Mixing the Project
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You use the Mixer when you want to refine the sound of each musical element in your project—creating a unified mix. In this chapter, you’ll explore the Mixer, work with channel strip groups, work with send effects, and create submixes. When working on each of these tasks in the Mixer, you’ll encounter the following channel strip types: ÂÂ Audio channel strips: Control the playback and recording of audio signals on audio tracks. ÂÂ Instrument channel strips: Allow you to use and control software instruments. Software instrument plug-ins are inserted into the channel strip’s Instrument slot. The instrument channel strip can then be driven by a recorded MIDI region or by direct MIDI input—playing your MIDI keyboard. ÂÂ Aux channel strips: Used to set up send returns, where a channel strip signal is routed to an aux channel strip for effects processing. Aux channel strips are also used for grouping purposes and for distributing a signal to multiple destinations via sends. ÂÂ Output channel strips: Represent the physical audio outputs of your audio interface. These channel strips are used to adjust the overall volume and stereo/pan balance of all audio, instrument, or aux channel strips routed into them. ÂÂ Master channel strip: A global level control for all output channel strips. It changes the gain of output channel strips without affecting the level relationships between them.
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