What Is Auto-Ducking in Audio?

Music that is loud enough to feel present will often bury the words. Music that is quiet enough never to interfere feels lifeless in the gaps. Ducking solves both: the music sits at a comfortable level between phrases and drops out of the way while someone talks.

A ducking system watches the voice track. When the voice is above a threshold, it reduces the music level by a set amount. When the voice stops, the music rises back after a short delay. Broadcast and audio-editing software often does this with sidechain compression. Simpler tools work from where the speech is known to be.

• Amount: how far the music drops under the voice.
• Attack: how quickly it drops when speech starts.
• Release: how slowly it rises after speech stops, so it does not pump between words.
• Base level: how loud the music is in the gaps.

Pick a built-in track or upload your own MP3 or WAV, and the music loops under your voice and ducks automatically, dropping while the voice speaks and swelling back in the pauses. Volume and ducking are adjustable, and the downloaded file has the mix baked in, so you do not need a separate editor.