Ducking

[Mole]

Reading through a tutorial on using reverb in Sound On Sound magazine, I came across a reference to a technique called 'ducking'. I understand the principle behind it well enough, but I just can't work out how you do it in Cubase (VST32 5.0). Something to do with how the signal is routed through the mixer obviously, but that's all I know. Can anyone explain how to do this? I would be extremely grateful as it sounds like an incredibly useful thing to know how to do. Thanking you in advance,
Alan.

[bizarre]

I don't think you can do it in cubase - I have never done it anyway, but I've done it on my soundcard. Here's how it works. You have one signal that ducks another signal, or an env filter thingie. I use a compressor with sidechain, and run ( just an example ) the dly of the vocal through the compressor, and feeds the sidechain with the direct signal. Now everytime the vocalist is singing, the dly will be ducked, and I can controll how fast it comes back with my release. You can also use a certain frequencie as trigger if you have some really annoying frequencies in the choir ( again just an example ) and you can't save it, it's like a bit "distorted" in the recording, and it happens everytime they hit 900Hz - go kill it that way
bizz

[Queue]

Some of the Compressor plugins will do this for you. Waves C1 is one of them. Search duck* AND compress* here, and you'll find some links in a post from Gidge.

Queue

[Mole]

Thanks guys. I appreciate your help, although, in your generosity, you may also have underestimated how thick I am. I should have explained that I am not using any external hardware units and am working entirely in a VST environment. I do actually have the Waves C1 and it was precisely this plugin that I was trying to achieve the effect with. I followed the instructions in the Waves help files, but it didn't seem to work, so I am assuming that it has something to do with how I set things up in Cubase. But I will check out the links you suggested and have another go. Thanks again. What a great resource this site is. This is my first post and I am very grateful to have this extra support. It's quite frustrating when you can't figure something out and the manuals etc don't appear to provide the answers. I hope I can be of service to you too at some point.

[Queue]

Mole,
Go to the Waves site and download the "Setup Guide" manual. Here's a direct link to the .pdf, but you might have to go in through the "front door" of their site, cuz you need to register to download stuff from there.

http://www.waves.com/download/pdf/C1setupguide.pdf

Through the "front door" click "downloads" then click "user guides", it is the 3rd on the list, between C1 and C4 manuals. Read Chapter 9, Keying Setups, page 50. I could NOT figure it out until I had read that chapter.

Queue

[Chriss]

i usually duck when people throw stuff at me on stage...

[Mole]

Queue,
Thanks for the helpful suggestion. I already have the documentation you are referring to and I think I have read the instructions fairly carefully. But I just can't get it to work. I am probably overlooking something really simple - something which would be obvious to everyone else. Perhaps I should leave it for a while and come back to it with fresh eyes, as it were. Still, I appreciate your time and help,
Best,
Mole.

[Queue]

How I ended up using it:

Track A: Lead Vocal
Track B: Air Traffic Control Chatter

I wanted the chatter to "duck" the Lead Vocal. I sent the two tracks to an added aux bus. Panned one hard L, the other hard R. Put the C1 plugin on that aux bus. Set it up as indicated in the manual, and "paint" it out as a new track. Pull the new track back in and voila! Duck-o-rama.

Queue

[Mole]

Thanks Queue,
Not had an dealings with aux buses up till now, but I think I can imagine what you have in mind, so I will give it a go. Thanks again for your help,
Best,
Alan (mole)