ABSTRACT

Even before the invention of the multitrack, various microphone sources were balanced using faders and summed before being recorded. Faders are the most straightforward tools in the mixing arsenal. They are the main tools for coarse level adjustments, while both equalizers and compressors are used for more sophisticated or fine level control. The simplest analog fader is based on a sliding potentiometer. The amplitude of analog signals is represented by voltage, and resistance is used to drop it. A voltage-controlled amplifier fader is a marriage between a voltage-controlled amplifier and a fader. A digital fader simply determines a coefficient value by which samples are multiplied. The typical scale unit is dB, which bears a strong relationship to the way people's ears perceive loudness. Level planning requires setting the loudest instrument of the mix first, and then the rest of the faders in relation to it.