HD

Chapter 41 Setting Up Audio Equipment 577
VIII
Setting Monitoring Levels and Muting System Sound Effects
When you mix your audio, it’s important to monitor using a consistent volume setting.
If a sound is too loud in the mix, you should adjust the level of the audio in
Final Cut Express HD, not the volume on the speakers themselves. Once you set up
your audio monitoring levels, you should not need to adjust the overall volume of your
audio very often.
If all of your audio is consistently too quiet or too loud, you should probably change
the overall volume setting for your speakers, and then keep it at this new level. There
are a few different places to adjust the volume, including the volume knob on the
speakers themselves.
If you are using the built-in audio output of your computer, you can adjust its volume
in the Sound pane of Mac OS X System Preferences or by using the volume control keys
on the keyboard.
To adjust the built-in volume of your computer using the volume slider in the menu bar:
1 Open System Preferences by choosing Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Sound.
2 In the Sound pane of System Preferences, make sure the “Show volume in menu bar”
checkbox is selected.
When the checkbox is selected, a volume icon appears in the menu bar.
3 Adjust the volume in the menu bar.
You can also adjust the volume in the Sound pane of System Preferences.
To mute all alert and Mac OS X user interface sound effects:
1 Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Sound.
2 Click the Sound Effects button.
3 Deselect the “Play user interface sound effects” checkbox.
4 Deselect the “Play feedback when volume keys are pressed” checkbox.
5 Slide the Alert volume slider all the way to the left.
If you are using an audio interface other than the built-in audio, you can route the alert
sound effects to the built-in speakers, but monitor Final Cut Express HD audio from
your audio interface.