The Audio Mix Panel allows adding, removing and renaming of audio mixes. Additionally, and most importantly, the Audio Mix Panel allows the configuration of audio mixes.
Audio Mixes
Every mimoLive document has a Program Mix that represents the layer volumes as being set by the dial knobs in the Layer stack. The Program Mix can therefore neither be renamed nor removed since it essentially is the audio output of the layer stack.
Under certain circumstances, it makes sense to have more than one audio mix per document. A typical use case is production monitoring where at times you might need to listen to all layers, a smaller subset of layers or one specific layer at different volume levels than the Program Mix through speakers or headphones while the Program Mix must be allowed to be recorded to disk or streamed live on the Internet without change. A related use case would be (in-ear) monitoring for show hosts, anchors or guests where the respective person’s own microphone input should not be part of the monitor mix to avoid confusion over audio latency issues or even feedback loops. Another use case would be live stream events that support multiple streams with different languages or concurrent file recordings that target different distribution formats like D-M-E and M&E .
Adding, Removing and Renaming Audio Mixes
For convenience and ease of use, supported Output Destinations also allow adding, removing and renaming audio mixes using the same UI as the Audio Mix Panel.
To add a new audio mix click the menu popup button to reveal the Audio Mix menu.
Clicking New Audio Mix creates a new audio mix. The new audio mix is automatically selected so that the mix configuration section of the Audio Mix Panel immediately displays the respective layer volumes. Each new audio mix receives a distinct, automatically generated name. To rename or remove a mix click the action button to the right of the Audio Mix menu to reveal the context menu.
Audio Mix Panel
The Audio Mix Panel option is only present in the context menu of supported Output Destinations, not in the context menu of the Audio Mix Panel itself.
Working with Audio Mixes
The mix configuration section contains every layer that can potentially provide audio. Layers that cannot provide any audio will not appear in the Audio Mix Panel. They are easily identified by a missing volume dial knob in their layer representation in the layer stack.
Layer Volumes
By default the layer volumes are chained to the Program Mix, i.e. layers are mixed with the same volume levels as configured by the dial knobs in the layer stack. This is most useful in situations where you, maybe only occasionally, need to mute or solo specific layers or just need to control the audio mix master volume without affecting the Program Mix.
Un/chaining Layer Volumes
By clicking the chain button in the Volume table header, the layer volumes become independent from the Program Mix and can now be set to individual levels. An unchained audio mix is a fully-fledged audio mix, equivalent to a separate outboard mixer.
Layer Mute and Solo
Layers can be muted in the audio mix by clicking the M button or soloed by clicking the S button. Both, Mute and Solo, allow for the selection of multiple layers.
Program Mix
The Program Mix does not support muting or soloing layers. An easy way to mute a layer in the Program Mix is to simply deactivate the layer. Remember that the audio input of video sources can be branched out into a separate audio source. If this workflow is not feasible in a particular scenario a good choice is to work with a custom audio mix that allows muting and soloing of layers instead of the Program Mix.
Mix Mute, Dynamics and Master Volume
The bottom section contains these additional controls:
- Mute mutes the whole audio mix,
- Dynamics de/activates the master dynamics effect for the audio mix,
- The action button opens the dynamics effect settings,
- The volume fader controls the volume of the audio mix output.
Muting Audio Mixes
Muting the wrong audio mix can ruin your production! Always keep in mind that an audio mix can potentially be routed to several Output Destinations. For instance, when monitoring the Program Mix through an Audio Aux Output Destination and also streaming the Program Mix live on the Internet, muting the Program Mix will not only mute your monitoring speakers or headphones but also render your live stream silent. As a general rule, de/activating an Audio Aux Output Destination directly is much less error-prone than relying on muting its audio mix. Muting audio mixes should be regarded as a kill switch in situations where you cannot interrupt a live stream or other playout but need to stop audio from coming through, e.g. until you find the source of an audio disturbance.