What is audio ducking?
Last updated 2026-10-20
Audio ducking temporarily lowers one sound, usually music, so another sound, usually a voice, stands out. When the voice stops, the music comes back. Software can do it automatically by listening to the voice, or you can do it by hand with volume keyframes. The aim is music that supports speech without competing with it.
What ducking does
Ducking means temporarily lowering the volume of one sound so another is easier to hear. Apple's Final Cut Pro guide says it is usually applied to music or effects, to give prominence to dialogue or narration playing at the same time. Apple's Logic Pro manual calls it a broadcast technique: when an announcer speaks over music, the music level is reduced.
The goal is not quiet music. It is music that is full in the gaps and low under the words.
| Method | How it works | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Sidechain ducking | A tool listens to the voice track and lowers the music when the voice passes a threshold | Fast once set, but the threshold needs tuning |
| Manual ducking | You add volume keyframes on the music where speech sits | Exact, but slow on a long video |
| A low music bed | You set the music quiet for the whole video | No automation needed, but the music never rises in gaps |
Sidechain vs manual
Sidechain ducking uses a second signal to control the first. In Logic Pro's Ducker you choose the bus carrying the voiceover as the side chain, and ducking starts when that signal reaches the Threshold. Audacity's Auto Duck works the same way: it lowers the selected tracks when a control track beneath them passes a threshold.
Manual ducking is volume automation. In Final Cut Pro you press R for the Range Selection tool, drag across the stretch where the music should drop, then drag the volume line down. Final Cut Pro creates the keyframes for you. You choose every dip, so nothing triggers by accident.
How deep should the dip be? There is no standard figure. Audacity's Auto Duck defaults to a 12 dB reduction, a 0.5 second fade down, a 0.5 second fade up and a threshold of -30 dB RMS. That is one tool's starting point. Set yours by ear.
Lower the bed, then duck only where it matters
A common mistake is music that is too loud for the whole video, patched with deep ducks everywhere. Reverse the order. Set the music quiet enough that speech is clear almost everywhere, then duck only the moments where a number, a name or a punchline must land. Choosing and placing music is covered in the add music to video guide.
- Mix the voice first. Get the voice to a comfortable level before you touch the music.
- Set the bed. Pick a music level where every word is clear with no ducking at all.
- Mark the exceptions. Play through and note the times where speech is quiet, fast or important.
- Duck those, with fades. Use fades of around half a second so the dip does not pump or click. Test on a phone speaker at low volume.
Ducking in Woven
Woven has no automatic ducking and no partial ducking. Nothing lowers the music when someone speaks. A duck in Woven silences an audio item completely between two times, with a fade down before the window and back up after it, 0.3 seconds by default. A swell raises the volume toward a target between two times and never lowers it, and a duck still silences a swell. Ducks and swells work on every audio item. You set them in chat, not with an inspector control. The timeline waveform shows volume, fades and ducks. To keep music quietly under speech, lower the music's volume instead and use ducks for the moments that matter.
Ask in chat
- Set the music to a low background level under my voiceover.
- Duck the music from 0:12 to 0:15 so the price is clear.
- Add a swell on the music in the gap between my two lines at 0:20.
Or do it by hand
- 1Bring in the music. Use Add, then Audio, or drop the music file from Finder. Woven puts it on the Audio track at full volume, with no fades and no loop.
- 2Set the bed level. Select the music clip, open Volume in the toolbar and lower the slider until the voice is clear without any ducking.
- 3Find the exceptions. Press Space to play it through. Note the times where speech must be clear.
- 4Ask for ducks. In chat, give the start and end time of each window. Woven silences the music there, with a fade at each end.
- 5Check the waveform. The timeline waveform shows volume, fades and ducks. Play the section again and ask for a shift if a word is clipped.
Common questions
It is temporarily lowering one sound, usually music, so another sound, usually a voice, is easier to hear. The music returns when the voice stops.
Auto ducking is ducking done by software that detects a voice on another track. Logic Pro's Ducker and Audacity's Auto Duck work this way. Woven does not have it.
It uses one signal, the voice, to control the volume of another, the music. Ducking starts when the voice reaches a set threshold.
There is no standard amount. Audacity's Auto Duck defaults to 12 dB, which is a starting point. Judge by ear and check on a phone speaker.
Set the music low for the whole video, then add short ducks or volume keyframes only where speech must be clear.
No. A duck in Woven silences the music in a window you choose, with a fade at each end. To keep music audible under speech, lower its volume.
Sources
- Adjust volume in Final Cut Pro for Mac - Apple Support, checked October 19, 2026
- Ducker - Logic Pro Effects - Apple Support, checked October 19, 2026
- Auto Duck - Audacity Manual, checked October 19, 2026
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