14. Automation

Audition offers two types of automation in the Multitrack Editor: clip automation and track automation. The Waveform Editor does not support automation.

Automation can be recorded during recording or during playback; it is not necessary to put a track into record mode to record automation moves. These moves are recorded as envelopes, which are lines—superimposed on a clip or track—that graphically indicate the value of the parameter being automated over time. There are multiple ways to create and edit envelopes, as you’ll see in this chapter.

1. With Audition open, navigate to the Lesson14 folder, and open the Multitrack Session named AutomationClip.sesx. Then right-click (Control-click) in the timeline, and choose Time Display > Bars and Beats.

2. You’ll add a volume fade-in to the first clip in the Main Drums track. For easy viewing of the envelope, extend the track height and zoom in so the clip fills much of the window.

3. Note the yellow Volume envelope (currently a straight line) in the clip’s upper half and the blue Pan envelope that marks the clip’s middle. Click on the Volume envelope, and while holding down the mouse button, drag down. The tooltip shows how much the gain is being reduced; this acts like a Volume control, because you’re changing volume for the entire clip. Because the object is to create a fade-in, drag back up so the tooltip shows a level of +0.0dB.

4. You can add control points called keyframes along the envelope to change the line’s shape. Click once on the Volume envelope around 3:1. This places a keyframe on the envelope. Click on the envelope again around 1:3 to create a second keyframe.

5. Click on the second keyframe you made at 1:3, and drag it down and to the left so it’s at the clip beginning and shows a volume of around -14dB.

6. Start playback from the beginning of the song, and you’ll hear the drums fade in.

7. Suppose you want the music to fade in a little faster but not reach full volume until 3:1. Click on the line between the first and second keyframes, and then drag to around -3.6dB at 1:4. Click Play, and you’ll hear that the fade-in is a little faster at first and then fades in at a slower rate.

8. Now pan this clip so it starts in the left channel, moves to the right channel, and then ends up centered. Click on the blue Pan envelope at 4:2 to add a keyframe. This will be where the panning returns to center.

9. Click on the Pan envelope around 2:4, and drag all the way down so the tooltip shows R100.0.

10. Click toward the beginning of the Pan envelope, and drag all the way up and to the left until the tooltip shows L100.0.

11. Click Play, and you’ll hear the sound pan.

12. Make the pan a little more complex: Click on the Pan envelope around 3:3, and drag this new keyframe all the way up. Click Play, and you’ll hear the sound move from left to right, back to left, and then end up in the center.

13. The panning transitions seem a little abrupt because the lines change angles sharply at each keyframe. To change these angles into smooth curves, right-click (Control-click) anywhere on the envelope and choose Spline Curves. Now the envelope becomes similar to a “rubber band,” which allows you to click and drag to create any kind of curved shape you want.

14. Keep this project open for the next lesson.

1. Right-click (Control-click) on the Volume envelope you created in the first Main Drums clip to select it for editing.

2. Right-click (Control-click) on the envelope or an envelope keyframe, and choose Select All Keyframes.

3. Click on any keyframe, and drag up so the tooltip shows approximately +4dB more than its original value. All the other keyframes move simultaneously.

4. You can also select particular keyframes and have them move together as a group. Click the clip outside of the Volume envelope to deselect all keyframes.

5. Click on the leftmost keyframe (the one at the beginning of the clip) to select it, and then Ctrl-click (Command-click) the second keyframe from the left (the one at 2:1).

6. Click on the first selected keyframe, and drag up until the second selected keyframe reaches the top of the clip (you could click on either keyframe, but choosing the first one allows you to learn an additional characteristic of moving keyframe groups). The line defined by the two keyframes will move, and the nonselected keyframe to the right will remain “anchored.”

7. Keep moving the first keyframe up. Note that the second keyframe remains “stuck” at the top; however, it “remembers” its original position. Drag the first keyframe back down again to where it started (around -7.5dB), and the second keyframe will return to its original position.

8. Leave this project open for the next lesson.

1. Locate the first clip in the second track (Bass), and zoom in so you can easily see the clip and its automation envelopes.

2. Click on the Pan envelope just before the note that starts after 6:4 to create a keyframe.

3. Click on the Pan envelope just before the note that starts after 5:4 to create a keyframe, and then drag it all the way down.

4. Click on the Pan envelope toward the left of the envelope, and then drag the keyframe to the upper-left corner.

5. Hover the cursor over the leftmost keyframe until you see the tooltip, which means you’re hovering directly over the keyframe. Right-click (Control-click), and choose Hold Keyframe.

6. Similarly, hover over the next keyframe to the right, right-click (Control-click) on it, and choose Hold Keyframe. The envelope now makes sharp, right-angle turns as the envelope jumps to the next value.

7. Leave this project open for the next lesson.

1. Rather than working with the clip you just used to learn about Volume and Pan envelopes, you’ll use a different clip to learn about clip effects automation. Locate the clip in the Main Drums track that begins around 9:1 and select it.

2. In the Effects Rack, click the Clip Effects tab. You’ll add a wah effect by using EQ.

3. In the first insert, click the right arrow, and choose Filter and EQ > Parametric Equalizer. Choose Default from the Presets menu.

4. Turn off all bands except band 2. Set its gain to around 20dB and Q to around 12.

5. Click the triangle in the clip’s upper right, and choose Parametric Equalizer > EQ Band 2 Center Frequency. This specifies the automation envelope that will be added to the clip.

6. An envelope appears and a small fx icon appears along the bottom of the clip. Click toward each end of the envelope to add two keyframes.

7. Drag the left keyframe to the lower left until the tooltip indicates a frequency of around 130Hz. You may need to extend the track height to obtain the necessary resolution.

8. Drag the right keyframe to the upper right until the tooltip indicates a frequency of around 4000Hz.

9. Place the playhead before the clip starts, and then click Play. You’ll hear a filtering effect that goes from low to high over the course of the clip. You may want to click the track’s Solo button so you can focus in on hearing the effect; keep the effect’s window open if you want to see the parameter change in real time.

10. Leave this project open for the next lesson.

1. Choose the View menu.

2. Choose the envelopes you want to see—Volume, Pan, or Effect.

3. Close the project so you can start fresh for the next lesson.

For individual tracks, you can automate:

• Volume

• Mute

• Pan

• Track EQ (including all EQ parameters—frequency, gain, Q, and so on)

• Rack Input level

• Rack Output level

• Rack Mix (crossfades between the dry sound and the sound processed by the Effects Rack)

• Rack Power

• Most plug-in parameters, including VST and AU-format plug-ins. (For example, you could automate delay so that the delay feedback increases over a certain number of measures and then decreases.)

There are three main ways to work with track automation:

• Move onscreen controls in real time and record the control motions as envelopes.

• Create an envelope, and then add keyframes to create an envelope shape.

• Combine the two—create the envelope with control motion, and then edit it by adding, moving, or deleting keyframes.

1. Open Audition, navigate to the Lesson14 folder, and open the Multitrack Session named AutomationTrack.sesx. The Default Workspace is recommended; reset to this workspace if needed.

With most of the steps in this lesson, you’ll want to start the file from the beginning after stopping playback.

2. To start file playback from the beginning, position the playhead at the beginning of the file, and then right-click (Control-click) on the Transport Play button and choose Return Playhead to Start Position on Stop.

3. Click the Mixer tab.

4. Click the Main Drums track’s fader automation drop-down menu and choose Write.

5. Start with the fader for Track 1 (Main Drums) at around -18dB, because you’ll fade the level up.

6. Start playback from the file beginning. As the file plays, bring up the fader to around 0. Let the file play for several seconds, and then fade the drums out all the way.

7. Stop playback. Note that the Main Drums automation drop-down menu option changes automatically from Write to Touch. As you’ll see, this makes it convenient to fine-tune your fader moves.

8. Start playback, and the fader re-creates the fader moves you made. After the fader fades out, stop playback.

9. Suppose you decide that fading out all the way wasn’t a great idea, and once the level starts fading out, you want the drums to fade back in again. You can always write new automation, but it’s easier just to “punch in” with the new automation move by using Touch mode. Start playback, grab the fader partway through the fadeout, and then fade back up to 0. Let the file play for a few seconds, and then release the mouse and stop playback. The fader returns to 0, because that was the automation data prior to adding the new automation moves.

10. You can also automate panning. With the automation drop-down menu set to either Touch or Write, start playback and move the Pan control. Panning back and forth rhythmically will provide plenty of data to work with. When you’ve done at least several measures of panning moves, stop playback.

11. Now automate an effect. Expand the fx section by clicking its disclosure triangle.

12. In the Percussion channel’s automation drop-down menu, choose Write.

13. In the Percussion track’s fx area, double-click on the Echo insert to bring up its interface so you can modify its controls. Locate the 1.4k slider in the Echo effect’s Successive Echo Equalization area; that’s the one you’ll be altering.

14. Start playback from the file beginning, and move the 1.4k fader up to around 5dB.

15. The echo sound will start feeding back after a few seconds. Before it gets too out of control, pull the fader down to around -5dB to reduce the amount of echo feedback. Stop playback.

16. Start playback, and you’ll see the 1.4k slider re-create your mixing moves. When the mixing moves end, stop playback.

17. When you’re finished making automation moves, change the automation drop-down menus for the Main Drums and Percussion channels to Read. This will prevent accidental erasures or edits (Off ignores any automation data).

18. Keep this project open in preparation for the next lesson.

1. Click the Editor tab to leave the Mixer.

2. Expand the Main Drums track height until you see the automation drop-down menu (which should show Read).

3. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the automation drop-down menu to view the automation envelope Lanes.

4. If you use lots of envelopes, showing them all simultaneously can clutter up a Lane. As a result, Audition lets you specify which envelopes you want to see in the automation envelope Lane. Click the Show Envelopes drop-down menu, and choose the automation envelopes you want shown. Because you recorded both Volume and Pan automation, choose those.

5. If multiple envelopes are visible, seeing all those keyframes in multiple envelopes can sometimes be confusing. Therefore, Audition lets you choose which envelope to edit (you can still see the other envelopes you’ve chosen to show, but you can’t edit them). Choose the envelope you want to edit in the Select drop-down menu. The chosen envelope will be highlighted, and the other envelopes will be dimmed.

Keyframes in track envelopes work exactly as they do in clip envelopes. For example, suppose your panning envelope doesn’t look smooth enough but more like an on-off switch. You can fix this with spline curves.

6. Choose Spline Curves by right-clicking (Control-clicking) on the envelope and choosing Spline Curves from the context menu, as you did with Clip Automation, and curves will form between the keyframes instead of straight lines. You can also delete selected keyframes to “thin out” the curve, either by clicking on them and pressing Delete, or by right-clicking (Control-clicking) on a keyframe (or a selected number of keyframes) and choosing Delete Selected Keyframes.

1. Click the Main Drums track’s Show Envelopes drop-down menu, and choose Hard Limiter > Input Boost. As soon as you choose a new envelope, it’s automatically selected (you don’t have to use the Select drop-down menu), highlighted in the automation Lane, and set to whatever its current value is in the effect. The default Input Boost for the Hard Limiter is 0.0dB (no boost).

2. Because you don’t want any boost when the bass starts playing (at measure 5:1), click on the Input Boost envelope at 5:1. This places an envelope keyframe at 0.0dB.

3. Click on the envelope to the left of the keyframe you just added. Drag it up to around 20dB, and position it just before the keyframe that reduces the Input Boost.

4. Start playback from the beginning, and listen to how this processing affects the sound.

5. Keep this project open for the next lesson.

1. Select the Pan envelope, which presumably has multiple keyframes.

2. Click the Next Keyframe button, and the playhead will move right from its current position to the next keyframe.

3. Click the Add/Remove Keyframe button (the diamond icon to the immediate left of the Next Keyframe button) to delete the keyframe. If the playhead was not on a keyframe, clicking this button would add a keyframe.

4. The Previous Keyframe button (left-arrow icon) to the immediate left of the Add/Remove Keyframe button steps through keyframes from right to left. Click this button a few times to see how the playhead moves.

5. Click the Clear All Keyframes button (the eraser icon) to delete all keyframes for the selected envelope.

6. Keep this project open for the next lesson.

1. Click the Protection button (the lock icon). The envelope dims to show it’s protected, even if it’s selected. Note that you can still edit it via the automation Lane when it’s protected.

2. In the Main Drums track, with the Hard Limiter Input Boost envelope still selected, choose Write from the automation drop-down menu.

3. Double-click on the Effects Rack’s Hard Limiter insert to open its user interface window.

4. Make sure the playhead is at the beginning of the file, and then start playback.

5. Move the Hard Limiter’s Input Boost control back and forth. Stop playback; note that no change has been made to the envelope.

6. Turn off the Protection button, start playback, and then vary the Hard Limiter Input Boost control again.

7. Stop playback. Note that the Hard Limiter Input Boost envelope has been overwritten.

2. What is a keyframe?

3. What is an automation Lane?

4. What is the difference between Touch and Latch mode for writing automation?

5. How does Audition prevent accidental editing of the wrong envelope?

2. A keyframe is a point on an automation envelope that represents a particular parameter value.

3. A Lane is part of the Multitrack Editor where you can create and edit envelopes for a track. Every track has a corresponding Lane.

4. After releasing a control in Touch mode, from that point on the automation returns to any previously written automation. After releasing a control in Latch mode, the automation envelope retains the last control value prior to releasing it.

5. Only the selected envelope can be edited, even though other envelopes are visible. You can also use the Protection button to prevent overwriting automation moves when recording automation.