70 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
70 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
+++
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title = "Mixing levels"
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chapter = false
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weight = 2
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#pre = "<b>1. </b>"
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+++
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**Levels** are the volumes of each Track relative to the others.
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If you can't hear a bass line above the other instruments, the obvious choice
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would be to raise the bass line volume. Levels can be adjusted using the
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Fader in the Mixer Strip or in each Track, just below the Track name.
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The first step in Mixing is to listen to everything that has been
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recorded and adjust the levels of all Tracks so you can hear everything
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clearly, but in a manner that is appropriate for the song. For example,
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the vocal track is normally louder than the rhythm guitar because the
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voice is the focal point of the song.
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## Using the Fader
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The Fader is the primary control of Levels for each Track. The exact
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value of the Track's Levels are displayed in the small rectangular field
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above the Fader. You can change the Levels by either dragging the slider
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or typing in a new number directly into the rectangle with the number.
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By default the Fader is set to −0.0 dB, meaning that the Levels of the
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Track are not changed. In the screenshot below, the
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Fader for the track named "*kick*" is set to -0.0, and the Peak Meter
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indicates that the highest peak so far was -5.1.
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## Avoiding Clipping
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One other important task in Mixing is to avoid **Clipping**. The Peak
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Value on the Mixer Strip turns red when the signal has peaked above
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0.0dB. You can use this tool to monitor the highest Levels of your Track
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while Mixing.
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In the screenshot below, the synth track has just clipped to +5.9. You
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can also see little red edges on the waveform itself, indicating the
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exact locations where the recorded sound clipped.
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Click on the red number in the Peak Meter to reset it.
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{{% notice tip %}}
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For the sake of the exercise, try to record your voice so that it clips. Hear how the playback is distorted.
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{{% /notice %}}
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You should make sure that anything that you send to your sound card or
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that you will eventually Export as a sound file (such as for CD
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mastering) **never** goes above 0.0dB to avoid actual Clipping.
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If the clipping occurs in a very percussive sound and it is almost unnoticeable, you may be able to hide it by
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decreasing the gain (for example, Normalize the region to 0.0, or a
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lower number like -1.0). However, often the clipping results in audible
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distortion of the recorded sound. The best solution in this case is to
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just record again with lower levels.
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## Continuing
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When you are finished with this chapter of the tutorial, you should have
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a collection of Tracks whose Levels are well adjusted to each other and
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do not Clip when added together in the Master Bus. Once this is
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accomplished, we can proceed to learn about **Panning** in the next
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chapter, so that our Mix takes on a strong feeling of Stereo space.
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Next: [PANNING](../panning)
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