Color & Audio

Professional color grading and audio production tools for broadcast-ready output.

Color Correction Workflow

AIVE ONE Beta uses a node-based color pipeline with a recommended order of operations for professional results. Follow this workflow for consistent, high-quality grades.

Apply log transform — If your footage was shot in a log profile (S-Log, C-Log, Log-C, V-Log), apply the corresponding Log-to-Rec.709 LUT first. This normalises your footage into a standard color space.
Primary correction — Fix exposure, white balance, and contrast using the color wheels and global adjustment sliders. Get the image to a neutral, well-exposed starting point.
Secondary correction — Target specific colors or luminance ranges using HSL qualifiers or the curves editor. Adjust skin tones, sky color, or specific objects without affecting the rest of the image.
Creative grade — Apply a creative LUT or manual color grade to establish the overall look and mood of your project.
Shot matching — Use the Shot Match tool or AI Color Grading to ensure visual consistency across all clips in your timeline.
Final check — Verify levels using the video scopes. Ensure broadcast-safe levels if delivering to television.

Non-destructive editing: All color adjustments in AIVE ONE Beta are non-destructive. Your original media is never modified. Disable any adjustment by toggling its visibility in the color inspector, or reset everything with a single click.

Color Wheels

AIVE ONE Beta includes a three-way color corrector with Lift, Gamma, and Gain wheels — the same model used in professional color grading suites.

Wheel	Controls	Use Case
Lift	Shadows and dark tones (0-30% luminance)	Tint shadows, crush blacks, add depth
Gamma	Midtones (30-70% luminance)	Primary color grading decisions, skin tone adjustment
Gain	Highlights and bright tones (70-100% luminance)	Adjust highlights, control sky/window tones

How to use the wheels

Drag the centre point toward a color to tint that tonal range. Drag toward yellow/orange for warmth, toward blue for cool tones.
Luminance slider — The vertical slider on the right side of each wheel adjusts brightness without introducing color shifts.
Double-click any wheel to reset it to neutral.
Numeric entry — Click the value displays below each wheel to type exact values for precise matching.

Global adjustments

Below the color wheels, you will find sliders for overall image control:

Parameter	Range	Description
Exposure	-3.0 to +3.0 stops	Overall brightness. 1 stop = doubling or halving the light.
Contrast	-100 to +100	Tonal range expansion (positive) or compression (negative).
Saturation	0 to 200	Color intensity. 0 = monochrome, 100 = original, 200 = oversaturated.
Temperature	2000K to 12000K	White balance. Lower = warmer (orange), higher = cooler (blue).
Tint	-100 to +100	Green/magenta axis for fine white balance correction.
Highlights	-100 to +100	Recover or boost the brightest areas of the image.
Shadows	-100 to +100	Lift or deepen the darkest areas of the image.

Curves Editor

The curves editor provides precise control over luminance and individual color channels (Red, Green, Blue). Open it from the Color Grade inspector by clicking the Curves tab.

Luminance curve

The master (luma) curve maps input brightness to output brightness. Click anywhere on the diagonal line to add a control point, then drag to adjust.

S-curve — Lift the upper portion and lower the bottom portion for increased contrast. The most common creative adjustment.
Lift blacks — Raise the bottom-left point to create a faded, filmic look.
Crush blacks — Pull the bottom-left point down to deepen shadows and add drama.

Channel curves

Switch between Red, Green, and Blue channels using the channel selector buttons. Adjusting individual channels lets you perform color grading and white balance correction with surgical precision.

Raise the Red curve midpoint for warmer tones, lower it for cooler/cyan tones.
Raise the Blue curve highlights for a teal-and-orange look (a popular cinematic grade).
Use the Green channel sparingly — small adjustments have a significant impact on skin tones.

Hue vs. Hue / Hue vs. Sat / Hue vs. Luma

Advanced curve modes for targeted color work:

Hue vs. Hue — Shift specific hues to different colors. Example: shift green foliage toward teal.
Hue vs. Sat — Adjust the saturation of specific hues. Example: desaturate everything except skin tones.
Hue vs. Luma — Adjust the brightness of specific hues. Example: darken a bright sky without affecting skin.

Tip: Use the eyedropper tool to click on a specific color in the Viewer. The curves editor will highlight the corresponding point on the curve, making it easy to target precise colors.

LUT Browser

Look-Up Tables (LUTs) apply predefined color transformations to your footage. AIVE ONE Beta ships with a curated set of LUTs organized by category.

Built-in LUT categories

Category	Count	Description
Film	8	Classic cinema looks: warm noir, cool thriller, desaturated drama, golden hour
Social	6	High-contrast, vibrant looks optimized for phone screens and social feeds
Documentary	4	Neutral, clean grades that enhance without stylising
Log-to-Rec.709	12	Technical transforms for S-Log2, S-Log3, C-Log, C-Log3, Log-C, V-Log, N-Log, F-Log
HDR	4	Rec.2020 PQ and HLG transforms for HDR delivery

Importing custom LUTs

Open the LUT Browser in the Color Grade inspector.
Click the + button or drag .cube or .3dl files directly into the browser.
Imported LUTs appear in a Custom category.
Right-click any LUT to add it to your Favourites for quick access.

LUT intensity

After applying a LUT, use the Intensity slider (0-100%) to dial back the effect. This blends between the original and graded image, letting you find the right strength for your footage.

Order matters: Apply your technical LUT first (log conversion), then add your creative LUT on top. Reversing this order will produce incorrect results because the creative LUT expects Rec.709 input.

Video Scopes

Enable scopes from the Color Grade panel toolbar. Keep these open during grading to make informed decisions.

Available scopes

Scope	What It Shows	Key Usage
Waveform	Luminance distribution across the horizontal axis	Keep blacks above 0 and whites below 100 for broadcast-safe levels
RGB Parade	Separate Red, Green, Blue waveforms side by side	Identify color casts — all three channels should be roughly balanced for neutral whites
Vectorscope	Color distribution on a circular plot	Check skin tone accuracy (should fall along the skin tone line). Saturation = distance from centre
Histogram	Distribution of brightness values	Identify clipping (spikes at 0 or 100) and overall exposure balance

Broadcast safe: For television delivery, enable the Broadcast Safe filter in the Color Grade inspector. This automatically clamps levels to legal ranges (16-235 for 8-bit, 64-940 for 10-bit).

Audio Mixer

The audio mixer provides per-lane volume and pan controls with real-time level metering. Open it via View > Audio Mixer or press Cmd+Shift+8. Each of the seven semantic lanes gets its own channel strip.

Channel strip controls

Control	Description
Volume fader	Drag to adjust the lane's volume level in dB. Range: -inf to +12 dB.
Pan knob	Set the stereo position. -100 = hard left, 0 = centre, +100 = hard right.
Mute (M)	Silence the lane. The lane is still processed for effects but output is muted.
Solo (S)	Isolate this lane and mute all others. Multiple lanes can be soloed simultaneously.
Level meter	Real-time peak (thin line) and RMS (filled bar) level display. Green = safe, yellow = hot, red = clipping.
Effects insert	Click the FX slot to add EQ, compression, reverb, or other audio effects to the lane.

Master bus

The master bus at the right shows the final mixed output. It includes a loudness meter (LUFS), true peak meter, and a master volume fader. Keep your peaks below -1 dBTP (decibels True Peak) to avoid clipping on export and during codec compression.

Automation

Click the Automation button on any channel strip to reveal volume and pan automation lanes in the timeline. Draw automation curves to create smooth fades, ducking effects, and dynamic panning.

Tip: Use the Music ducking feature (right-click the Music lane header) to automatically lower music volume when speech is detected in the Dialog lane. Adjust the ducking amount (-6 to -18 dB) and attack/release timing in the inspector.

EQ & Compression

Parametric EQ

AIVE ONE Beta includes a 10-band parametric EQ with visual frequency display. Add it to any lane via the mixer's FX slot or from the Audio section of the Inspector.

Band Type	Use Case
High-pass filter	Remove low-frequency rumble below a cutoff (e.g., 80 Hz for voice). Essential for cleaning up dialogue.
Low shelf	Boost or cut all frequencies below a threshold. Add warmth (+2 dB at 200 Hz) or reduce muddiness.
Parametric bands (x6)	Target specific frequencies with adjustable Q (bandwidth). Notch out resonances or boost presence.
High shelf	Boost or cut all frequencies above a threshold. Add air (+3 dB at 10 kHz) or tame harshness.
Low-pass filter	Remove high-frequency noise above a cutoff. Useful for taming sibilance in extreme cases.

Presets

The EQ ships with presets for common scenarios: Voice Clarity, Podcast Warmth, Music Bed, Telephone Effect, De-mud. Apply a preset as a starting point and fine-tune from there.

Compressor

The dynamics compressor reduces the volume range of audio, making quiet parts louder and loud parts quieter. Essential for voice and dialogue.

Parameter	Range	Description
Threshold	-60 to 0 dB	Level above which compression begins. Start around -20 dB for dialogue.
Ratio	1:1 to 20:1	Amount of gain reduction. 3:1 = gentle, 8:1 = heavy, 20:1 = limiting.
Attack	0.1 to 100 ms	How quickly compression engages. Faster = catches transients, slower = more natural.
Release	10 to 1000 ms	How quickly compression disengages. Match to the rhythm of speech for transparent results.
Make-up gain	0 to +24 dB	Compensate for volume reduction caused by compression.
Knee	Hard / Soft	Hard knee = abrupt onset, soft knee = gradual onset (more musical).

Recommended settings for dialogue: Threshold -18 dB, Ratio 3:1, Attack 10 ms, Release 100 ms, Soft knee. This produces natural-sounding compression that evens out volume without squashing the performance.

Loudness Standards (LUFS)

Different platforms have different loudness requirements. AIVE ONE Beta measures loudness in LUFS (Loudness Units Full Scale) and can automatically normalise your audio to any target.

Platform	Target (Integrated LUFS)	True Peak Max
YouTube	-14 LUFS	-1 dBTP
Spotify / Apple Music	-14 LUFS	-1 dBTP
Podcasts (Apple/Spotify)	-16 LUFS	-1 dBTP
Broadcast TV (EBU R128)	-23 LUFS	-1 dBTP
Broadcast TV (ATSC A/85)	-24 LKFS	-2 dBTP
Cinema (theatrical)	-27 LUFS	-1 dBTP
Instagram / TikTok / Reels	-14 LUFS	-1 dBTP

How to normalise

Open the Export dialog (Cmd+E).
In the Audio section, enable Loudness Normalisation.
Select your target platform from the dropdown, or enter a custom LUFS value.
AIVE ONE Beta measures the integrated loudness of your entire timeline and applies the correct gain offset during export.

Do not over-compress. Loudness normalisation works best on audio with healthy dynamic range. If your audio is already heavily compressed, normalisation may push it into distortion territory. Use the loudness meter in the master bus to monitor levels during editing.

Audio Effects

AIVE ONE Beta ships with a comprehensive set of built-in audio effects. Apply them per-clip in the Inspector or per-lane in the Mixer.

Available effects

Effect	Description
Parametric EQ	10-band parametric equaliser with visual display. See EQ section above.
Compressor	Dynamics compressor with threshold, ratio, attack, release, and make-up gain.
Limiter	Brick-wall peak limiter. Prevents audio from exceeding a set ceiling. Essential for broadcast delivery.
Noise Gate	Silences audio below a set threshold. Removes low-level background noise between speech segments.
Reverb	Adds room ambience. Presets include Small Room, Large Hall, Cathedral, and Plate. Adjustable decay, pre-delay, and wet/dry mix.
Delay	Tempo-synced or free-time echo effect with feedback and stereo spread controls.
De-esser	Reduces harsh sibilance (S and T sounds) in speech. Frequency-targeted compression.
Pitch Shift	Raise or lower pitch in semitones without changing speed. Useful for voice disguise or creative effects.
Chorus	Thickens audio by adding slightly detuned copies. Subtle settings work well on voiceover.
Stereo Widener	Expands or narrows the stereo image. Use on music beds to create space for centre-panned dialogue.

Effects chain order

Effects are processed top-to-bottom in the FX slot. The recommended order for dialogue:

Noise Gate (remove background noise)
EQ (shape the tone)
Compressor (even out dynamics)
De-esser (tame sibilance)
Limiter (catch peaks)

Tip: Drag effects in the FX slot to reorder them. Click the bypass toggle next to each effect to A/B compare with and without the effect.

Noise Removal

Select a clip and open the Audio section in the Inspector to access noise removal tools. For AI-powered noise removal, see the AI Audio Cleanup section.

Manual noise removal workflow

Noise Learn — Select a portion of your clip that contains only background noise (no speech). This should be at least 1 second long. Click Learn Noise Profile.
Denoise — Apply the learned profile with an adjustable reduction amount (0-100%). Start at 50% and increase until the noise is gone without introducing artifacts or making speech sound robotic.
De-hum — Removes electrical hum (50 Hz or 60 Hz depending on your region) and its harmonics with a single click.
De-clip — Repairs audio that was recorded too hot. Works best on moderate clipping. Severe distortion may not be fully recoverable.

AI vs. manual: The AI Audio Cleanup (free on all plans) uses a neural network and does not require a noise profile sample. It generally produces better results with less effort. Use manual noise removal when you need precise control over the noise profile or when working offline on a device without AI model support.

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