In the Preferences dialog box, click the Multitrack tab to optimize recording, playback, and mix down:

Defaults

Specifies recording and panning settings for multitrack sessions.

Recording Bit Depth

Select 16‑bit or 32‑bit.

Stereo Panning Mode

Select Left/Right Cut (logarithmic) to pan left by reducing the volume of the right channel, and pan right by reducing the left channel volume. The channel being panned to doesn’t increase in volume as panning gets closer to 100%. Or select Equal‑Power Sinusoidal to pan left and right channels with equal power, so that a hard pan left has the same loudness as both channels together. This results in an increase of 3 dB RMS on the channel being panned to when at 100%.

To override the default panning mode for a specific session, see Mixing properties for sessions.

Note: Because Equal‑Power Sinusoidal panning can make one channel louder than the original waveform, audible clipping can occur in 16‑bit sessions. To avoid this, work in the 32‑bit realm.

Audio Mix Down

Contains options governing the resolution and dithering of multitrack sessions.

Bounce Bit Depth

Determines the bit resolution for the Edit > Bounce To Track command. Regardless of the session format (16‑bit or 32‑bit), you can bounce audio at either 16‑bit or 32‑bit quality with this option. The default is 16‑bit.

Enable Dither

Select this option if the bit depth for mix down is lower than the bit depth of the session audio.

Dither Settings

Opens another dialog box with three options for dithering 16‑bit mix downs: Dither Depth (in bits), Probability Distribution Function, and Noise Shaping. For more information, see Change the bit depth of a file.

Automation Optimizations

Contains options that determine how automated mix parameters are recorded. (See Techniques for automating mixes.)

Automatch Time

Determines how fast parameters return to original values in the Touch or Latch modes. You can set values from 0.00 to 5.00 seconds; the default value is 1.00 second.

Linear Edit Point Thinning

Removes any edit points that represent static, unchanging parameter settings.

Minimum Time Interval Thinning

Creates edit points with intervals larger than the specified time value. Enter an interval between 1 and 2000 milliseconds in the Minimum Time field.

Auto Zero‑Cross Edits

Automatically adjusts the beginning and end points of all Cut, Copy, and Paste operations to the nearest place where the waveform crosses the center line (zero amplitude point). If the amplitudes aren’t lined up on both sides of the selection, the end points are at different amplitudes. This often results in an audible pop or click at that point.

Smooth Auto‑Scrolling During Playback

Enables smooth scrolling when playing back audio in Multitrack View. By default, Adobe Audition uses a paging method of scrolling in Multitrack View instead of the smooth scrolling technique used in Edit View. This saves on system resources.

Use BWF Time Reference As Insert Start Time

Uses the timestamp embedded in a Broadcast Wave file (BWF) when inserting files. (See Spot insert a Broadcast Wave file into a session.)

Save Frozen Track Audio Files With Session

Saves the temporary files associated with frozen tracks. When you reopen the session, Adobe Audition uses the temporary file instead of refreezing the tracks.

Play Audio While Scrubbing With The Start Time Indicator

Plays back audio whenever you drag one of the yellow triangles for the Start Time Indicator, regardless of which tool is selected in the Tools panel. (See also Play audio by scrubbing.)

Crossfade Time

Determines the crossfade duration for overlapping clips.