Mixing sound

The Mixer sets how loud each audio track is and where it sits between the left and right speakers. What you hear while you edit is exactly what your export contains: the export uses the same levels, volume points, solo and mute.

Open the mixer

1. Click Mixer on the rail. Each audio track has a strip, in track order (A1, A2 …), and the Master strip is last. If the timeline has no audio track yet, the panel offers Add audio track.

   

   

2. Drag a strip's fader up or down to set the track's level, from silence (−∞) to +6 dB. The level shows under the fader. Double-click the fader to return it to 0 dB. With the fader selected, the arrow keys move it by 0.5 dB, or by 3 dB with Shift; Home silences the track and End sets +6 dB.

3. Drag Pan to place the track to the left (L 40) or the right (R 40). C is the centre. Double-click it to centre it again.

4. M mutes the track. S solos it: while any track is soloed, you hear only the soloed tracks. A muted track stays silent even when it is soloed. Mute and solo are saved with the project, and each click can be undone.

The Master strip sets the level of the whole timeline. Every change you make in the mixer is heard at once, even while the timeline is playing, and each drag is one step of undo.

Read the meters

Beside each fader, the meter shows how loud the track is while the timeline plays, from −60 dB at the bottom to 0 dB at the top. It is green, turns amber above −6 dB and red above −1 dB. A thin line holds the loudest moment for about a second.

The small light above the meter turns red when the sound reaches 0 dB, the loudest a file can hold, and stays red until you click it. If it lights, lower that track's fader or the Master.

Shape a clip's volume

1. On an audio clip, the yellow line is the clip's volume. With no points on it, drag the line up or down to change the whole clip. Ctrl-click the line (Cmd-click on a Mac) to add a volume point. Drag a point to move it; drag the line between two points to move both. Select a point and press Delete to remove it: the clip stays.

Volume points are the same keyframes you see in the clip's keyframe lane, so editing one changes the other. For a whole recording that is too quiet or too loud, use Gain in the clip inspector instead: see The clip inspector.