Audio mix in After Effects

[Jason Fisher]

Oh yes, I use FCP, and the audio and picture is already cut. I just wondered if there was a quick way to do a final audio mix.

[Michael Szalapski]

Not in After Effects.

I mean you CAN edit audio in AE, but I also CAN cut steak with a spoon. It just takes a long time and is frustrating.

– The Great Szalam
(The ‘Great’ stands for ‘Not So Great, in fact, Extremely Humble’)

No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.

[Jason Fisher]

Just to be clear, I’m not trying to edit the audio. Just auto-mix the levels so the music track dips slightly when the VO comes in.

[Steve Roberts]

[Michael Szalapski] “I mean you CAN edit audio in AE, but I also CAN cut steak with a spoon. It just takes a long time and is frustrating. “

… and it just annoys the steak.

[Jason Fisher]

That was my original question – is there a plugin that automatically adjusts the levels on one track based on the levels of another so I don’t have to.

[Steve Roberts]

Well then. Apply the Stereo Mix effect to one track, and work your magic. Then apply it to the other tracks, but opt-click on the stopwatch for each side of that effect to create an expression, then pickwhip to the effect on the track where you keyframed the levels. This way the Stereo Mix effect on the other tracks will mimic the levels of the same effect on the first track.

[Jason Fisher]

What would be my best option app-wise then?

(I was really just curious about the AE route, but it took a while to get across what I was trying to say)

[Jason Fisher]

My project is very long, and the VO is spread out. I wondered if there’s a way to avoid keyframing the music levels up and down by hand.

[Jon Bagge]

We’re now moving away from AE, but still:

Personally I almost never use rubberband/keyframe audio. I edit in both Avid and FCP, and I usually use add-edit with an audio mix on the cut. So in your case:

1. Set the level for the music as it should be without VO and put it in your timeline.
2. Make an add-edit in the music at the beginning and end of all your VOs. (if you select the audiotrack you can probably fastforward to next cut to find the next start/end of VO)
3. Set a decent level for the music on the first clip under VO.
4. Select all the other music clips under VO.
5. Copy-paste the volume from the first clip.
6. Apply a 12-frame (or something) mix to all the edits in the music track. (you can do this in one go I think, but can’t quite remember how in FCP)

Done. That’s audio mixing by the numbers. Should be very quick. Though I recommend you listen through it afterwards…. fast isn’t always best…

————–
Jon Bagge
Editor – London, UK
Avid – FCP – After Effects

[Steve Roberts]

Thanks for the tip, Jon. It’s a new workflow for me, but I’ll try it next time.