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# Add Music and Balance Dialogue in Lightworks
- URL: https://lightworksguide.net/editing/music-dialogue/
- Published: 2026-10-27T09:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-27T08:59:59.000Z
- Description: Place music without shifting picture, keep its stereo pair separate, and use four level points to lower it before speech and bring it back afterward.
- Author: Lucas Bennett
- Tags: editing

Put music on its own audio tracks, establish the dialogue level first, then lower the music only where it competes with speech. For a stereo file, reserve a separate left/right destination pair. Use **Replace** to lay the marked music under existing picture without inserting time into the edit.

For the first pass, my default is a simple four-point music dip: begin lowering before the first word, hold the lower level beneath the phrase, and return after the last word. It’s easier to inspect than a hurried fader move, and you can change the timing without rebuilding the picture edit.

## Prepare separate music destinations

Keep the music licence and media-location record with the project. Being able to download a track online does not mean it is cleared for the intended publication. Then inspect the file’s channel layout: the [Lightworks audio guide distinguishes mono, stereo and multichannel sources](https://lwks.com/lightworks-knowledge-base/audio-basics?ref=lightworksguide.net). A mono file has one channel; a stereo file brings a left/right pair. Do not collapse that pair onto one arbitrary mono destination.

For example, if dialogue occupies A1 and A2, use two empty destinations such as A3 and A4 for stereo music. The track numbers only illustrate the layout; they are not required. If those tracks are occupied, add empty audio tracks above or below the selected track using the available track controls. The [current timeline guide describes adding tracks and targeting through their headers](https://lwks.com/lightworks-knowledge-base/sequences-and-timelines?ref=lightworksguide.net).

The source targets select the channels included in the edit; the sequence targets select their destinations. Leave picture and existing dialogue outside the music targets. In Lightworks 2026.1, the abbreviated track name down the left of each header (**V1**, **A1**) is the Track Target button. In 2025.2, where the headers look different, use the targeting control your timeline shows.

**Targeting is separate from monitoring.** Hearing a music channel in the source viewer does not establish where it will land. Muting dialogue won’t protect it from an edit either. When finished picture or dialogue needs protecting, I’d lock it, because a locked track ignores edits and trims.

![Music L and Music R target empty A3 and A4 while V1 and dialogue on A1/A2 stay outside the edit targets](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b6/14/b614b785-090f-41ec-b456-227b43270d07/content/images/2026/10/music-dialogue-body1-redo-v1.webp)

For this example, send the stereo music to empty A3/A4 and leave picture and dialogue outside the music edit targets.

## Import and place the marked music

1. **Import the file.** Open the Import panel (F1, or Ctrl+I on Windows/Linux and Cmd+I on macOS), browse to the music and select the file. Where the method is selectable, **Create Link To Media** keeps the project dependent on that file’s location; **Copy Media To Project** makes a project copy. Compressed audio such as MP3 can require **Transcode** instead, with the method fixed. The [official import workflow explains these methods and conversion conditions](https://lwks.com/lightworks-knowledge-base/importing-media?ref=lightworksguide.net). Click **Import**. Keep any linked source available instead of moving it after import.
2. **Open and mark the source.** Load the music in the source viewer and mark the wanted in and out points. Choose a section that covers the picture passage; a later mix move cannot repair a missing source section.
3. **Set the destination deliberately.** Open the intended sequence and set its in point at the music start. Clear any old sequence out point using the installed mark controls: this placement uses source in/out plus sequence in. Enable the source music channels and the empty sequence destinations. Those three points place the marked source length at the intended start.
4. **Use Replace.** The [documented Replace operation overwrites in place while preserving sequence length](https://lwks.com/lightworks-knowledge-base/basic-editing?ref=lightworksguide.net). Insert pushes later material along and changes timing, so it is the wrong operation for this placement. Replace can still overwrite audio on a targeted occupied track, which is why the empty destinations matter.
5. **Inspect before mixing.** Confirm that both music channels are present, picture cuts remain in place and dialogue is intact. If the edit went to the wrong destination, undo it before adding level changes, correct the targets and place it again.

Select the actual music pair and use **Group Audio Tracks** when you want its faders and controls to move together. [Grouping treats selected tracks as one unit](https://lwks.com/lightworks-knowledge-base/audio-basics?ref=lightworksguide.net); **Ungroup Audio Tracks** separates them again. Group the pair that belongs together, rather than including dialogue simply because it sits nearby.

## Set dialogue before the music

Open the mixer from the **Audio layout**. In Lightworks 2026.1, [one unified mixer serves source clips and sequences](https://lwks.com/lightworks-knowledge-base/the-audio-mixer?ref=lightworksguide.net) and switches automatically to whatever has focus. If the strips change when you click the source viewer, use the mixer’s settings menu and set **Audio Mixer → Sequence**. You want to balance the sequence, not accidentally change the source context.

Keep the listening volume stable. Temporarily mute the music and listen across the quietest dialogue and the louder phrases. Use the dialogue strip’s fader for a broad balance; if one phrase is much quieter than its neighbours, I prefer a local level adjustment to raising the entire track, which would lift the louder phrases as well. Watch the meters for overload, but judge whether the words are understandable by listening.

Restore the music and lower its track fader until speech remains clear through the demanding passage. The music strip controls its contribution; **LR** controls the combined output. Turning the master down lowers dialogue and music together, so it does not solve their relative balance.

![Music channel faders 3/4 sit below dialogue 1/2; the LR master controls the whole mix](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b6/14/b614b785-090f-41ec-b456-227b43270d07/content/images/2026/10/music-dialogue-body2-redo-v4.webp)

Lower the music controls to change its balance against speech. LR changes dialogue and music together.

Make this rough pass with automation **Off** or **Read**, as the mixer guide describes. They do different jobs: Off uses downstream levels without automation; Read follows existing automation and does not record fader moves. If a fader override seems to disappear on replay, inspect the existing automation instead of repeatedly pushing the master higher.

## Make a four-point dip under a phrase

Take a simple case: music plays before an interview answer, stays underneath the whole answer, then returns in the gap afterward. The four points describe the shape of one local dip. Other clips can need a different node count, and the depth and fade length are set by ear rather than by a universal dB offset or duration.

1. **Expose the level line.** On the music track, turn on **Keyframes**. The [audio-node workflow](https://lwks.com/lightworks-knowledge-base/editing-audio-in-the-timeline?ref=lightworksguide.net) says this makes the line editable. **Show Audio Levels** in Timeline settings can keep lines visible, but visibility alone does not make them editable. In the current documented behaviour, enabling Keyframes unlocks the track; locking it switches Keyframes off.
2. **Place the first point before speech.** Click the line where the music should start coming down. Leave this point at the surrounding music level.
3. **Place the second point before the first word.** Drag it down so the descent finishes before speech begins. Listen to the first word and its consonants; if they disappear beneath the music, begin the dip earlier or reduce the music further.
4. **Place the third point after the last word.** Give it the same lower level as the second. The line between them holds the music down throughout the phrase. Include the actual end of the spoken sound, rather than starting the rise while the final word is still being heard.
5. **Place the fourth point later in the gap.** Return it to the surrounding music level. The line from the third point to the fourth brings the music back. Adjust the gap and the rise by listening to the join into the next phrase.

![Both stereo music curves descend before speech, hold below the full phrase and rise afterward using four nodes](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b6/14/b614b785-090f-41ec-b456-227b43270d07/content/images/2026/10/music-dialogue-body3-redo-v1.webp)

Finish the descent before the first word, hold through the last word, and bring the music back afterward. Check both stereo curves.

For a dip inside a long music segment, use four points around that phrase. The segment’s start and end are also editable nodes, but they substitute for the outer points only when they occupy the intended before/after positions. Using a long segment’s endpoints as the outer points can change music well outside the phrase.

Check both sides of the stereo pair. Grouped faders and controls move together, but inspect both level curves before assuming a node edit has changed the other channel. Apply the matching shape to the other side if needed, then listen for an unintended left/right level change before accepting the dip.

Replay from before the first point to beyond the fourth. You should hear the entrance into speech, the held balance and the return, not just the middle of the quiet section. If the next phrase follows immediately, keep the music down across both phrases rather than forcing an unnecessary rise between them. When the level edit is finished, lock the music track if you need to protect its nodes and fades.

## When to use mixer automation

Timeline nodes shape local audio levels independently of the mixer’s faders. Fader automation is useful when you want a performed track-level move across a longer passage. The two can coexist, so inspect both when a level change has an unexpected result.

In the documented mixer modes, **Touch** writes while you move the fader and otherwise reads existing automation. Lowering it and releasing it does not guarantee a new held dip through the untouched phrase. **Write** records from the moment playback starts; **Latch** continues writing at the level where you leave the fader. Use those modes only for the section you intend to change, then return to **Read** to replay without recording more moves.

For a beginner’s music-under-speech pass, keep the four-point node shape as the main method. It makes the before/under/after relationship visible and leaves fewer surprises than mixing several automation mechanisms at once.

## Check the full mix and the export

Turn off temporary Solo and Mute states and listen to the complete sequence. The mixer and timeline Monitor controls stay in step; a forgotten solo can make a good individual track sound like a missing mix. If a track is silent, first work out whether the cause is monitoring, an empty target or a missing source. The [no-audio guide](https://lightworksguide.net/fix/no-audio/) follows those separate branches.

Check the quietest speech, the densest music passage and every dip boundary at the same listening volume. Then listen on headphones and an ordinary speaker, and play it once more at a lower volume. If words become hard to follow, revisit the music’s level and timing before adding processing. I’d hold EQ and compression back until the balance works, since neither can stand in for it.

Watch the track and LR meters for clipping. Follow the actual delivery brief for loudness and peak requirements rather than copying one number from an unrelated tutorial. Export a representative passage using the intended final audio settings, then listen to that file outside Lightworks. That file is the check I trust, because a timeline audition doesn’t confirm that the selected export contains the expected complete mix.

The mix is ready when dialogue stays intelligible, stereo music keeps its intended balance, transitions don’t jump and the exported file contains the same passage you approved. If the local file has sound but an uploaded copy doesn’t, look at the upload or playback stage on its own before touching the mix.