# Mix Console, Meters and Clarity in Immersive Audio

> Balance an immersive mix with faders and meters, read dBFS peaks, find frequency masking and use spatial unmasking and ducking for clarity.

Web page: https://spatial9.ai/blog/academy-mix-console-metering-clarity
Author: Spatial9 Team
Published: 2026-10-16. Updated: 2026-10-16.

## Key takeaways
- The Mix Console shows stems and the twelve 7.1.4 speaker channels, with stem faders from -60 to +6 dB and channels capped at 0 dB.
- Meters show RMS and peak in dBFS, hold peaks for 1.6 seconds and light a clip warning at -0.1 dBFS; there is no LUFS meter.
- Masking risk in the classroom equals spectral overlap times spatial closeness, so moving clashing stems apart reduces it.
- Auto Ducking dips other stems by up to 12 dB, and Hearing Compensation adapts playback to your ears from a test or an audiogram.

In this lesson: You will learn to balance an immersive mix with the classroom Mix Console, read RMS and peak meters in dBFS, find clashing sounds with the frequency spectrum and live masking, and make room with Auto Ducking. You will also set up your ears with Hearing Compensation and the Parametric EQ.

Placement tells the listener where a sound is. Level tells them how important it is. In an immersive mix these two ideas are tied together: a sound placed close and loud dominates, while a sound placed far and quiet becomes atmosphere. In Classroom Lab 1 you learned to place sound. Now you will learn to balance it and keep it clear.


## What you will learn

- How the Mix Console works in its Stems and 7.1.4 Channels views.
- How to read RMS, peak hold and the clip light.
- How to use the Frequency Spectrum to see each stem.
- What masking is, and how spatial distance reduces it.
- How Auto Ducking makes room for an important sound.
- How Hearing Compensation and the Parametric EQ adapt the mix to your ears.

The rest of this lesson is free with a Spatial9 account: https://spatial9.ai/blog/academy-mix-console-metering-clarity