How to Mix Audio and FX Levels in Pro Tools

Mixing audio and FX levels is a core concept in Pro Tools. You can use the internal busses in Pro Tools to send instruments to an FX track and then mix these levels together. For our purposes, FX and "effects" are synonymous terms.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Pro Tools hardware
• Pro Tools software

1. Create an auxiliary track in Pro Tools by selecting "New Track" from the file menu. Pro Tools refers to an auxiliary track as an "aux" track. This will be the track that contains and controls your FX.

2. Place an effect into your new aux track by clicking on the insert of the aux track. In this example our effect will be a reverb. Choose a reverb from the menu list. If you do not have a third-party reverb plug-in, don't worry. Pro Tools comes with a good reverb of its own. This new aux track will house our effect.

3. Set the input of the aux track to one of the busses in Pro Tools. Simply click the input of the aux track you created in Step 2 and select Bus 1 to 2. We will use these busses to send instruments to our FX track.

4. Raise the volume fader of the aux track. "0dB" as a good starting level.

5. Choose one of the instrument tracks in your session and send it to the FX track. Click on the "Send" button for your instrument track. Make sure to set the send of this track to the same bus or busses of your aux track. For this example, set your send to Bus 1to 2. These are the same busses that we set our aux FX track to in Step 3.

6. Raise the aux send level on your instrument track. The higher the level, the more of the effect you are applying to your track. Play back your track to hear the effect. That's it. You now know how to mix audio and effects levels in Pro Tools!

Tips & Warnings

• You can send as many tracks as you'd like to your FX track. For, example you can send multiple vocal tracks to the FX track and use the same reverb for all of them!
• Always start with a small amount of the effect first. Be tasteful. Add effect slowly and add only as much as you need. A common amateur mixing mistake is to drench all of the tracks in your mix with gobs of effects, resulting in a muddy mess.