Thanks bud. Do you mean the vocal levels are too quiet or is it just (like you said) a performance/articulation thing and not a mix thing? By ducking do you just mean compression? I'm actually am using some compression on the vox already FWIW (12.5 attack, 95 release, -6.6 thresh, 2.0:1 ratio).
So, because it's a little lost in the mix, I can't honestly say whether it's really just a vocal articulation thing or a mix thing, but in the assumption you're not going to redo vocals at this point, I was suggesting the first couple things in my small toolbox I usually grab
.
Ducking would be putting a compressor on something else, like the drums or guitars, or even all instruments (probably not bass for vocal usage), e.g., if they're already bussed together, but using the vocal track dynamics to trigger the compression instead of the dynamics in the track(s) being compressed. So, when the vocal passed the threshold, the ducked track(s) would get compressed, letting the vocals peek through a bit. Usually it's very light, fast attack/release for something like this is where I might try it.
Is that vocal compressor doing anything? (-6.6 threshold would say it's recorded pretty hot track to start with, because on
my tracks, that would never cause the needle to move.) The attack might be a little fast so you could increase it to see what happens, and do a little more squeeze with moving the threshold lower and adding a little bit of makeup gain.