Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
into Stereo Pairs. With a true hardware mixer it is possible to mix several tracks,
due to the fact that as humans we have ten fingers to work with and can, thus,
mix several faders at a time.
This, however, is not a huge disadvantage, because it is possible to record
audio keyframes, thus tracks can be mixed individually, the results recorded,
and then played back while further mixing takes place.
The audio mixer is made up of several virtual faders, stacked from left to right
to represent each of the tracks in the Timeline. If you have four tracks in the
Timeline the audio mixer will have four faders; if you have ten audio tracks
there will be ten faders for you to
access in the mixer. Above each fader
is a pan control, allowing you to shift
the playback of audio from left to
right. Tracks can be easily muted or soloed using the speaker or headphone
icons. A master stereo fader is positioned to the right of the faders which
controls the overall output level. A master mute button is positioned above
the master fader.
A set of Audio Meters is positioned next to the Master Fader. This serves
the same purpose as the Audio Meters which sit to the right of the
Timeline.
To the extreme left of the Audio Mixer are radio buttons which can be used to
selectively hide tracks from view. This can be useful if you are working with
many tracks at a time. You may wish to hide tracks to concentrate on those you
are focusing on at any given time.
The killer feature of this mixer is the Record Audio
Keyframes button, located at the top right of the mixer
above the Master Mute button. The Record Audio
Keyframes button is used to plot points in the Timeline, in a similar way to
Rubberbanding, however, the difference is the points are plotted in real time as
the sound is mixed. Once these points have been plotted you can then get
inside the mix, providing Keyframe Overlays is switched on, and make manual
adjustments as necessary.
