I want to duck an echo effect, i.e. it should only be heard during the pauses in the vocals. In the DAW (Ardour) I have a bus with a delay plugin, which I feed with the vocals. Now I place an expander gate plugin behind the delay and feed it with the vocals in the sidechain. That’s nice.
But how do I get the gate to open when there is NO signal in the sidechain and close when there is? I must be able to reverse the function of the plug-in somehow?
I use the XT-EG Expander / Gate plug-in from Harrison:
Warren Huart demonstrates the technique I think you’re talking about in the video tutorial linked below. (It’s Part 2 of a 3-part series on mixing vocals; the other two parts are worth watching as well but Part 2 covers the effects.) He calls it “Dynamic Delay” and uses a delay + compressor on a stereo aux bus. He also makes it a point to use only “stock” plugins (in Pro Tools) which makes it pretty simple to implement in Ardour. I use the LSP delay and compressor plugin to achieve this effect on pretty much all of my Ardour mixes, which are generally solo vocal and a single instrument.
Word of caution, though: while I really like this effect and the “widening” it gives on my vocal, I have had a couple negative comments from folks who have listened to my mixes. So it’s probably a good idea to use it sparingly and get some outside reviews.
