Cubase 5 Ducking Vocals Using the Side Chain Effect
Vocals are often the most important element in a song, and their place in the mix should reflect that. Compression and limiting of the vocal track can help make that easier to achieve,
but another trick is to slightly drop the levels of other mix elements when the vocal is present, and raise them again when the vocal drops out. Good candidates here are rhythm guitar
and keyboard parts.
The volume changes can of course be achieved via volume automation, but the recent addition of side-chain facilities to some Cubase 4 plug-ins means you can also do
this via ducking, without having to draw all that automation data in. Inserting a compressor in the track to be ducked, activating its side-chain input and specifying the lead vocal track
as the source for the side-chain input will allow the compressor to gently squeeze the level of the instrumental track whenever the vocal is present. Even a drop of 1 or 2dB in some instrumental
backing elements in this way can help give the vocal a little more space to work in the overall mix.
