Mixing a voice over with music can be challenging. Sometimes the music is too loud and you can barely hear the voice over, sometimes it’s exactly the opposite. A problem that can be solved: with the help of the ‘side-chaining’ effect.
Hi, I’m Jente Kater from Voicebooking.com. Mixing a voice over with music can be challenging. Sometimes the music is too loud, so it’s difficult to hear the voice over.
And sometimes you experience the opposite. You have to fade the music so low, that it loses it’s magic.So what can you do?
Have you ever heard of ‘Side chaining’? Side chaining is a technique that’s used a lot in the music industry. Sometimes in an extreme way, like in Trance music. As soon as the drum sounds, the side chain makes sure that everything else gets pushed away.
You feel it move up and down, and you can hardly stop yourself from moving as a result.
Ok, we were talking about voices. Now, instead of the drum, you’re going to let the voice over do the steering. And the only ingredient you need is a compressor with a capacity for a side chain.
To start with, you need a ‘send’. This is the fader for the voice over. And instead of using an output this time, you grab a ‘bus’. It doesn’t matter which one.
Let’s go for bus Nr. 11. Next you go to the music fader and you grab the compressor. You need a compressor with a key capacity. That’s where we grab the bus we’ve just selected. What actually happens now, is that the voice is hanging on the music fader.
When a voice over talks, the music automatically falls into the background. And as the music moves easily along with the voice, it’s like in a Trance track. It’s that simple.
So, side chaining can help you a lot by blending voices and music together. It’s just one of those tricks audio designers use when mixing voices with music.
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