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If either of the two red dots above the level meters (called clipping indicators) lights up
during playback, this indicates that your master levels are too high, causing audio distortion
or clipping.
Preventing Clipping
Typically, when working with digital audio, audio engineers set the overall volume level
as high as possible without causing clipping. If the clipping indicators light up above the
master level meters, you need to find where clipping is occurring and lower the level to
eliminate the cause of the clipping.
If clipping occurs, play the project and observe where the clipping indicators light up.
You can solo each audio track to determine which track is causing the clipping.
After you determine which track is causing the clipping, you can lower the track’s overall
level, or use keyframes to lower the track’s level at the specific point where clipping
occurs.
The clipping indicators are “sticky,” meaning that when they light up, they stay lit until
you reset them or close the project. This helps remind you to find and eliminate the cause
of the clipping before you export your project. As you work to eliminate clipping, reset
the clipping indicators and play the project again to make sure clipping no longer occurs.
To reset the clipping indicators
µ
Click the lit clipping indicator.
Setting Master Pan
You can use the Pan dial in the Master track to set the left-right pan position for the audio.
To set the master pan position
µ
Adjust the Pan dial to place the sound where you want it in the stereo field.
The Pan dial in the Master track works with the pan setting for each track. For example,
if you pan a track to –100 (hard left) and you pan the master to 100 (hard right), the track
is inaudible.
Playing Audio
When you click the Play button in the transport controls underneath the Canvas, you
hear the audio tracks in your project play in time with your visuals. You can also play an
audio track separately from the project Timeline.
To play audio with your project
µ
Click the Play button in the transport controls.
When you click the Play button, you hear all audio tracks in the project that are turned
on and are not muted.
1375Chapter 23 Working with Audio