In music recording, mix automation allows the mixing console to remember the mixing engineer's dynamic adjustment of faders during a musical piece in the post-production editing process. A timecode is necessary for the synchronization of automation. Modern mixing consoles and digital audio workstations use comprehensive mix automation.
The need for automated mixing originated from the late 1970s transition form 8-track to 16-track and then 24-track multitrack recording, as mixing could be laborious and require multiple people and hands, and the results could be almost impossible to reproduce. With 48-track recording - synchronized twin 24-track recorders (for a net 46 audio tracks, with one on each machine for SMPTE timecode) - came larger recording and mixing consoles with even more channel faders to manage during mixdown. Manufacturers, such as Neve Electronics (now AMS Neve) and Solid State Logic (SSL),[1][2] both English companies, developed systems that enabled one engineer to oversee every detail of a complex mix, although the computers required to power these desks remained a rarity into the late 1970s.[3]
the software can be internal to the console, or external as part of a DAW. The virtual fader can be adjusted in the software by the user.
MIDI Automation
the communications protocol MIDI can be used to send messages to the console to control automation.
Modes
Auto Write
used the first time automation is created or when writing over existing automation
Auto Touch
writes automation data only while a fader is touched/faders return to any previously automated position after release
Auto Latch
starts writing automation data when a fader is touched/stays in position after release
Auto Read
digital Audio Workstation performs the written automation
Auto Off
automation is temporarily disabled
All of these include the mute button. If mute is pressed during writing of automation, the audio track will be muted during playback of that automation.
Depending on software, other parameters such as panning, sends, and plug-in controls can be automated as well. In some cases, automation can be written using a digital potentiometer instead of a fader.
↑"SSL Oracle mixer review | SOUND ON SOUND". www.soundonsound.com. Retrieved 2025-12-08. SSL were pioneers of computer‑based console automation. Other digital control systems may have existed, but their 4000 B console, released in 1976, was one of the earliest to have computer‑based automation built in, and the 4000 E that followed in 1979 took the concept much further; it was, I believe, the first desk to combine total parameter recall, level automation, tape transport control and comprehensive channel EQ and dynamics.
