17.5 Sidechaining and Audio Ducking
The next example will show you how to use a technique known as sidechaining to create a ducking effect.
Kind: concept (user-guide-section) Chapter: 17 More Routing Examples Source: REAPER User Guide v7.70
The next example will show you how to use a technique known as sidechaining to create a ducking effect. Put simply, this describes what happens when a compressor is used to ensure that the volume on one track is automatically lowered whenever the volume on another track is raised. You might want to do this, for example, when working with a kick and a bass. In this example, we’ll use the Bouzouki, Guitar and Vocal tracks in our sample project to show you how it’s done. We will use audio ducking to ensure that the overall volume of the instruments is automatically lowered a little whenever there is a signal on the Vocal track. This helps lift the vocal track slightly above the mix. In order to do this, we use multi channel routing in conjunction with the ReaComp compressor. The diagram below shows how we can do this.