Subject:Ducking a music track

Posted by: abrassell

Date:2/16/2001 8:21:41 AM

What is the best way to "duck" a music track for a
voiceover. The term "duck" may be a bit old school but what
it means is to gradually ramp down the volume of the music
track for the duration of the voiceover track that you will
mix with it thereby producing a single file.

Thanks,
Al Brassell

Subject:RE: Ducking a music track

Reply by: Rednroll

Date:2/16/2001 8:24:02 AM

Use Vegas and put a volume envelope over the music track
and do exactly what you said (ie duck the music with a ramp
while the voice is talking)

Subject:RE: Ducking a music track

Reply by: Ted_H

Date:2/16/2001 11:26:12 AM

Hello,

In Sound Forge, there is a fade option listed in the
process menu. This will let you duck the music in or out.

Ted

Subject:RE: Ducking a music track

Reply by: sreams

Date:2/16/2001 12:40:56 PM

Al,

I think I know what you mean. The fade and envelope methods
do not allow for true ducking. What you need is a
compressor with a key input. Of course, if your music is in
stereo you really shouldn't be doing this in Sound Forge,
but rather in a multitrack app (2 tracks of music and one
track of voice-over). If your music is mono, you can use
the Waves C1 compressor to do ducking in Sound Forge. Place
the dialog on the left and the music on the right. Setup
the C1 for a key input (it takes the left input signal
(voice-over) as a key and compresses the music based on the
level of the voice. A little haphazard but it works.
Otherwise you can use an outboard compressor with a key
input to do this in a simpler way.

-S