Volume automation technique

[Dave S.]

Hello,

I’m wondering if it’s possible to select a portion of an audio track’s waveform while in volume view, bring that highlighted section’s volume down with the cursor, but instead of the sides going down at straight 90° angles have them be curved? I know I can use the pencil freehand tool to draw dips / bumps in the volume but whenever I do that the overall volume level will move if I don’t line up the pencil to exactly where the volume line was.

Or the other way of looking at it: is there an easier way to use the freehand tool to draw volume dips / bumps but keep the overall level where it is?

Hope this makes sense.

Dave

[Farhoof]

Switch to volume trim view, drag volume trim down. These angles will be 90deg but you can grab the lowered breakpoints and move them inward to create a slope (or cmd+click on the lowered portion of the line to create a new breakpoint and alt+click on the 90deg breakpoint to remove it so the 0dB breakpoint will connect to the newly created one).
When done, select the track and 'coalesce volume trim automation'.

Or consider a S1 fader box and ride the volume trim by hand, same effect but faster.

[Sardi]

The above suggestion is the best way to do it, but really, it’s about time PT added automation curves.

I’m sure it was another feature request people were asking for on Ideascale.


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[Dave S.]

Originally Posted by Farhoof

Switch to volume trim view, drag volume trim down. These angles will be 90deg but you can grab the lowered breakpoints and move them inward to create a slope (or cmd+click on the lowered portion of the line to create a new breakpoint and alt+click on the 90deg breakpoint to remove it so the 0dB breakpoint will connect to the newly created one).
When done, select the track and 'coalesce volume trim automation'.

Or consider a S1 fader box and ride the volume trim by hand, same effect but faster.

Thanks Farhoof. I guess for now I’ll just have to get quicker at doing the way you mentioned. I was just hoping there was a quicker way to create curves like that without the extra steps of creating and moving breakpoints.

I also need to get better at riding an actual fader but I just can’t seem to do that exactly the way I want it and my timing doesn’t always line up the curve where I want it to be. Sometimes it’s just easier to go in and draw the curve exactly how I want it.

[Farhoof]

Using alt+shift when clicking locks the breakpoint level so it only moves horizontal, might help a tiny bit.

[Cheesehead]

Ater adjusting the section, make a selection the length of the ramp you want on the automation lane and press x.
Shame you can't tab between breakpoints though, that would be a nice feature.


Ps the above also works if you want to ramp automation over a selected crossfade in waveform view, although it will delete the crossfade initially, if you undo, the automation ramp will be there.