Audio levels changing when put in multitrack

Report · Dec 21, 2020

Im editing an audio drama, hoping to balance dialogue, actuality, sound effects and music. I'm adjusting levels in the waveform E.G making dialogue peak at -6db.

Annoyingly, when i then place each file into the multitrack the levels reduce by about -3db on my level meter. I've had a look into multitrack preferences and the only thing i found was a setting that changes levels when you mix down the multitrack. I did change settings here just in case but unsurprisngly that didnt work.

To make do, ive currently just been making the audio louder in the waveform but as ive started adding more sound effects and background noises etc and it would be great to know that my levels are accurate without constantly having to listen to it back, comparing between the waveform and multitrack to see if its changing.

If anyone could help it would be greatlty appreciated.

Report · Dec 21, 2020

You should read this thread: Different audio levels going-back and forth between multitrack and waveform

This will explain what it is you are experiencing.

Please note carefully the last paragraph; once you've set the law for a session, it's only an edit of the session file that will change it.

Report · Dec 22, 2020

Brilliant. I understand why the adjusting the master will help. The technical element of how the different laws work has gone over my head.

I was wondering if you could explain the difference between the two DB measurements in the screenshot here. Which one should i concentrate on when trying to balance my audio levels.

Thank you for the help so far much appreciated

Report · Dec 22, 2020

The scale on the left simply indicates how much additional level you've either added or subtracted from the channel level - it's just like the calibration scale on any hardware mixer. The scale on the right is the actual meter scale - that's why the calibrations reach right over to the edge of it.

Balancing audio levels has nothing to do with meters -that's all down to your ears. Because Audition uses Floating Point mixing with effectively no distortion ceiling, the absolute levels don't matter very much, as long as you keep them within reasonable bounds. What this means in practical terms is that even with the meters banging into the red, and your monitoring sounding a bit distorted, you can get the correct levels back whin you mix down to a file that opens in Waveform view, simply by normalizing it so that the peaks sit at 0dB (or slightly lower). The signals will be scaled back to the 'correct' levels. Yes I realise that this sounds like a bit of magic, but it's a direct consequence of the Floating Point maths involved in the audio engine. What it means is that Audition's mixer has a ludicrous dynamic range, extending up to somewhere around +1500dB - no, that is not a typo. So you can have a mix that opens in Waveform view as a solid block of green, and normalize it back to stop at 0dB without any difficulty or loss at all.

And ultimately, that's why none of the level discrepencies you think you're seeing in Multitrack matter in the slightest - you can't overload the system, and even if everything's too quiet you can boost it without loss. Loads of people make a fuss about it, but it's all for nothing! The only reason that a really hot mix sounds distorted is because your sound device lives in the real world, and has to deal with a fixed number of bits, and it's perfectly possible to overload this. But like I said, it really doesn't matter, because you can correct this afterwards.

Report · Dec 22, 2020

Steve - You are a legend.

This reply is so helpful and so much relevent extra detail thats helped me better understand whats going on. Please keep doing what your doing, communities like this work so well when users like yourself are readily providing in depth and detailed answers.

Thanks again