Basic mixdown of multi-tracks advice

I have been using Audition 2.0 for a couple of weeks, but have found the mixdown of multi audio tracks still a mystery. What is the quick and easy method? I mainly record guitars, vocals and harmony and need to mix the tracks into a master or bus? before exporting to a file to make a cd. Any advice will be appreciated, go easy on me, as I'm a musician...not a studio geek!

I have been using Audition 2.0 for a couple of weeks, but have found the mixdown of multi audio tracks still a mystery. What is the quick and easy method?

Any advice will be appreciated, go easy on me, as I'm a musician...not a studio geek!

Welcome to the forum.

There's no such thing as the 'quick and easy' method if you want decent results. And, to an extent you have to forget about being a musician for a while and become a bit of a geek. So in one sense, the quick and easy method is to get somebody else to do it for you. If you want to do it yourself, that's fine - but bear in mind that you only get out of the process what you put in to it - no pain, no gain. And it's going to take you several months at least before you become moderately proficient at it, because you are going to have to learn a different way of listening - and that's assuming you've got all the right kit in the first place. In view of what I just said, high up the priority list is a decent set of monitor speakers; without these you are going to be groping in the dark.

You haven't said what it is that's mysterious, so I can't point you in the direction of any specific resources, but in general there is a lot of advice in, and linked to, this thread.

Thanks Steve for the prompt reply. I am really just trying to get my ideas down. Not after a Steve Lillywhite mix....well not just yet. I am use to physical recording in the sense of real faders, which you ride whilst mixing down to a track or final mix. With audition I record into tracks, how then do I mix down? There are all these options for read, write etc on each track, but how do I mix down these tracks to a master, to enable me to adjust levels as I go, then have a master that I can then export to a wav or mp3 file?

Ian,
If you're looking at the multitrack 'track' view (not the mixer view)...to the left of where it says "read"/"write"/"touch" etc, you'll see a white trinagle. If you left click on it, it will drop down the automation lane for that particular audio track. You can then left click on the volume automation controller (blue line, shown by default) to add nodes (kind of like keyframing in video editor speak). To remove nodes, click, hold and drag them outside of the channel. When you want to automate, say, panning, click the black triangle to the right of where it says "volume" and select "pan".
Hopefully, this has given you enough of a leg up that you'll be able to work out the rest for yourself!
Also, try using your shift, control and alt keys while modifying nodes positions for some extra tricks.

The Read, Write and other options are for when you do use an external fader control unit to allow you to capture and playback your fader moves if you want to try mixing the old way.

The mouse method of moving points in the Automation lanes is a munual way of doing a similar thing but not in real time, although the changes happen in real time when you play the multitrack back. You will see the faders in the Mixer view move as the adjustments happen.

You can, off course, use the faders in the Mixer view to record the moves using your mouse as you playback the audio.

Thanks for the response, however I am still at a loss to understand,how do I capture the mixdown? regardless if I utilise the mouse or external device to control the volume of individual tracks, How do I mix and record the audio tracks to the master?

Thanks for the response, however I am still at a loss to understand,how do I capture the mixdown? regardless if I utilise the mouse or external device to control the volume of individual tracks, How do I mix and record the audio tracks to the master?

File>Export.

file export doesn't allow me to adjust volumes as I import to master?

I think you need to give us some simple idea of what your hardware is. When you say 'external device', what is that?

I think I see what you are asking - that you want to be able to record multiple separate tracks and then do a 'live mix' to the master - so you are finding it difficult to 'mouse' several faders at once.

If that's the question, my answer is that I work differently depending on what I'm using with which PC. What soundcard do you have? Do you have an external analog mixer, or an external control surface?

Are you recording a live band ie laying down all the tracks simultaneously, or are you playing the instruments yourself and laying down a track at a time?