Be careful with automation levels

Editing automation data can be tricky. Say you want to automate a track’s volume so that it dips by 3dB for a couple of beats, and then goes back to where it was. One way to achieve that would be to use your DAW’s line-drawing tool to draw in the change.

Once done, you may notice that there was a node created at the spot where the attenuation began, another where it started to go back up, and one at the level you returned to. The nodes essentially function as ‘hinge points’ at spots where the line is changing in value.

Here’s the tricky part: if you accidentally brought the automation curve up 5dB after bringing it down 3dB, then your volume would start at 5dB and gradually return to 3dB at the next spot there’s a node. What’s more, if that node is many bars away, you might not even notice that your track was doing a slow decrescendo. So, whenever making those type of changes, always check the level at the start and end of the edit. It’s also useful to periodically zoom out to where you can see the whole song, and check you don’t have any unintended changes as a result of your edits.