backing up a step--just discovered the mixer board

[firetooth]

Well I was about to go ahead with burning a cd but I just discovered the mixer board! After I find the mix I like, how do I capture it permanently? Sorry to be such a total Newbie! I am fine with both stereo channels being the same for the purpose of this recording. Thanks!

[steve]

Could you back up another couple of steps and describe what you are doing.
Is this a multi-track project that you are mixing down to stereo?
What exactly are you trying to do?

[firetooth]

happy to explain:
1. recording a guitar track. Done.
2. play the guitar track while singing along. done.
3. going to the mixer to get the levels right between guitar and vocal tracks. I did this once yesterday but I didn't really know what I was doing. What I needed to do was to make the guitar track quieter in relation to the vocal track. It went pretty well. I took the guitar track down a few db's and boosted the vocal track as high as it would go without clipping. when I played back the mixed file it sounded really good, and in the cd track i burned it stayed pretty good, with only a tiny loss of vocal complexity/depth. Definitely fine for my purposes.

One question I have is: when you change a level on the mixer does it change the level for the WHOLE song or just start when you move the level? Seems to me it changed the whole song. It is okay for my current purpose, but I might like to bring the level a bit more up on the guitar for the guitar solo and then down again when the vocal returns, if this isn't TOO difficult.

As far as mono vs stereo, for this project I don't care if left and right are the same or even if monaural. What I did yesterday on my test track was to wind up with stereo, with both channels playing the same thing. I definitely do not want vocal on one track and guitar on the other in a final stereo mix.

Basically I am asking about any tips or tricks to using the mixing board. I feel so new to everything that I am not sure I know the right questions to even ask. The only one I am sure of is the one I wrote above, about whether the changed level applies to the whole song or not. It seems like a great feature, and I plan to use it a lot in mixing together more two-track scenarios, guitar and vocal.

So far this has been a great learning curve!

[steve]

So far this has been a great learning curve!

I'm glad that you're enjoying it - and that's exactly how I got into doing audio stuff, there was just so much to learn... and there still is

When you change a level on the mixer does it change the level for the WHOLE song

Yes it does.
If you look at the left side of each track there is a box that has the name of the track (you can click on that and there's a drop-down menu that does things ) There are also two sliders - one of them is a track volume slider and the other is a track "pan" slider. The "pan" control sets the balance of how much of the track will come out of the left speaker and how much will come out of the right speaker. The track volume slider controls the over-all level that the the track plays.
It is these controls (pan and volume) that are duplicated in the Mixer Board.

I might like to bring the level a bit more up on the guitar for the guitar solo and then down again when the vocal returns, if this isn't TOO difficult.

No it's not difficult, though I find it easier to bring the levels down than to push them up.
A good tip for when you are mixing is to grab the meter toolbar (with the playback and recording level meters) with your mouse and stretch it to the full width of your monitor. This will make it much easier to check that your levels do not go too high (It's really important to keep the levels below 0 dB).

To make adjustments to the volume in specific parts of the track, use the "Envelope Tool". You can access this through a button, or by pressing the F5 key. (The F1 key brings you back to the normal Selection Tool. It's a bit difficult to describe how to use the Envelope Tool, so the best thing is to have a look at this page: http://manual.audacityteam.org/index.ph ... elope_Tool and have a go with it.

Use the Envelope Tool to control the levels in specific places.
Use the Mixer Board (or the track sliders) to control the over-all track levels.
Keep an eye on the playback level and always keep the levels below 0 dB.

When you have mixed it to satisfaction, Save your Project (this will save the current state of your project but does not save the Undo history).
Then select the entire project (Ctrl+A)
Then use "Mix and Render" from the Tracks menu. This will mix the entire project into a single track.
You can then use the Amplify effect to bring the peak level up to (almost) 0 dB. The default settings on the Amplify effect will bring the peak level up to exactly 0 dB, but many people (including myself) prefer to drop it down a little to somewhere between 0 dB and -3 dB (I generally go for -1 dB).
You are then ready to Export your finished masterpiece.

If you plan to burn it to CD, Look in the bottom left corner of Audacity where it says "Project Rate" and check that it is set to 44100 (change it to 44100 if necessary), then Export as 16 bit WAV.

[bob_e_s]

Can I ask two further questions based on what Steve has just said-

First, if the overall track volume is near 0DB, but not quite there, might it cause mild distortion when the volume bars get nearest 0? It's not clipping...quite...

Second, does exporting a project to MP3 or WAV or whatever, without using the 'Mix & Render' function affect the audio quality in any way?

Cheers.

[waxcylinder]

First, if the overall track volume is near 0DB, but not quite there, might it cause mild distortion when the volume bars get nearest 0? It's not clipping...quite...

It's not normally recommended to record at so high a level. I normally target to record at a level of -6dB and than at the end of the editing I Amplify up to -2.0dB. If you are using Audacity in its default 32-bit float mode then you will have plenty of headroom for later amplification without damage to the audio.

Second, does exporting a project to MP3 or WAV or whatever, without using the 'Mix & Render' function affect the audio quality in any way?

When you export Audacity does an internal Mix&Render as part of the output (but leaves the original tracks un-mixed in the project).

WC