Edit and Mix
1. Edit - toggles the edit window for either audio or MIDI (see the sections on editing audio and
2. Mix - pulls up the faders for each track (see the section on mixing for more information)
3. Browse - Toggles the browser on the left panel (see the section on the browser for more information)
The mix view is where you will spend a lot of time fine tuning your sound in Studio One. It is worth noting that mixing is a complicated topic that is an art form in an of itself. Teaching you how to mix is outside of the scope of this guide, however there is a plethora of different written guides and videos of experienced audio producers online. A list of recommendations would be a separate guide in and of itself but some things to keep in mind are:
1. A lot of people are making videos that will also try to sell you an online course, however there is a vast amount of information available for free if you dig a little.
2. Keep in mind the context that the information source is working from. Are they only talking about a certain style of music? Are they being vague in order to sell you something? What is their background and experience?
3. In general beware of absolutes, some people will claim that there is only one way to do a certain thing, however mixing is an art form so nothing is ever absolute, there are only choices to be made. Don't let people arbitrarily limit your own creativity so that they can seem to be speaking from a place of authority.
With that information in mind, below is what you will see in the mix view and a break down of each part.
1. Inserts - when an effect is dragged on to a track this is where they will be listed. It is worth noting that effects are run in serial, meaning that the first effect in the list will be added to the sound and the output of that effect will be sent to the next one in the list until there are no more effect, which will result in overall output of the track.
2. Sends - another place to put effects, however instead of these effects being the main output for the track, the effects end up in their own track. So the final output of the track is 'sent' to the separate effects track. This is most often used with effects like reverb or delay on vocal tracks to that they do not muddy the sound of the vocals. [To see this in action see the video on Reverb and Delay in the Stock Effects and Their Uses section]
3. Input/Instrument Editor and Output - On audio tracks the top line will allow you to change microphone inputs, on MIDI tracks this will instead open the instrument editor. The bottom line is the output selection, most tracks will send to the main output, but there are some techniques where you would want to send them somewhere else.
4. Panning - Music production is done in stereo, meaning that it is assumed that there are at least two speakers. Panning allows you to move the output to the left or right speaker in a gradient fashion.
5. Track controls - These controls are the same as the track controls that were covered in the track list section.
6. Fader - A fader, put simply, is the primary volume control for the given track. The current volume is listed numerically above the fader (-2.4 decibels in this example) and you can either slide the fader or double click on the number and type in a value.
7. Chanel Editor - Opens the channel editor window. Has a lot of the same information as is on the fader, however it can be useful for more complicated routing setups.
8. Track Type - Indicates the current track type, in this case it is a virtual instrument denoted which are denoted with a piano.
