DaVinci Resolve AI Level Matcher Explained

Effortlessly Fix Inconsistent Audio Levels with DaVinci Resolve’s AI Level Matcher

Struggling with audio clips recorded at wildly different volumes? Maybe you’ve got dialogue captured in various locations, or music tracks and sound effects that just don’t sit right together. Manually adjusting gain clip-by-clip can be a real time drain. Thankfully, DaVinci Resolve has a powerful tool designed specifically for this: the AI Level Matcher.

What is the AI Level Matcher in DaVinci Resolve?

The AI Level Matcher is a smart feature built into DaVinci Resolve. Its core purpose is to quickly and accurately normalize the volume levels across different clips on your timeline.

How does it work? It analyzes the loudness profile (how loud a clip sounds over its duration) of a reference clip you choose. Then, it allows you to apply that exact loudness profile to one or multiple other clips. The result? Consistent audio levels across your selection, making your overall mix sound much more professional and balanced.

When Should You Use It?

This tool is incredibly useful in several common editing scenarios:

1. Dialogue Discrepancies: Perfect for interviews or scenes where dialogue was recorded in different environments or with different microphone setups, leading to noticeable volume shifts.
2. Varying Source Volumes: Ideal when incorporating music, sound effects, and voiceovers recorded at vastly different levels. The AI Level Matcher helps bring them into a similar perceived loudness range quickly.

Essentially, any time you’re dealing with audio sources that need cohesive volume levels, the AI Level Matcher is your friend.

How to Use the AI Level Matcher (It’s Simple!)

Using this tool is very straightforward. Here’s my step-by-step guide:

1. Choose Your Reference: Identify the clip on your timeline that has the ideal loudness you want everything else to match. This is your “target” sound.
2. Capture the Profile: Right-click directly on this reference clip in the timeline. Navigate through the menu: Clip Operations > Level Matching > Capture Level Profile. DaVinci Resolve instantly analyzes this clip’s loudness.
3. Select Target Clips: Now, select the clip (or multiple clips using Shift-click or Ctrl/Cmd-click) that you want to adjust.
4. Apply the Profile: Right-click on your selected clip(s). Go through the menu again: Clip Operations > Level Matching > Apply Level Profile.

That’s it! Resolve will analyze the selected clips and automatically adjust their gain to match the perceived loudness of the reference clip you captured earlier. It happens almost instantly and saves a ton of manual tweaking.

Bonus Tip: Checking Your Levels for Delivery

While the AI Level Matcher ensures relative consistency between clips, you might also need to meet specific loudness standards for broadcast or online delivery (like YouTube, Spotify, etc.). DaVinci Resolve’s built-in Loudness Meters (often found in the Fairlight page or via the top meter display) are essential for this. You can switch the meter standard (e.g., LUFS EBU R128, ATSC A/85) to match your delivery requirements and ensure your final mix complies.