ABSTRACT

After Effects has never made audio one of its strong points. Audio is also an important guide for making animation decisions, plus it can drive some effects. But first, we need to get a handle on how sound itself works – after that, everything else makes a lot more sense. When we are animating or editing visuals to sound, the most interesting points in the audio tend to be the loudest ones: the moment a door slams, lightning cracks, a drum is hit, or a client’s wails crescendo. The pattern and nature of the vibrations affect the character of the sound we perceive. Stereo Mixer gives linear fades rather than the exponential fades that the Levels parameter yields. The linear fades will sound more natural in most cases. An issue that comes up with trimming audio layers is the addition of effects.