Balance voice and music with Volume and Duck others

When music runs at the same level as speech, listeners lose the words. A good mix keeps the voice clear and lets the music sit underneath it. DepCut gives you two controls for that: a Volume slider on every clip and a Duck others setting that lowers the rest of the mix while a clip plays.

Set a level for each clip

Click a music or sound bar on the timeline and open Volume in the right panel. The slider runs from silence up to 150 percent, and the value box beside it accepts a typed number.

For sound that lives inside a video clip, click the video clip and open its Volume tab. Clip volume works the same way, and Mute audio sits right under it. Pressing and holding the Volume button in the rail also toggles mute.

Start with the voice at a comfortable level, then lower the music until every word is clear. Raise the music a little at a time until you can sense it behind the voice.

Let the voice duck the music

Ducking lowers everything else automatically while one clip plays.

1. Click the clip that carries the voice. It has to be a soundtrack clip, the green bars below the video.
2. Open the Duck tab in the right panel.
3. Drag Duck others to the level you want the rest of the mix to drop to. The value reads Off until you move it, then shows a percentage.

While that clip plays, music, effects and the video clips' own sound drop to the level you chose, with a short ramp at each end so the change does not click. Other clips that have their own Duck others value set are not lowered, so a voiceover never ducks itself.

Voices made inside DepCut, from the Voice tab or from Generate audio for clip, arrive with Duck others already set to 40 percent. You can change it on the clip afterward.

Duck under speech recorded in a video

Duck others belongs to soundtrack clips, so a talking-head clip needs one extra step.

1. Click the video clip's Clip options button, the three dots on its bar.
2. Choose Detach audio. The sound moves to a soundtrack bar below the video and the video clip is muted.
3. Select the new bar, open Duck, and set Duck others.

Detach needs a clip that has sound. It does nothing on a reversed clip or one with a speed curve.

Mind how long the duck lasts

The duck holds for the whole length of the voice clip, pauses included. If a long recording has a gap in the middle, the music stays low through it.

To bring the music back during a pause, select the voice clip, put the playhead at the start of the gap and press Split (⌘B or S). Select the later piece, move the playhead to the end of the gap, and split again. Select the middle piece and press Delete. The music returns to full level while the gap plays.

Check the whole mix

• Play the loudest part of the cut first. Peaks reveal problems that quiet sections hide.
• Listen once on speakers and once on headphones if you can.
• Lower effects under speech too. A sharp effect can mask a word as easily as music can.
• Leave the voice as the loudest element most of the time and let music take the lead in the gaps.

Next step

Open DepCut, put a music bar under a voice clip, and set Duck others to a level that keeps every word clear. Play the cut start to finish and adjust once.