First time using the ducker on a gate/EQ help

Hey, guys. I mix my beats. The vocals I work with are usually vocals that I bake into the beat Kanye style, but this beat I sampled some vocals from a song I want to use in the hook so I'm treating them like actual "headliner" vocals. I watch Dylan's reverb tutorial which has a section about using a gate and after freaking two hours, I finally got that mug. It literally took about 15 min. The rest of the time was me trying to do mine the way Dylan did his when in actuality, mine works different from the way his did.

Anyway, my beat is still gradually getting quiet when the hook comes and then gradually going back to normal volume. And it only does it on the first hook. Will adding my compression on the master bus even out that imperfection or do I need to go back to the drawing board in my gate?

And problem number 2: could someone PLEASE tell me what I need to do to these two vocals? They're background vocals I bake into the beat. I've never struggled this much with the vocals I bake into the beat, but these are really giving me problems. I've been at it literally for days. Could someone give a quick listen and tell me what they hear according to Dylan's Balance Chart? I've uploaded the two separate files as well as the sound I'm going for when they play at the same time.

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