Sound and the meter

Everything LayerCue sends out — video and YouTube on every layer, and the music — passes through one master volume and goes to one audio device you choose. This page covers where the sound goes, how to read the meter next to the stage, and which volume control does what.

Sound does not depend on the monitors. A video you send to the stage is heard even while every monitor is off, so you can rehearse the sound without a second screen. And however many monitors show a YouTube, only one of them plays its sound — see Multi-Output.

Choosing the audio device

In the status bar at the bottom of the window, just right of the on-air chip, there is a speaker icon and a box. Click the box (or the speaker icon) and the list of audio devices opens upward. ● marks the one in use.

Row	What it does
System default	Uses whichever device your Mac or PC is set to use for sound. The name of that device is written after it — System default · … — so you can see where the sound is going
The devices below the line	The devices attached right now. Pick one and LayerCue keeps using it even when the computer’s default changes

What you pick is remembered the next time you open LayerCue. On a new install, System default is picked.

For a show, pick the device by name

Pick the mixer or audio interface itself rather than System default. Then LayerCue stays on it even if the computer’s default changes — when headphones connect, for example.

If the device you picked goes away

The box says Not connected and the speaker icon turns orange. Meanwhile the sound goes out on the system default — losing the sound entirely on stage would be worse. Plug the device back in and LayerCue goes back to it by itself.

When the window is narrow, the names in the on-air chip and the speaker box get shorter. Clicking the speaker icon still opens the list.

What follows the device

The stage (every layer), the music, and the previews in Slide settings and Track settings all go to the device you pick. So does a YouTube video — streaming or downloaded.

A YouTube set to Streaming plays inside a web view, and a web view always sends its sound to the computer’s default output; it cannot be pointed at a device of its own. So when you pick a device by name, LayerCue also makes it the computer’s default output while LayerCue runs:

• The old default is put back when you quit, when you pick System default, and while the device you picked is unplugged. If LayerCue quits unexpectedly, it puts it back the next time it starts.
• While LayerCue has changed it, the System default row shows the device that was the default before.
• Other apps on the computer play through that device too while LayerCue runs.
• If you change the computer’s sound output yourself while LayerCue is running, LayerCue leaves your choice alone — it neither overrides it nor puts the old one back when it quits. Streaming YouTube then follows your choice, not LayerCue’s.

The meter

Between the monitor tiles and Music stands a tall stereo meter. The master fader rides on top of it, and under it are two buttons, MUTE and SOLO, and the master value in dB.

The meter shows what LayerCue is sending out right now — every layer and the music, after the master, the layer volumes, the fades and Music while video plays have done their work. The previews in Slide settings and Track settings are not part of it: they do not go out.

It shows what LayerCue sends, not what reaches the speakers. A moving meter and a silent room is a clue — see No sound? below.

Reading it

The meter reads from −60 dBFS at the bottom to 0 dBFS at the top — full scale, with nothing above it.

What you see	What it means
Green	Below −20 dBFS
Orange	From −20 dBFS. The dark mark across the bars is the boundary
Red	From −9 dBFS. A second dark mark sits there
A thin white line inside each bar	The average level — closer to how loud it feels
A line that stays above the bar	The highest point of the last moment. It holds there for about 1.5 seconds, then falls
A red line across the very top	The sound going out reached full scale and is being clipped. It stays lit for about 1.5 seconds. Bring the master or that layer down

Dimmed bars on YouTube

LayerCue measures streaming YouTube from inside the video’s web view. Some videos cannot be measured directly; then the meter shows an estimate and draws the bars dimmed. Hover over the meter and it says Can’t measure this YouTube video directly — showing an estimate (dimmed bars). It is there so you can see the video is making sound — do not read the level from it.

The master fader

The handle across the meter is the master volume. It sits over everything that goes out: all layers, YouTube included, and the music. Video and music are scaled by the same amount, so a balance you set in rehearsal holds when you move the master.

What you want	How
Change the master	Drag the handle
Jump to a point	Click anywhere on the meter — the handle moves there
Back to 0 dB	Double-click the meter

The value is written under SOLO: 0.0 dB where it starts, up to +3.0 dB at the top, −∞ dB at the bottom (silent).

0 dB is the starting point, not the top. It sits 3 dB below the top, so you have room to push up. The handle catches at 0 dB as you pass it, and a white line marks the spot. The strip from the bottom up to the handle is blue at 0 dB and below; above 0 dB it shifts towards orange, and it is red at the very top.

A click on the meter changes the master

The whole meter is the fader. A stray click on it during a show moves the master to wherever you clicked. Double-click to put it back to 0 dB.

Remember master volume

Settings › General › Remember master volume is off by default. While it is off, the master starts at 0 dB every time you open LayerCue — a master pulled down in rehearsal never carries over into the show. Turn it on and the master starts where you left it.

MUTE and SOLO

Button	What it does
MUTE (Mute all)	Silences everything that goes out — every layer, YouTube and the music. The button turns red. Press it again and the sound comes back at the same level
SOLO (Solo — meter this layer only (audio unchanged))	Changes only the meter. What the room hears stays the same

MUTE is not the same as turning it down

While MUTE is on, the meter keeps moving, dimmed, and the fader strip turns grey. You still see what is up and how loud it would be — you have only cut it off. Pull the master to the bottom instead and the meter drops to nothing.

MUTE does not silence the previews in Slide settings and Track settings (see below).

SOLO — checking one layer

Turn SOLO on and the meter splits into four bars:

• The left pair is still the master — everything going out.
• The right pair is the layer you are controlling, at its own level with the master left out. It has an outline in that layer’s colour: indigo for the foreground, amber for the background, green for an overlay.

The layer is the one whose cell has the white outline in the layer column beside the preview. Click another lit cell and the right pair follows it. See Layers.

Use it in rehearsal to see one layer’s own level beside the whole — whether the video itself is too loud, or it is the music under it.

Where each volume lives

Sound passes through several controls on its way out. They multiply, and only some are saved.

Volume	Where	Saved?
Master	The fader on the meter	Only with Remember master volume
Mute all	MUTE under the meter	No
The layer you are controlling	The speaker button and slider at the right end of the control row under the preview, drawn in the layer’s colour; the layer’s name is written just before them	No — the next slide on that layer starts from its own volume
One slide	The volume in Slide settings, for video, music and YouTube slides	Yes, in the slide. See Slide settings
The track playing now	The slider at the right end of the play button row under the music list (the speaker button beside it mutes the music)	No — the next track starts from its own volume
One track	The volume in Track settings	Yes, on the track. See Music
Music under video	Settings › Stage › Music › Music while video plays — Keep · Lower · Mute	It is a setting; it stays until you change it

The speaker button in the control row works on the layer you are controlling only. Press it and that layer goes to 0%; press it again and it comes back at 100%. It is greyed out while the layer has nothing that plays.

Moving a slide to the background turns its sound down

When you set a slide to the background, its volume drops to 0% — backgrounds are usually there for atmosphere. Set it back and its earlier volume returns. If you raised it by hand while it was on the background, that value is used the next time it goes there.

The same happens when a presentation’s Layer for this list sends its slides to the background: they play at 0%.

The previews stay quiet while the stage has sound

The previews in Slide settings and Track settings go to the same device as the stage. So that the two do not play over each other, the previews are silent while:

• something with sound is going out with its volume up — a video on any layer, or YouTube on the foreground or an overlay — and MUTE is off, or
• music is playing.

The rest of the time they play, so you can set In and Out by ear: with nothing up, with only pictures or text up, or with MUTE on and no music playing.

A silent preview is not a fault. Stop the music or take the video down, and it can be heard again.

No sound?

Work down in order.

1. MUTE under the meter — is it red?
2. The master value — does it read −∞ dB? Double-click the meter for 0 dB.
3. Is the meter moving?
   • Yes, but nothing is heard — if it is the music, check the speaker button under the music list: it silences the music without taking it off the meter. If it is streaming YouTube, it plays through the computer’s default output — did someone change that by hand while LayerCue was running? Otherwise the sound is leaving LayerCue: check the device in the status bar (does it say Not connected?) and the device itself.
   • No — the sound is turned down inside LayerCue. Read on.
4. The layer — click its cell in the layer column and look at the speaker button at the right end of the control row.
5. The slide — its volume in Slide settings, and whether it is on the background.
6. The music under a video — Music while video plays set to Lower or Mute drops the music whenever something with sound is on stage.

If it still does not work, see When something goes wrong, or write to support@layercue.com.