get locked into paying for two solutions to fix one problem. You're already doubting the artifacts, which means your ear is telling you it's not right for a final product.

You're asking if Krisp is the ultimate tool. For professional recording, it's not even a good tool. It's a communication convenience tool. The artifacts you're worried about are the sound of it stripping out parts of your voice along with the noise. Adding a gate just silences the garbage left behind, it doesn't improve the quality of what's kept.

If you're moving into professional work, you need to solve the source. A treated space, even minimally, and a proper recording chain will beat any software hack. Krisp is for when you have no other choice on a call, not for something you're putting your name on.

That's a fair point, but sometimes the "permanent, half-baked setup" is all you have for a while. Not everyone can immediately treat a room, especially in a rental or shared open-plan space.

Where I partially disagree is calling it *just* a communication tool. For a final recording, you're right. But for something like a client discovery call recorded for internal use, a light Krisp + gate combo can get you a clean-enough, intelligible transcript without the distraction of office chaos. It's about choosing the right tool for the job's required fidelity, not always the ideal fidelity.

Your belt-and-suspenders idea makes total sense on paper, especially starting from where you are. I've run a similar setup for scratch audio or draft recordings.

The specific caveat I'd add is about timing. If you're using Krisp on a "call" input and then piping that into your DAW for the gate, watch out for added latency. I've seen it create a weird, flammy effect on the gate's open/close because it's reacting to Krisp's processed signal slightly late. You might need to nudge the gate's hold/release times to compensate.

Have you considered routing it the other way as a test? A light gate first to catch the loudest parrot squawks before Krisp sees them, then Krisp set low just to mop up the constant kitchen hum. Sometimes that stops Krisp from overreacting to sudden noises and creating more artifacts.