Audio Ducking

This section appears in the Master Audio game object. Audio Ducking allows you to tell Master Audio to make the music (technically Playlist Controllers) and/or Buses quieter when certain sound effects are played. Then after a portion of the sound effect has been played, the music/Buses will gradually return to its previous level. This is useful to make certain sounds stand out in the mix.

Adding a Ducking Sound

To add a sound, click the "Add Duck Group" button, then choose your Sound Groups from the dropdown list that appear below. The Duck Group will be set up, and you can tweak the following setting if you wish:

  • Duck Mode: Choice of what ducks when the sound plays. Choices are: Music (default), Buses and Both. Buses will also be ducked when the chosen sound is played, except the bus the sound is on (if any). Any other separate change in Bus volume or fade started will abort the ducking of the Bus.
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  • Use Distance Ratio: Defaults to off. If you check it, it will calculate the percentage of the actor's distance away from Listener compared to the Max Distance, and use a percentage of the specified Duck Volume Cut instead of the whole one. In other words, a further away sound will duck less than a closer one.
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  • Vol. Cut: Default is -6dB. This controls the amount of volume the Sound Group will be lowered when it ducks initially. The range is from 0 (no ducking) to -80dB (max ducking).
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  • Begin Unduck: This controls when the music volume ramping back up starts. It defaults to 0.50. That means that after 50% of the clip that caused the ducking has been played, then volume will start ramping back up over the remaining duration of the clip.
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  • Unduck Time: This controls how long it takes the music to fully return to its pre-ducking volume after the unducking begins. Note that if you specify a combination of Begin Unduck and Unduck Time that would mean the unducking volume would extend past the sound effect length, it will instead end ducking when the clip is done.
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  • Del: Clicking this will remove the Duck Group.

 

Default Ducking Settings

  • Default Vol. Cut (dB): This is the default used for creating new Duck Groups in the section above.
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  • Default Begin Unduck (%): This is the default used for creating new Duck Groups in the section above.
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  • Default Unduck Time (sec): This is the default used for creating new Duck Groups in the section above.

 

Note: When testing Ducking, pay attention to the music getting quieter during those sounds. Note that it may be hard to notice the effect on very quick sounds. Try it on longer sounds.