Detect Silence Dialog

The Detect Silence dialog allows you to search for silent sections in events. You can split events and remove the silent parts from the project, or create regions corresponding to the non-silent sections.

To open the Detect Silence dialog for a selected audio event, clip, or selection range, select Audio > Advanced > Detect Silence.

Note
If you select multiple events, you can process the selected events successively with individual settings or apply the same settings to all selected events simultaneously.

The following options are available:

Waveform display

Allows you to zoom in on and out of the waveform by using the zoom slider to the right or by clicking in the waveform and moving the mouse up or down.

You can scroll the waveform by using the scrollbar, or by using the mouse wheel.

You can adjust the Open Threshold and Close Threshold values by moving the squares at the beginning and at the end of the audio file.

The Detection section features the following options:

Open Threshold: When the audio level exceeds this value, the function opens and lets the sound pass. Audio material below the set level is detected as silence.
Close Threshold: When the audio level drops below this value, the function closes and detects sounds below this level as silence. This value cannot be higher than the Open Threshold value.
Linked: Activate this option to set the same values for Open Threshold and Close Threshold.
Minimum Time Open: Determines the minimum time that the function remains open after the audio level has exceeded the Open Threshold value.

Note
If your audio contains repeated short sounds, and this results in too many short open sections, try raising this value.
Minimum Time Closed: Determines the minimum time that the function remains closed after the audio level has dropped below the Close Threshold value. Set this to a low value to make sure that you do not remove sounds.
Pre-roll: Causes the function to open slightly before the audio level exceeds the Open Threshold value. Use this option to avoid removing the attack of sounds.
Post-roll: Causes the function to close slightly after the audio level drops below the Close Threshold value. Use this option to avoid removing the natural decay of sounds.

The Output section features the following options:

Non-silent Sections: Shows the number of events that are created if you click Process.
Add as Regions: Creates regions of the non-silent sections.
Region Name: Allows you to specify a name for the non-silent sections.
Auto Number Start: Allows you to specify the start number for the numbers that are automatically appended to the region names.
Strip Silence: Splits the event at the beginning and end of each non-silent section, and removes the silent sections in between.
Process all selected Events: Applies the same settings to all selected events. This option is only available if you selected more than one event.
Auto: Activate this option to analyze the audio event and update the display automatically every time you change the settings.

Note
If you are working with very long files, consider deactivating the Auto option as this may slow down the process.
Compute: Analyzes the audio event and redraws the waveform display to indicate which sections are considered silent.

Preview: Allows you to listen to the result before it is processed.
Process: Processes the audio according to your settings.