Ducking

Lore & Background

In radio, ducking is typically achieved by lowering the volume of a secondary audio track when the primary track starts, and lifting the volume again when the primary track is finished. A typical use is for creating a voice-over. In music, ducking works through the use of a 'side chain' gate, where one track is made quieter whenever another gets louder. Ducking may be used in place of mirrored equalization to combat masking, for example with the bass guitar ducked under the kick drum. A ducking system may be created where one track ducks another, which ducks another, and so on. Examples include Portishead's 'Biscuit'. Ducking may also be used to combat the muffling and distancing effect of reverb and delay; clear examples include Céline Dion's 'The Power Of Love' and Adele's 'Cold Shoulder'.

In Their Own Story

The beat drops, and a wall of transparent blue barriers surges forward from the darkness. There is no time to swing; the sabers would shatter against them instantly. The player instinctively drops low, tucking their chin toward their chest just as the first block passes inches above their nose. As they rise, the rhythm resumes, but the heart races with the thrill of having dodged the unbreakable wall.

Reader's Guide

The ducker is inserted into the reverb and delay line and keyed to a dry track to duck its own reverb and delay so that when the dry track exceeds the ducker's threshold by reaching a certain amplitude the reverb and delay are attenuated.

Did You Know?

• Ducking is an audio effect commonly used in radio and pop music, especially dance music.
• In ducking, the level of one audio signal is reduced by the presence of another signal.
• A typical application of ducking is to achieve an impression similar to the 'pumping' effect.
• The difference between ducking and side-chain pumping is that in ducking the attenuation is by a specific range while side-chain compression creates variable attenuation.