There will be times when a Master Clip's audio levels are too loud (as is very often the case with imported audio) or too low, and you want to adjust the level setting before playing it in the Source Window or editing it into your sequence. There are three methods available. The steps that follow present one method, and the other two can be found in the There's more... section. None of the methods make any changes to the actual media file(s). Each method just applies a setting for the Master Clip that can be adjusted at any time, including in the sequence.
This method is a fast and simple way to adjust one or more clips in a bin:
The following are two additional methods to adjust audio levels before editing clips into the sequence:
This is particularly helpful when importing music and sound effects, as they generally come in very loud. I find that adjusting to a level of -14 is a good starting point, as it can always be adjusted later:
Open the Import settings: Project Window | Settings tab | double-click on Import.
Select the Audio tab.
Enable/check the setting that says Apply attenuation/gain effect on Import.
In the entry box, type in the level value that you want to be applied.
If you want this setting to be applied only to audio coming from a CD rather than from all the audio files, check the box that says CD Only. Since I organize my files as discussed in the recipe titled A strategy for project organization at the desktop level, I leave this selection disabled/unchecked.
Now, when you import an audio file (or a video file containing audio), this level setting will automatically be applied.
This method only affects one clip at a time:
Set the Audio Mixer to Clip Volume and Pan mode, which is abbreviated simply as Clip. This is done by clicking on the Audio Mixer Mode button in the upper right-hand corner of the Audio Mixer tool.
Load a Master Clip into the Source Window.
With the Source Window active, the level adjustment you make to the Master Clip using the Audio Mixer will be applied before you edit it into your sequence.