You can change the levels of dynamics in playback without affecting their appearance in the music. To demonstrate this, these steps focus on bars 21-30, adjusting the volume of the consecutive crescendo hairpins and adding a subtle unmarked diminuendo leading into bar 30 to shape the phrase.
Prerequisite
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The lower zone is shown (press Ctrl/Cmd-8).
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Key Editor
is selected in the lower zone toolbar.
Procedure
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At the bottom left of the Key Editor, click the editor menu and select Dynamics to show the Dynamics editor.
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If you have space on your screen to show multiple editors at once, you can instead click Add Editor
and select Dynamics to show the Dynamics editor in addition to the previous editor.
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There is a cumulative volume increase across the three crescendo hairpins in bars 21-26. However, they most likely indicate shaping that resets at the start of each phrase, so you can adjust their start dynamic levels.
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If Select is not already selected, click Select
in the Key Editor toolbar.
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You can also right-click and hold in the Key Editor, then select Select
from the quick tool selector.
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In bar 23, click and drag the crescendo start point downwards until the readout displays -1; that is, until it is at a similar level to the start of the crescendo in bar 21.
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The crescendo end handle also moves down proportionally.
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You could also do the same for the next crescendo in bar 25, but the current phrasing with the third crescendo sounding a bit louder feels quite natural. When you release the mouse after lowering the crescendo end in bar 24, the crescendo in bar 25 also lowers accordingly.
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In the Key Editor toolbar, click Draw
to select the Draw tool.
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You can also right-click and hold in the Key Editor, then select Draw
from the quick tool selector.
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In bar 22, click on beat 3 at a similar level to the start of the previous and next crescendos to input a dynamic point.
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This means the downbeat in bar 23 plays back at the lower dynamic level, which sounds more natural.
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The next steps involve the Velocity editor. If your Velocity editor is already shown, you can skip the next step.
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In the Key Editor toolbar, click Transform
to select the Transform tool.
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You can also right-click and hold in the Key Editor, then select Transform
from the quick tool selector.
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Click and drag in the Velocity editor, from the middle of bar 26 to the end of bar 29, to make a Transform selection around the velocity bars within that region.
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At the top right of the Transform selection, click and drag Ramp Tilt Right
downwards until you are happy with the slope.
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When you release the mouse, all the note velocities within the Transform selection are adjusted. Their values are changed proportionally, meaning the natural variation in velocity that already existed is preserved.
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Result
You have changed the dynamic levels in a single phrase without affecting the notated music.
After Completing This Task
To listen to just the affected bars to check the result, you can click in the ruler at the top of the event display to move the playhead to that position and press Space or Enter to start or stop playback from that position.