UE5 METASOUNDS : Audio Bus Ducking and Side-Chain Compression

[@brianmichaelfuller]

*ADDITIONAL NOTE: An easy and safer way to feed an Audio Bus (as opposed to "Write to Audio Bus") is to send it directly from the Source Properties of the Metasound. Located by clicking on the GEAR icon... It is advised to only use the "Write To Audio Bus" if you are only sending pieces of the Metasound to the BUS instead of the main output.

[@cabab]

Hello Brian! you mean in "Detail" panel, Source->Post-Effect Bus Sends->Audio Bus can working??

[@vojtecheffenberger3672]

@@cabab That way you will also have the sen to the bus post attunuaton if you "mimic" the attenuaton curve in audio bus post effectr send. Therefore sam gunshots that are attenuated by distance wont be hiting the compressor as much

[@PaulSmith-nd7gd]

This was so well explained. Thanks for the great tutorial!

[@williamreid-u7z]

Nice work man! Thanks

[@kevintealby5036]

Thanks. That was exactly what I was looking for.

[@maiworld_]

this is gonna be such a banger

[@GeorgeKarmas]

My man uploaded this video 3 days ago literally as soon as I needed answers for my side project. THANK YOU!

[@brianmichaelfuller]

Perfect timing lol!!! Glad it was helpful. Not a lot of info out there about this concept in Unreal so I’ve been wanting to do it for a while. Good luck with the side project!!!

[@GeorgeKarmas]

@@brianmichaelfuller absolutely! Great topic to cover. Thank you for the thorough analysis. Does this method work to render the audio in a sequence using Movie Render Queue? For instance, I had to disable spatial audio to export the audio in Movie Render Queue using .wav audio settings. My current side project is pure cinematics.

[@brianmichaelfuller]

@@GeorgeKarmas wow that’s a super interesting topic!! I haven’t done any cinematics so I’m not sure! Please report back with your findings! My guess is that it should work since it’s just audio bus routing

[@GeorgeKarmas]

@@brianmichaelfuller reporting back to base, IT WORKS!! I will tag you on the project review video soon. Thanks again!

[@TheSoundFXGuy]

Such a better method than sound classes and sound mix modifiers! Also I feel like I have to randomize the starts to all my music now LOL.

[@brianmichaelfuller]

Yeah, Dan is NOT a fan of the passive sound class mix method for obvious reasons. Lol The true side-chain concept is much more audio centric. And yes, the random start time has saved me lots of sanity when testing stuff as I’m sure you well know! And I avoid using the standard “Starter Music” asset as much as possible lol That track will hypnotize you

[@MattWalterman]

Another awesome video. Thanks Brian!

[@MasthaX]

Great video Brian! Very useful information for creative ideas.

[@JohnTosom]

Good method for side-chain, thenks.

[@cesarsuarez1621]

This is great thanks Brian because this sort of feels more like what we would do in a DAW, especially with compressors that have the key feature for side-chaining. How ever I am curious to know you take on whether this would completely nullify the need to use soundmix modifiers (push/pop modifiers), as that usually has been a way that I would duck in the past.

[@brianmichaelfuller]

@@cesarsuarez1621 thank you! Ultimately, sound classes are not recommended for optimal audio mixing. They are for organizing sound assets data.

[@MartinBarreby]

Great videos! Thanks!

[@KubaAdamek]

unfortunately Audio Bus signal is not affected by attenuation (because it is processed before anything else?). So if the sound is attenuated and very quiet, the compressor is still going full force. that's why had to set key source to Submix.

[@diegfogarcia]

Hey Brian! Thanks for the awesome tutorial its fire like always! I just have a small question, I am currently working in a game in which our dialogue system comes from Articy. This means the individual dialogue audio files are stored and are played when triggered via an articy node in any BP. How would I do this ducking feature if I am not using Metasound for the audio that will duck the SFX or Music? I am using normal audio files.

[@brianmichaelfuller]

I am not familiar with that “Articy” system… but does it still use audio assets and can you assign it to Submixes? If so, then I imagine you still can use the same process. I’m interested in hearing more about how your system is setup. Certainly the audio is routed through a Submix?

[@cabab]

Excellent vid!!but I have a question, can these triggers be manually controlled by distance???If precondition is weapon sfx can compress the all soundscape sound, I am thinking about a scene that the far place full of npc fighting, and main character have some distance from them, can npc's fighting not affect the main character's listener?

[@brianmichaelfuller]

If you have attenuation on your sounds, the amount of compression will automatically adjust because the compressor settings are driven by the audio envelope contour. So the softer something is, the less it will compress and vice versa

[@cabab]

omg I think I get it!thxxxxx!@@brianmichaelfuller

[@palekaleria]

is it possible to do the ducking with sound cues?(

[@brianmichaelfuller]

If they are using Submixes… yes.

[@palekaleria]

@@brianmichaelfuller sorry, couldn't find how to send cues to a bus, that's why I asked