Auto-duck music
One of the most common tasks when working on an audio mix is reducing music level during
sections of speech. If there’s a voice-over track, for example, you may want the music to get
quieter just when information is being shared and then become the dominant element in the
mix again. This is commonly the way radio DJs will speak over music, with the music
automatically getting quieter when the DJ speaks. The technique is called ducking.
You can manually add audio keyframes to apply ducking (and you’ll explore this technique
later), but there’s an automated way to do it too, with the Essential Sound panel.
You’ll learn about the Essential Sound panel in more detail in Lesson 11, “Sweetening Sound.”
Still, this is a quick and easy workflow that saves time when creating your mix, and it’s worth
learning right away.
1. Continue working in the Journey to New York sequence. Make sure all the voice-over clips
on the Audio 1 track are selected.
2. In the Essential Sound panel, click the Dialogue button to assign the dialogue audio type to
the selected clips. Assigning the dialogue audio type gives access to tools and controls that
are relevant to dialogue.3. Resize the Audio 2 track so you can see the music clip’s audio waveform clearly. Select the
clip, and in the Essential Sound panel select the Music audio type.
4. In the Essential Sound panel, select the box to enable Ducking, and take a look at the
options.