What Is Audio Mastering & Merging?
Audio mastering and merging in SoundWorks combines multiple audio tracks into a single production-ready file. The primary use case is merging narration with background music, where the background track needs to sit at a lower volume under the voice track.
SoundWorks handles volume adjustment, audio looping, fade effects, and final assembly automatically.
Why Use Audio Mastering?
Combine narration and music. Merge a voice track with background music at the correct relative volume. The background sits behind the narration without drowning it out.
Concatenate audio files. Join multiple audio files end-to-end into a single continuous track. Useful for assembling podcast episodes, audiobook chapters, or music compilations from individual segments.
Generate silence. Create silent audio segments of exact durations to pad gaps between sections or synchronize timing with video.
Volume control. Adjust the volume of any audio track precisely. Bring quiet recordings up or loud tracks down before merging.
How It Works
Step 1: Add tracks. Load your primary audio track (usually narration) and background audio track (usually music or ambient sound).
Step 2: Set levels. Adjust the background track volume relative to the narration. A typical setting is 25% volume for background music under voice narration.
Step 3: Configure timing. Set fade-in and fade-out durations for the background track. If the background is shorter than the narration, enable audio looping to extend it automatically.
Step 4: Master. SoundWorks mixes the tracks, applies volume adjustments and fades, and exports the final file.
Audio Processing Capabilities
- Volume adjustment: Set any track from 0% to 200%+ volume
- Audio looping: Automatically loop a shorter track to match the duration of a longer one
- Fade in/out: Smooth fade effects with configurable duration in seconds
- File concatenation: Merge multiple audio files sequentially
- Silence generation: Create silent segments of precise duration
- Format flexibility: Output to MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC, or other supported formats
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I merge more than two tracks? The mastering tool is optimized for two-track mixing (narration + background). For more complex mixing, process pairs of tracks sequentially.
Does merging degrade audio quality? Merging requires re-encoding the combined output. Choose lossless output (WAV or FLAC) to avoid quality loss, or use high-bitrate lossy formats for minimal degradation.
Can I preview the mix before exporting? Yes. Preview the mixed output to check volume balance and timing before committing to the final export.
What formats can I merge? SoundWorks can merge any combination of supported audio formats. Files are decoded during processing, so input format does not matter.