Automation
Saved fader and effect moves that play back on cue, like lifting one word or fading music under a sentence.
See it
What it is
Automation records or draws changes to a mixer or plugin control over the timeline. A lane of breakpoints can ride volume, move pan, change a send, or turn an effect parameter while the audio itself stays untouched. The DAW reads those moves back on every play.
Reach for it when a fixed setting is right for most of a track but not all of it: lift the end of a quiet sentence, duck music under one line, send a single word into delay, or sweep a sound across the stereo field. Touch writes while you hold the control and returns afterward; latch keeps writing the last value; write replaces everything it passes; read only plays existing moves. Those mode names come from moving-fader consoles, where the desk had to know whether your hand was actually on the fader.
Gotcha: leaving a track in write or latch mode can flatten an hour of careful moves in one pass. Switch back to read as soon as the ride is done. Also separate clip gain from volume automation: clip gain changes the level feeding the plugins, while fader automation usually changes the level later in the channel strip.
Ask AI for it
Ride this dialogue track in Pro Tools with volume automation in Touch mode. Keep the voice within a natural 3 to 6 dB window, draw smooth ramps around phrases instead of changing gain inside syllables, and write a separate send-automation move for reverb on the final word only. Return the track to Read mode when finished, preserve all existing breakpoints outside the edited region, and report the largest fader move you wrote.