Remove dead air from a podcast, voice memo, or voiceover.
Drop a recording — podcast cut, sermon, lecture, voice memo, voiceover take. We find the actual audio and trim the silence at the start and end automatically. Threshold and padding are tunable for noisier rooms or tighter cuts. Batch a whole episode folder. Browser-only, no upload.
drop audio here
MP3, WAV, M4A, FLAC, OGG, AAC. Drop several for batch.
How it works
We scan the file from the start, looking for the first sample loud enough to cross the threshold you picked. Then we scan from the end backwards, looking for the last loud sample. Everything between is kept, plus a small padding so the audio doesn't start mid-syllable.
Picking the threshold
A quiet home studio recording has a noise floor around -55 to -65 dBFS. A phone recording in a normal room is closer to -45 dB. If the tool cuts too much, raise the threshold (less negative). If it leaves obvious silence in, lower it (more negative).
What it doesn't do
This trims leading and trailing silence. We don't yet remove silence between phrases (that's a different operation — destructive editing, harder to get right without artifacts). For now, use this to get a clean entry and exit, then layer with our cutter if you need surgical edits.
What this is good for
- Podcast editing — clip the silence before "Welcome to" and after the final outro tag.
- Voiceover takes — trim the dead space before and after the read so you can drop it straight into the timeline.
- Sermon / lecture / class recording — strip the 90 seconds of room tone before someone starts speaking.
- Voice memo cleanup — iPhone Voice Memos record from the moment you tap; this trims the fumble.
- Audiobook chapters — make every chapter start instantly.
- Auto-trim before transcription — Otter and Notta charge by audio length. Trimming dead air is free minutes.
FAQ
How do I remove dead air from a podcast for free?
Drop the WAV or MP3, leave threshold at -50 dB and padding at 0.1 s for typical home-studio recordings, and download the trimmed file. No signup, no upload, no daily quota.
Can I auto-trim a long voice memo before sending it for transcription?
Yes. Drop the .m4a (it works, even though we recommend converting to MP3 first), pick a threshold matching your room (-50 dB is a safe default), and get back a tighter file that costs less to transcribe on Otter / Notta / Whisper.
Will this remove silence between sentences?
No — this trims leading and trailing silence only. Cutting pauses between phrases is destructive editing that needs a different approach to avoid clicks and artifacts. For surgical edits, use our Audio Cutter.
The tool cut off the first word — what now?
Raise the threshold (closer to 0, like -40 dB) or increase the padding to 0.25 s.
The tool left silence at the start.
Lower the threshold (more negative — try -55 or -60 dB). Your noise floor is probably very low.
What format works best?
Any common audio format. WAV gives the cleanest detection; MP3 works fine.
Does my audio upload?
No. Processing is in the browser tab only. Disconnect from wifi and the tool still works.