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 Pro, not the volume setting on the speakers themselves. Once you set up your
audio monitoring levels, you should not need to adjust the overall volume setting 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, by using the volume control keys
on the keyboard, or by using the built-in volume slider in the menu bar.
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 is changed” 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 Pro audio from your
audio interface.
Chapter 2
Assigning Output Channels and External Audio Monitors
53
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To route Mac OS X alert sounds and sound effects through your computer’s
built-in speakers:
1
Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Sound.
2
Click the Sound Effects button.
3
Choose “Built-in Audio: Internal speakers” from the “Play alerts and sound effects
through” pop-up menu.
While monitoring the audio of your program, avoid changing the volume setting of
your speakers unless it is absolutely necessary. A consistent monitoring level allows you
to get used to the average loudness you’re establishing for your mix, so that you can
better judge how well the louder and softer sections of your mix are working together.
To adjust the volume setting of your speakers, try playing a signal that represents the
average volume you want to monitor. Avoid setting speaker volume so high that it
fatigues your ears or distorts in the speakers.
Some people use the 1 kHz tone of the Bars and Tone generator to set the volume of
their speakers. However, you may find that the 1 kHz tone causes you to lower your
speaker volume more than you would for normal audio because the tone is so
incessant and your ears are particularly sensitive to this frequency. Generally, 1 kHz
tones are useful for setting levels from device to device when looking at meters, but
not as helpful for setting average listening levels.