I am mixing my song, and the snare, which sounds great most the time, obscures the singers words when they sound at the same time.
 
Is this a job for a ducker? What fx do I use to accomplish this?
 
kerkenat

I would not duck the snare. I would use what always worked in the past and that is EQ and maybe other effects like reverbs & compressors. this will put each instrument in its own space along with panning techniques.

If you read about complimentary EQ techniques, you'll learn a bit on how to eq each instrument so they do not interfere with other instruments

Cj

You could use ducking using one of the built in compressors. search the forum for ducking and you should fine instructions. You could also try using eq to cut the range that vocal is in without changing the volume of the snare. You should be able to automate that too.

I would follow CJ's advice and look for ways to eq everything into the mix.. after all,  i do not ever recall seeing a drummer modify his hits in line with lyrics :)...
 he rhythm section is there for a reason : to drive the music and make a foundation for all else to shine.. so..start taking blocks out of a foundation and...........

You could use side-chaining between the snare and vocal track. There are a few videos floating around about how to set it up. Check the Sonar tutorial sections. If it is not still there, it is on YouTube. Basically, the vocal send on it's channel can be setup to control a compressor on the snare track so when the vocal is present the snare will be adjusted to a certain preset volume level. Thus, the vocal controls the volume of the snare. Try to avoid an extreme setting if you can. It can sound as if the snare track is causing pumping and you don't want that in most cases.

BTW, just my 2 cents. I would much rather go back and tweak the mix a little than trying to fix a problem with a processor. If the snare is killing the vocal it would make sense to me that maybe the mix is not quite there yet. It's always better to cut back things that may need it than to start turning things up! Maybe a slight adjustment on the vocal compressor. I know it is more time consuming to start messing with the mix but, by and large, your recording will sound more natural the less plugins you use trying to fix things.

FWIW, I wouldn't "duck" the snare drum.
That's going to make the snare levels inconsistent.

Are you a drummer?
Are you sure the snare level isn't too loud?

First thing I'd suggest is listening to a commercial release in the same style.
Get a sense for how the snare/vocal are sitting in that professional mix...