Apple Final Cut Express 4 - Manual (Page 616)

616 Part VIII Audio Mixing
How these controls affect the level of your clip depends on whether or not you’ve set
keyframes for either audio level or pan.
 If no keyframes are set: Moving the sliders or entering a numeric value changes the
audio or stereo levels for the entire clip. Similarly, dragging one of the overlays
changes the audio level or pan setting for the entire clip.
 If keyframes are set: Moving the sliders or entering a numeric value modifies the value
of whatever keyframe is at the current position of the Viewer playhead. If there is no
keyframe at the current position of the playhead, one will be added. There must be
at least two keyframes on an overlay to change the audio level or pan setting from
one level to another.
Whether or not the audio item in the Viewer is a stereo pair also affects how audio level
and pan are set. Clips can have up to 24 tracks of audio, and each item can be mono or
part of a stereo pair.
 If you opened mono items: Each channel is in its own tab in the Viewer and is mixed
separately from all others.
 If you opened a stereo pair: Both waveforms appear in the same tab, named Stereo.
Adjusting the levels of one channel adjusts the levels of the other.
As you adjust the audio level and pan of clips in Final Cut Express, your changes can be
played back immediately. Final Cut Express mixes the audio levels in real time, so you
don’t need to render your audio as long as your computer can handle the number of
tracks you’re working on. Real-time audio processing is covered in more detail in
“
Introduction to Real-Time Processing ” on page 881.
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Tip: Using effects like cross fades and filters requires processing power, which reduces
the total number of tracks you can mix in real time. If you exceed the number of tracks
your computer can handle, you’ll need to render your tracks. Audio is usually rendered
much faster than video, however, so it shouldn’t take too long.
When you edit a new clip into a sequence, its level is set to 0 decibels (dB) by default.
You can change the level to be any value you like, up to +12 dB. You can use three
controls to adjust the audio level of a clip. Each of these controls is mirrored by the
other controls as you make adjustments. If no keyframes are set in the clip in the
Viewer, using these controls adjusts the level of the entire clip.