POWER STUDIO

Mix Editor And Voice Tracking

The Mix Editor is used to prepare transitions and record voice tracks. It helps automated programming sound live and intentional.

Voice Tracking

Voice tracks are presenter recordings placed between playlist items. During recording, the presenter can hear the segue and record over the transition.

Use voice tracking for:

  • Pre-recorded shows.
  • Weekend programming.
  • Remote presenters.
  • Holiday schedules.
  • Overnight hours that should still sound hosted.

Configure the voice track folder and any recording offset in Options and Settings > Recording before presenters start production work. The folder must be available to the playout computer that will later use the voice tracks.

Preparing A Voice Tracking Session

Voice tracking works best when the hour is prepared before the presenter starts recording. A presenter should be able to move from transition to transition without stopping to solve library, routing or timing problems.

Before recording:

  • Generate or open the correct playlist.
  • Check that the hour contains the expected music, jingles, commercials, news and fixed-time items.
  • Preview unfamiliar tracks, especially tracks with long intros, cold starts, spoken intros or abrupt endings.
  • Confirm that intro, outro, start and fade markers are good enough for the way the presenter will talk over the transition.
  • Confirm that the voice track recording folder is available from the playout computer.
  • Confirm that the microphone input and monitoring output are routed correctly.
  • If the session is remote, confirm whether the station uses Power Sync or VPN with Local Asset Cache before opening the hour for production work.

Do not use voice tracking to hide an unreviewed playlist. The presenter can make an automated hour sound live, but the hour still needs correct scheduling, metadata and audio availability.

Recording Technique

Use a consistent microphone position and a quiet room. A voice track recorded in a reflective office, near a fan or with heavy keyboard noise will sound less professional when it is played between processed music and station imaging.

Record at a healthy level without clipping. Peaks can be loud, but they should not distort. If the waveform looks clipped or sounds harsh, lower the microphone gain and record the track again. Avoid solving a bad recording with processing after the fact.

For most radio voice tracks:

  • Keep links short and purposeful.
  • Start with the listener, not with the mechanics of the playlist.
  • Match the energy of the music around the break.
  • Avoid talking over important vocals unless the format intentionally allows it.
  • Leave natural breathing room around emotional songs, news, commercials or station imaging.
  • Record again when the timing feels wrong. Small hesitations often become more obvious during unattended playout.

Use headphones while recording, but keep the headphone level comfortable. Very loud headphones can leak into the microphone and can make the presenter speak louder than needed.

Timing And Segues

Good voice tracking is mostly about timing. The listener should not hear that the presenter recorded the link earlier.

Pay attention to:

  • the end of the previous item;
  • the start and intro of the next item;
  • the point where vocals begin;
  • the length and level of any bed or insert;
  • the start time of fixed items such as news, commercials or network joins.

When talking into an intro, leave enough room before the vocal starts. If the presenter is still speaking when the vocal begins, the link may sound rushed or messy. When talking out of a song, do not start so early that the last musical phrase is covered unless that is the intended presentation style.

If the next item has a cold vocal start, a short dry link before the track may sound better than forcing speech over the start. If the next item has a long instrumental intro, the presenter can usually use more of the intro, but still needs to stop before the vocal or main hook arrives.

Listen to the transition as a listener would hear it on air. The waveform helps with timing, but the final decision should be made by listening.

Remote Voice Tracking

Remote voice tracking can work very well, but it depends on preparation.

There are two common ways to work remotely:

  • Use Power Sync when the required audio should be duplicated locally on the remote machine, especially on slower or less predictable internet connections. Start synchronization in time, especially before the first remote session, because the initial audio sync may need to copy many files.
  • Use Power Studio over a VPN with Local Asset Cache when the remote workstation connects directly to the studio database and uses the studio audio storage through the shared audio path.

For home or remote work:

  • Use a wired or stable network connection where possible.
  • Confirm which remote workflow the station uses before opening the playlist.
  • If Power Sync is used, confirm that the required audio has been synchronized locally before recording. Plan extra time for the first synchronization.
  • If VPN is used, connect to the studio through the approved VPN before starting Power Studio.
  • If VPN is used, confirm that the workstation is connected to the live station database, not a local or test database.
  • If VPN is used, enable Local Asset Cache to improve reliability when audio is stored on the studio network or when the VPN is slower than the studio LAN.
  • If Local Asset Cache is used, do not automatically cache the full playlist unless the presenter really needs all audio locally.
  • Open and preview a few representative tracks before recording the first real link.
  • Save and review one test voice track before recording a full hour.

If the Power Sync state is unreliable, stop and fix synchronization before continuing. If the VPN/cache workflow is used, stop when the VPN connection, shared audio path or intentional cache-only setup is unreliable. A remote session with missing audio can create voice tracks that technically save correctly but are timed against the wrong or incomplete playback.

See Power Sync Remote Workflow, Local Asset Cache and Recording settings for related setup.

Editing Mixes

Use the Mix Editor to review and adjust transitions between items. Check:

  • Start points.
  • Fade points.
  • Voice track placement.
  • Jingle and bed levels.
  • Timing into fixed items.

After editing, save the mix so playout uses the adjusted transition.

The Mix Editor toolbar includes save, undo, stop, play, record voice track, zoom in, zoom out, previous mix, next mix and render mixdown. It can also apply a processing profile when rendering.

Use the horizontal mouse wheel, where available, to move left and right through the mix. This is useful on wide playlists and long transitions because the timeline can be navigated without changing the zoom level.

When Auto save is enabled, operators can move to the next segue without waiting for each save operation to finish. Still listen back to important segues, especially when the hour will run unattended.

The Mix Editor refreshes displayed audio after playback and after track changes. If a presenter changes a track while the Mix Editor is open, check that the displayed waveform and timing markers match the intended item before recording over the transition.

Record mix mode can be Pre-mixed or Manual start. Use pre-mixed mode when the presenter should record over an already prepared transition. Use manual start when the presenter or producer needs more direct control over the start.

The context menu can remove a volume point or update the mix point to the database. Use database updates carefully, because they affect future use of that track and not just the current playlist.

Insert Items

Normally playlist items follow each other in the main timeline. Insert mode allows a jingle, bed or other item to be placed freely on top of an underlying track.

Use inserts for:

  • Short jingles over a song intro.
  • Beds under presenter speech.
  • Show elements that should not push the main playlist timing forward.
  • Production effects that belong to one specific transition.

In Automation Mode, inserts are played as inserts. In Live Assist Mode, link the insert to the underlying track when it should be triggered together with that track. If an insert is not linked correctly, it may not behave as the operator expects during a live show.

When editing around insert items, confirm both the main item and the insert item are included in the Mix Editor selection. Opening the Mix Editor from the active playlist window sends the selected playlist area to the editor.

Remote Control

Mix Editor transport, recording, save, undo and navigation functions can be controlled through supported control surfaces such as XKeys, MIDI or Bitfocus Companion. This is useful for voice tracking because a presenter can keep focus on the script and microphone instead of switching between mouse and keyboard.

Before allowing remote control in a production room, test every mapped button with a non-live playlist. Confirm that play, stop, record, save, undo, previous mix and next mix operate the intended Mix Editor window.

Practical Workflow

  1. Generate the playlist.
  2. Open the hour in the Mix Editor.
  3. Record or import voice tracks.
  4. Adjust transitions.
  5. Save changes.
  6. Review the hour in the playlist.

When recording a full voicetracked hour, review the start and end of every voice track. A small timing error can sound acceptable in the editor but become obvious when the hour is played unattended.

For a full hour, a practical workflow is:

  1. Review the playlist first.
  2. Record the voice tracks.
  3. Listen back to every recorded transition.
  4. Correct timing, levels and any rough starts or endings.
  5. Save the hour.
  6. Reopen or refresh the playlist and confirm the voice tracks are present.
  7. Spot-check the hour from the Playout Playlist or another workstation that uses the same database and audio storage.

For important shows, listen to the first transition, the last transition and every transition around fixed items. These are the places where timing mistakes are most noticeable.

Common Pitfalls

  • Recording against the wrong playlist or wrong hour.
  • Recording while connected to a local or test database instead of the live station database.
  • Using a microphone input that also contains room speakers, mixer program output or computer audio.
  • Recording too quietly and then adding too much processing later.
  • Clipping the microphone input.
  • Talking over the vocal start of the next track by accident.
  • Forgetting to save after recording or editing a transition.
  • Moving or replacing playlist items after voice tracks have already been recorded.
  • Recording at home before Power Sync has finished synchronizing, or before the VPN/cache workflow has been tested with the real playlist.
  • Assuming that a transition is good because the waveform looks right without listening to it.