Skilly Skilly Download

How-to

DaVinci Resolve Audio and Fairlight

Move to the Fairlight page for professional audio mixing, EQ, and loudness monitoring. — step-by-step on Mac.

By Mohamed Saleh Zaied

Move to the Fairlight page for professional audio mixing, EQ, and loudness monitoring. Here’s how to do it in DaVinci Resolve on macOS, step by step — part of the free DaVinci Resolve beginner curriculum.

Lesson 6 of the DaVinci Resolve curriculum. Before this: Color Grading Basics. Next up: Deliver and Export.

What you’ll do

  • Navigate to the Fairlight page (Shift+6) — notice the mixer-style interface
  • Identify the main regions: multi-track Timeline (center), Mixer (right side, may need to be toggled on), Meters (far right showing loudness levels)
  • Understand the Mixer channel strips — each audio track in the timeline has a corresponding channel strip in the Mixer with a volume fader, pan knob, Solo (S) button, and Mute (M) button
  • Adjust clip volume directly in the timeline by dragging the white horizontal volume line in the center of an audio clip
  • Solo a track to isolate it during mixing by clicking S in the Mixer or Option+clicking the track header in the timeline
  • Mute a track by clicking M in the Mixer
  • Open the EQ panel for a track by pressing E — use the 6-band parametric EQ to cut harsh frequencies or boost presence
  • Open the Dynamics panel for a track by pressing Y — use the Compressor to even out dialogue levels (start with -20 dB threshold, 3:1 ratio)
  • Monitor loudness on the Meters panel — target -14 LUFS integrated for YouTube, -6 dBFS peak for dialogue
  • Add fade in/out handles to audio clips by hovering near the top-left or top-right corner of a clip until the fade handle appears, then dragging

Do it hands-free with Skilly

Reading steps is one thing; doing them while the menus are in front of you is another. Skilly is a voice-first tutor for macOS: you ask out loud — “where’s the audio panel?” — and it answers while moving your cursor to the exact button, watching your actual DaVinci Resolve window. It’s the same DaVinci Resolve curriculum these lessons come from, taught live instead of read. Free to start.

Keep going

This is one stage of the full DaVinci Resolve beginner curriculum. Previous: Color Grading Basics. Continue with Deliver and Export.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What's the fastest way to learn audio and fairlight in DaVinci Resolve?
Work through the steps on this page in DaVinci Resolve itself, on your own project. For hands-free help, Skilly is a voice guide that watches your screen and moves your cursor to the exact button as you go — so you learn by doing instead of pausing a video. It's free to start at tryskilly.app.
Do I need the paid version of DaVinci Resolve?
No — everything in this audio and fairlight lesson works in the standard version of DaVinci Resolve on macOS. A few advanced features may require a paid tier, which we call out where relevant.

Keep learning

Related guides

How-to

DaVinci Resolve Color Grading Basics

Move to the Color page to correct and enhance the look of your footage using DaVinci's professional grading tools. — step-by-step on Mac.

How-to

DaVinci Resolve Deliver and Export (beginner guide)

Render your finished project to a file using the Deliver page. — step-by-step on Mac.

How-to

DaVinci Resolve Trimming and Transitions

Refine your edit with precise trimming tools and add transitions between clips. — step-by-step on Mac.

How-to

DaVinci Resolve Edit Page Basics (beginner guide)

Assemble your rough cut on the Edit page using the full-featured editing tools. — step-by-step on Mac.