Audio Mix Down

Might be a silly question but here it goes! What is the point of doing an audio mix down at the end of a project in FCP? Does it improve the sound?

HI there
Doesnt improve the sound at all. when you edit you place your music , sfx , source sound on probably 3+ tracks .. "Mix down "   combines all these tracks and their audio  into two or even 1 usable track/s.

Similar Messages

  • Can I mix down to 32 bit at a higher sample rate than 44.1 kHz ?

    When I use Ableton Live, it lets me choose 16, 24, or 32 bit, and then I can choose a sample rate all the way up to 192000.  Is this possible in Audition ?  I have been going through all the preferences and all the tabs and I can't find this option.  All I find is a convert option, or the adjust option.  But that's not what I want.  I want to mix down this way.
    The closest thing I found is when I go to "Export Audio Mix Down", I can select 32 bit.  Then there is a box for sample rate, with all the different values.  But it won't allow me to change it from 44100.

    JimMcMahon85 wrote:
    Can someone explain this process in laymens terms:
    http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/ozone/OzoneDitheringGuide.pdf ---> specifically Section: VIII "Don't believe the hype"
    I don't read graphs well, can someone put in laymens terms how to do this test, step by step, and where do i get a pure sinewave to import into audition in the first place??
    UNbelievable: So I have to first run visual tests using a sinewave to make sure dither is working properly, then do listening tests with different types of dither to hear which I like best on my source material, and then for different source material it's best to use different types of dither techniques???... Am I getting this right???...
    Hmm... you only need to run tests and do all that crap if you are completely paranoid. Visual tests prove nothing in terms of what you want to put on a CD - unless it's test tones, of course. For the vast majority of use, any form of dither at all is so much better than no dither that it simply doesn't matter. At the extreme risk of upsetting the vast majority of users, I'd say that dither is more critical if you are reproducing wide dynamic range acoustic material than anything produced synthetically in a studio - simply because the extremely compressed nature of most commercial music means that even the reverb tails drop off into noise before you get to the dither level. And that's one of the main points really - if the noise floor of your recording is at, say, -80dB then you simply won't be hearing the effects of dither, whatever form it takes - because that noise is doing the dithering for you. So you'd only ever hear the effect of LSB dither (what MBIT+, etc. does) when you do a fade to the 16-bit absolute zero at the end of your track.
    Second point: you cannot dither a 32-bit Floating Point recording, under any circumstances at all. You can only dither a recording if it's stored in an integer-based format - like the 16-bit files that go on a CD. Technically then, you can dither a 24-bit recording - although there wouldn't be any point, because the dither would be at a level which was impossible to reproduce on real-world electronics - which would promptly swamp the entire effect you were listening for with its own noise anyway. Bottom line - the only signals you need to dither are the 16-bit ones on the file you use for creating CD copies. And you should only dither once - hence the seemingly strange instructions in the Ozone guide about turning off the Audition dither when you save the converted copy. The basic idea is that you apply the dither to the 32-bit file during the truncation process - and that's dithered the file (albeit 'virtually') just the once. Now if you do the final file conversion in Audition, you need to make sure the dithering is turned off during the process, otherwise all the good work that Ozone did is undone. What you need to do is to transfer the Ozone dithering at the 16-bit level directly to a 16-bit file proper, without anything else interfering with it at all. So what you do with Ozone is to do the dithering to your master file, and save that as something else - don't leave the master file like that at all. After saving it, undo the changes to the original, in fact - otherwise it's effectively not a file you could use to generate a master with a greater-than-16-bit depth from any more, because it will all have been truncated. Small point, but easy to overlook!
    just what's the easiest way to test if a simple dithering setting is
    working for 32-bit down to 16-bit in Audition?...  Why is there no info
    about dithering from 32 bit to 16 bit (which is better then dithering
    from 24-bit isn't it)?
    I hope that the answers to at least some of this are clearer now, but just to reiterate: The easiest way to test if its working is to burn a CD with your material on it, and at the end of a track, turn the volume right up. If it fades away smoothly to absolute zero on a system with lower noise than the CD produces then the dither has worked. If you hear a strange sort-of 'crunchy' noise at the final point, then it hasn't. There is info about the 32 to 16-bit dithering process in the Ozone manual, but you probably didn't understand it, and the reason that there's nothing worth talking about in the Audition manual is because it's pretty useless. Earlier versions of it were better, but Adobe didn't seem to like that too much, so it's been systematically denuded of useful information over the releases. Don't ask me why; I don't know what the official answer to the manual situation is at all, except that manuals are expensive to print, and have also to be compatible with the file format for the help files - which are essentially identical to it.
    Part of the answer will undoubtedly be that Audition is a 'professional' product, and that 'professionals' should know all this stuff already, therefore the manual only really has to be a list of available functions, and not how to use them. I don't like that approach very much - there's no baseline definition of what a 'professional' should know (or even how they should behave...), and it's an unrealistic view of the people that use Audition anyway. Many of them would regard themselves as professional journalists, or whatever, but they still have to use the software, despite knowing very little about it technically. For these people, and probably a lot of others, the manual sucks big time.
    It's all about educating people in the end - and as you are in the process of discovering, all education causes brain damage - otherwise it hasn't worked.

  • Multitrack Mix Down Question

    I use the multitrack view to perform cross fades when I am patched a recording.  I notice that when I ultimately export the resulting file via audio mix down that the overall levels of the recordings decrease.  I am not talking about the parts of the recording that I have cross faded.  I am referring to the untouched parts.  Are the other settings that I need to be aware of so this doesn't happen?

    dminches wrote:
     Are the other settings that I need to be aware of so this doesn't happen?
    Only one...
    If you go to Preferences>Multitrack and change the pan law default setting from -3dB center to L/R cut Log, your mix will come out 3dB higher, and it's almost certainly this that you've noticed.
    Important note: after you've changed the setting, you have to restart Audition for it to take effect.

  • Error message when mixing down audio

    Hi gang
    I occasionally get an error message when mixing down audio on a FCP 5.1.4 project. Message sez: File error: the specified is open and in use by this or another application.
    I've never seen this before. No other applications are open at the time this message comes up.
    thanks for any clarification.
    Craig

    Thanks for your reply. No . . . and if I try a bit later in the project, it seems to render the audio fine. Maybe I'll just trash my prefs and see what happens.
    Craig

  • Why am i getting error -43 after mix down on audio recording?

    why am i getting error -43 after mix down on audio recording?

    to where are you trying to mix down the file? a -43 is a file not found error

  • Audio And Visual Mix Down? (not export)

    I was just wondering if a user can MIX DOWN the audio and video without exportng the video and reloading it back into the project...
    Also if anyone can tell me if the scale rulers are of any use besides using them as a marker, for instance maybe controlling playback within a certain range??? Forgive my loose terminology.

    Certainly!
    When you say mix-down, to you mean raising the volume level in some places and lowering it in others? That's done using audio keyframes.
    Audio keyframing can be done right on the timeline. Just select a clip and position the CTI playhead over it, then click the Make Keyframe button on the track header, to the left of the audio track. This will create a keyframe point at the position of the CTI. Raising this point will increase the volume and lowering it will decrease it. You can create and position as many keyframes as you need to mix your audio tracks.
    As for your playback issue, you can isolate which area you edit, render or output by placing the Work Area Bar (the light colored gray bar that runs along the ticker on the timeline) so that it only covers a portion of your project.
    (I see you've ordered my books, Carlton! Good for you! These and many other topics are covered pretty thoroughly in them.)

  • Why does FCP keeping mixing down audio

    I'm working on a school play that we shot with 2 cameras. I edited it with the multiclip feature.
    Only problem is when I'm trying to lay down the final sequence, it won't let me lay down 4 tracks of audio.
    when creating the muticlip I added the other 2 tracks of audio from the other camera--so there are 4 tracks displayed.
    Now when i load them in the Viewer and try to overwrite in a new sequence in only give me 2 tracks of audio-I need all 4 tracks to do the audio mix.
    Why won't FCP let me lay down the audio, I've made sure the tracks are connected. I'm an avid editor learning FCP as i go.
    I checked the archives but could not find anything useful.
    This would seem like a rather easy task.

    did a 2 camera shoot for a play. There is audio on both channels of each camera for a total of 4 channels of audio.
    I made my multiclips by syncing the audio from both cameras and creating inpoints.
    Than i layed those multiclips into a seq. so I can edit it.
    When i did this, you can only lay down audio from one camera into the muliclip sequence. So I added the other 2 channels of audio from the multiclip on A3 and A4.
    So after the edit, I know have all my cuts in the video timeline and 4 audio tracks in the timeline.
    I have 4 sequences like this b/c we had tape changes during the performance.
    I now want to take those 4 sequences and create one final sequence(called Master) that has the edited multiclips with all 4 channels of audio but when I load the act 1 sequence in the viewer and try to lay it down in the (master) it only drops down 2 audio tracks...not the 4 that i see in the act 1 sequence.
    let me know if i need to take a screen shot to explain better.

  • Bad audio on mix down

    I am using an older version of Audition - v1.5 to be exact - and am encountering problems with the audio on mix down. I am adding tags to show audio and then adjusting the length to fit the requirements of our broadcast clock. The time adjustments are no more than 2% and are done at "high precision". What I am experiencing with the resultant audio is wackiness with the audio quality. The best way to describe what I am hearing is it sounds like an audio recording on tape that has been "accordianed" or as fluttery audio. It does not happen throughout the entire file, only in certain places. It does not appear to have any rhyme or reason as to when it occurs in the file.
    I have checked all other possiblities in the chain the audio passes through and have narrowed down to Audition. All processing is being done within Audition. All audio is the same bit depth and sample rate - 44.1K and 16 bit. Anyone have thoughts as to why this is happening and what I can do to remedy the situation?
    Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

    You're not really alone with this. In subsequent versions time stretching and compression has improved considerably, so I'd suggest an upgrade.

  • Mix Down the audio just prior to exporting.

    What does it mean to "mix Down the audio". I have seen that several times. I have tried to look it up but can't find that phrase.
    Thanks

    Quote from the FCE HD Manual (Ch.23 pg.662):
    "This command has no effect on how your clips are edited. All audio clips remain on their own tracks in the sequence just as they were before. The Mixdown Audio command only consolidates the clips for playback in an invisible preview file"
    Playing or Printing to Video back after mixing down requires less CPU power for audio; then CPU has more time for video ...
    Piero

  • Why when mixing down video, audio gets panned to left?

    I don't know why it happens. I've checked and it's not panned at all before the mix down/render. Any help?

    I think it figured it out. If you're doing a stereo project but have the project set to Surround it will mix down with an odd pan to the left. Just an FYI.
    I fixed the project properties and now it mixed down with no pan.

  • Unable to perform multi audio tracks mixing with Audio Mixer

    How do you get a simple multi track mix with the Premier Pro 1.5 Audio Mixer?
    I got 2 audio clips, each sitting at the start of its own separate track (Audio 1 and Audio 2). I just want to mix them into the Master track.  Simple enough.
    So I go to the Audio Mixer. Position the CTI at the start of the tracks and hit the red RECORD button. The red spot starts blinking. Then I hit the START/STOP button expecting the tracks to start mixing into the Master track. Instead, I get this error message
         "PLAYER ERROR: You cannot record without enabling at least one track for recording."  
    I get the same problem if I try the mix onto a submix track.
    What am I missing? I combed through the Premiere Pro User Guide and J. Rosenberg's Premiere Pro Studio Techniques but to no avail.
    Thanks for any help.
    JB.

    Jacques, I havn't seen 1.5 for a while, so I need to stress that what I'm about to say is more of an educated guess linked to a rough memory.
    Each audio track in the mixer has a small chip (tickbox in 1.5??) that you click in order to enable that track for recording. In CS3 it's a little microphone.
    Having said that, I DON'T think that's going to give you what you want, as the intention of the recording functionality in PP is to record audio FROM AN EXTERNAL SOURCE (like a microphone) straight to an audio track, say, when doing a Voice Over for some video.
    You can't "mix down" to the master, as the master is not a track per se. It's just a "final" level control. The master will always be the sum of the active tracks, and THAT'S what will be rendered in the final output.
    You can still "live mix" your audio with the faders, it's just that those movements get recorded as keyframes on each of the tracks you modify (including, BTW, the Master).
    The advantage to this workflow is that every fader move you make is infinitley editable... a small error when riding the faders can easily be fixed by dragging keyframes.
    HTH.
    Matthew

  • Startling error messages when trying to bounce my final mixes down.

    Friends, Im nervous about this one as I've logged in 100+ hours and dropped a little bit of $ for off-site recording.
    When Im ready to "send songs to disk", an error message pops up saying "GarageBand found 2 audio files in 8-bit format" "This format is unsupported and can not be played back" with an OK" option. After pressing OK, it proceeds to mix down but saves nowehere on my comp (or drive).
    After restarting and trying to reopen the session, Im given this error message: "This file type is not supported and gives me the truly horrible option of "abort". Then it gives me the error message again.
    It then gives me the original error message once more: "GarageBand found 2 audio files in 8-bit format" "This format is unsupported and can not be played back" with an OK" option. After I press it, it gives me that same message again for good measure and now the session is up.
    But I cant save it and I cant send a mix anywhere. So Im pretty screwed?
    We did a little off-site recording and imported those files Sunday, but Ive been working on it for a few days before these glitches came through.
    HELP!
    Im on a brand new MacBook OSX10.9 with Garage Band !! 6.0.5

    Thank you, Leonie for replying.
    So I went to the contents of the file and took the problem files out.
    It immediatley pops up a error saying that a track was not found. "Audio File "guiro.wav" not found"
    Obviously, since the track for guiro is still there.
    But as I tried to move on, I still got a ""GarageBand found 1 audio file in 8-bit format" before I could get to the session and start deleting them.
    As I began doing just that, that same ol' error message popped up fpr every move and then when I finished, it still wouldnt save anything saying..."The document 'SongFour.band' could not be saved.

  • 5.1 Surround audio mixing

    Does anyone have some recommendations for a good 5.1 surround audio mixing program?

    You might be interested in my post from the Compressor forum on exporting from FCP to Compressor 2 for Dolby Digital:
    Here is my procedure for a basic 5 channel project consiting of one stereo pair for the front speakers, a mono track for the center, and a stereo pair for the rear speakers.
    First make a copy of your FCP surround project and name it as such.
    i.e. My Project saved as My Project_surround
    This will leave your original project untouched as a two channel mix should you wish to provide the user of your DVD with a seperate mix optimized for stereo only playback.
    We will now be changing audio track assignments.
    "My Project_surround" will now not play all tracks in your stereo audio monitoring environment unless you have a soundcard with at least 5 outputs.feeding a surround speaker set-up.
    (or you use the Audio Mixer from the Tools drop down to monitor a downmix to two channels)
    Open My Project_surround.
    Let's assume that your timeline has a stereo pair "A1/A2" for the front L/R speakers, a mono file "A5" for the Center, and a stereo pair "A3/A4" for the rear speakers, Ls, Rs.
    Use command "0" (zero) to open the project properties.
    Go to the Audio Outputs tab.
    Choose 6 from the Outputs Tab.
    in the 1/2 grouping choose stereo (leave downmix at "0").
    in the 3/4 grouping choose stereo (leave downmix at "0")
    in the 5/6 grouping choose "dual mono" (turn off 6 using the downmix drop-down)
    Click OK. (ignore the warning that pops up)
    In your timeline we will assign your tracks to the appropriate output channels.
    In the empty gray area next to the lock icon on track A1 right click, or control click, and you will get a dropdown menu
    In the audio outputs sub menu choose 1 & 2.
    Do the same for A2. (choose 1 & 2)
    For A3 and A4 use the same procedure now choosing outputs 3 & 4.
    For A5 choose 5.
    Save the project.
    In FCP export menu choose Export/Audio to AIFF(s)
    (create a new folder on your media drive to hold your exported files)
    You will get four files named after the project appended by: 1-2, 3-4, 5 and 6.
    Delete "6" as it is a dummy/empty file.
    Close your project.
    Close FCP.
    Open Compressor. In the batch window click on the speaker icon to open the "import surround sound group".
    In the graphical interface either drag the file with the 1-2 suffix to the left speaker icon, or click the icon and choose the file.
    Compressor will intelligently assign the left channel of the file.
    Repeat by dragging or choosing the same file for the right speaker.
    Compressor will intelligently assign the right channel of the file.
    For the mono center file either drag the file with the "5" suffix to the center speaker icon, or click the icon and choose the file.
    Use the same procedure for the Ls and Rs assignments.
    Once done click OK.
    Click to select your new group in the Batch window and from the dropdown menu choose "audio formats/Dolby 5.1"
    Setting up your Dolby settings as a preset for this project is now up to you.

  • Audio levels on the timeline & Audio Mixer

    I'm confused why when you change the audio levels on a clip using the Audio Mixer it changes the levels for everything on the track?
    I'm from an FCP & Avid background where you can adjust each clip using the Audio Mixer, is there a way I can do this? I find using the yellow sliders in each clip is very unaccurate and having to open each audio clip in the viewer is such a time waster.
    Thanks, Andy

    Audio in Premiere Pro is different--but quite a lot, in many circumstances. I'd recommend going through the help file's audio section to get a better idea of what some of the main controls are: Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 & CS5.5 * Editing Audio
    But to answer your question more directly: the Audio Mixer controls track volume, not clip volume. By default, the Audio Mixer isn't set to drop keyframes, so it will affect the level of a track as a whole; check out Recording audio mixes to get more background on setting up the Audio Mixer for automation, so that you can record level changes.
    The rubberbands (the yellow lines you're referring to) can be more finitely controlled by holding down the Ctrl/Cmd key as you drag; the values will move in smaller increments, then.
    You don't have to load a clip into the Source Monitor to adjust the levels, if you want to adjust by the numbers. Just single click a clip in the sequence, and if the Effects Controls panel is forward, you'll be able to adjust the volume with the standard effects sliders/dials. Note that keyframing is enabled by default for the Level property, so if all you want to do is adjust the total level of a clip, it might be faster to do it in the sequence.
    Audio mixing in Premiere Pro is pretty capable and the feature set is pretty deep, but I'll grant you it's a little overwhelming coming from a different NLE. I don't know if any of the previous helps you, but post back with any specific questions and we'll try to figure out a way to approach this in a fashion that makes sense to you.

  • Can AppleScript be used to write an audio mixer app?

    I apologize for the total newbie question here, but I need to put together a simple app that can load in up to 8 audio tracks (either in mp3 or aiff format), adjust their individual volumes and output each one of them separately. By separately I mean simultaneously but NOT mixed down to a two channel stereo, I want each of the 8 tracks to have its own output.
    I thought that this would exist as a shareware but apparently not.
    I will use the output of this to drive an M-Audio 410 firewire external box which will then take these 8 channels and convert them to 8 analog signals.
    Thank you for any help.
    Bo

    I don't think you can write an AppleScript application to do this, but you could possibly use it to drive another application.
    I would start with GarageBand. You most likely got a copy of this with your Mac as part of an iLife package. It is scriptable, but I have never used it myself.
    If you want a more high powered mixing application, you should check out ProTools. You can get a free version here. I'm not sure if it is scriptable, but it is Very powerful.

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