How to duck a delay so it doesn't clutter your vocal

Duck the delay. Put the delay on a send, then put a compressor after it, sidechained to the dry vocal. While the vocal sings, the compressor turns the echoes down. In the gaps between lines, the echoes come back up. Some delays, like Ricochet, have this built in.

How to do it

1. Put the delay on an aux/send track, 100% wet, and send the vocal to it.
2. Add a compressor after the delay and set its sidechain input to the dry vocal.
3. Use a fast attack and a release of 200 to 400 ms, so the echoes return smoothly after each phrase.
4. Lower the threshold until the echoes drop 6 to 12 dB while the vocal plays.
5. Turn the send up more than usual: ducking lets you have bigger echoes without the mess.

Why it works

Echoes under a vocal blur the words. Ducked, the delay only fills the space between phrases, so the vocal stays clear and the delay still sounds big.