Automation is “programming adjustable parameters to operate automatically during playback and mixing.” This page covers the reasons behind automating volume and panning, and other parameters that can be automated.

Volume Automation

Volume automation can be useful for a few different reasons:

• It can be used on vocal tracks to keep them at a consistent level. Of course this is what compression is for but if the dynamic range is too great, compression might not be able to handle it and automating the volume is the best option.

• You can add fade-ins and fade-outs to individual audio clips/files. Putting a fade-in at the beginning of your audio file and a fade-out at the end can make it less obvious when the file starts and ends. This is very important if the equipment you recorded with had a high noise floor.

• You can use it to establish which instrument has the melody if it changes throughout the composition. The melody should sit on the top of your mix, so you should make the other instruments slightly quieter.

• You can give the chorus a bit more “oomph.” The chorus is often a little louder than the verse to make it seem more exciting/satisfying for the listener.

• It can add interest.

Panning Automation

The only reason you would want to automate your panning is to keep your mix interesting.

• Having movement in the stereo field can keep your listener engaged with your recording, or draw attention to a specific instrument. For example, in Dee-Lite’s ‘Groove is in the Heart,’ there is a part where a tambourine is rapidly switched between hard right and hard left.

• You can also use panning automation to change the stereo width of an instrument that’s been recorded in stereo by varying the degrees to which the left and right channels are panned.

Plug-in Parameters

There are dozens of parameters that you can automate on various parameters. Here are three examples:

• Cut-off frequency: you will find this parameter on most synthesisers. The cut-off frequency is the frequency at which a filter is engaged. When the cut-off is off completely, the sound will be more open, but as you move the cut-off frequency dial, the signal will start to sound different, depending on if the filter you are using is cutting from the high end of the frequency spectrum or the low end. For more information on this topic, go to the synthesis page.

• Delay feedback: this parameter is found when applying a delay effect. Feedback controls how much of the affected signal is fed through the effect again, providing multiple repetitions of the processed signal. The higher the percentage of the signal that is processed again, the more repetitions there will be.

• Arpeggiator rate: this parameter is found when using an arpeggiator. The higher the arpeggiator rate, the faster the arpeggios will be.