AFL stands for After-Fade Listen. It's a monitoring function on mixing consoles that allows you to hear a specific channel exactly as it's being sent to the main mix. When you press the AFL button on a channel, you hear its signal in your headphones or studio monitors after it has passed through the volume fader and pan control. This means that: The volume you hear is the same as the volume set by the channel fader. The stereo position (left/right) you hear is the same as the one set by the channel pan. class="font_8">It's a way to "solo" a channel to check how it sounds in the context of the mix, with its volume and positioning.

AFL vs. PFL

AFL differs from PFL (Pre-Fade Listen), which allows you to hear the signal before the fader, at its original gain level.

• PFL: Used to check the input signal and adjust the gain (trim).

• AFL: Used to check the already processed signal within the mix. This is the default ground mode for auxiliary outputs, subgroups, and arrays.