2009

Table Of Contents
Ducker
Ducking is a common technique used in radio and television broadcasting: When the DJ
or announcer speaks while music is playing, the music level is automatically reduced.
When the announcement has finished, the music is automatically raised to its original
volume level.
Ducker provides a simple means of achieving this result with existing recordings. It does
not work in real time.
Note: For technical reasons, Ducker can only be inserted in output and aux channel strips.
Ducker Parameters
The Ducker has the following parameters:
Ducking On and Off buttons: Enable or disable ducking.
Lookahead On and Off buttons: Enable to ensure that the Ducker reads the incoming
signal before processing. This results in no latency—it is primarily intended for slower
computers.
Amount slider and field: Defines the amount of volume reduction of the music mix
channel strip, which is, in effect, the output signal.
Threshold slider and field: Determines the lowest level that a side-chain signal must
attain before it begins to reduce the music mix output level—by the amount set with
the Intensity slider. If the side-chain signal level doesn’t reach the threshold, the music
mix channel strip volume is not affected.
96 Chapter 4 Dynamics Processors