Manually scrubbing through footage to cut dead air between sentences is one of the most tedious parts of video editing. DaVinci Resolve has a built-in Remove Silence tool that handles this automatically, scanning your audio waveform and ripple-deleting silent gaps in seconds. If you have DaVinci Resolve 18 or later, you already have access to it. Here is exactly how to use it.
What the Remove Silence Tool Does (and When to Use It)
The Remove Silence tool scans the audio waveform of a clip, identifies segments that fall below a volume threshold you define, and automatically ripple-deletes those sections from your timeline. It lives exclusively on the Edit page and requires DaVinci Resolve 18 or later. It works best on talking-head footage, interviews, voiceovers, and podcast recordings where speech and silence are clearly separated. If your timeline includes continuous music beds or layered audio, this tool is better applied to isolated dialogue clips rather than the full mix.
Step-by-Step: Auto Remove Silence in DaVinci Resolve
Step 1 — Import and Place Your Clip on the Timeline
Before anything else, make sure your clip is placed on the timeline inside the Edit page. The Remove Silence tool does not work from the Media Pool or the Source Viewer. If you are currently on the Cut page, switch to the Edit page using the F6 shortcut or by clicking the scissors-style icon at the bottom of the screen.
Step 2 — Right-Click the Clip and Open Remove Silence
With your clip on the timeline, alternatively, you can navigate to Clip in the top menu bar and select Remove Silence from the dropdown.
Editor note: Screenshot callout recommended here — highlight the right-click context menu with “Remove Silence” visible.
Step 3 — Set the Silence Threshold
The threshold slider controls the dB level below which audio is considered silence. The higher (less negative) the value, the more aggressively the tool cuts.
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Recommended starting range: −40 dB to −30 dB for standard speech recordings
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If the tool is cutting off the beginnings of words or soft speech, lower the threshold (move toward −50 dB)
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If long pauses are still present after processing, raise the threshold slightly (toward −25 dB)
Start conservatively and adjust after reviewing the analysis preview. It is easier to re-run with a higher threshold than to undo dozens of cuts.
Step 4 — Set Minimum Duration
The Minimum to Strip setting controls how short a silent section must be before DaVinci Resolve removes it. Any silence shorter than this value will be kept in the audio. In the newer version, this setting is measured in frames instead of seconds, so you need to think in terms of your timeline frame rate.
A good starting range is 12 to 24 frames, which gives a natural speaking rhythm similar to 0.5 to 1.0 seconds in real time.
If you set it too low (for example 2 to 6 frames), the tool will cut too aggressively and your audio will sound choppy, removing small breaths and natural pauses.
If you set it too high (for example 30 frames or more), many short pauses will remain and the edit will feel less tight.
Adjust this value together with the threshold setting until the pacing matches your desired editing style, and always review the preview before applying changes permanently.
Step 5 — Analyze and Apply
Once your threshold and minimum duration are set:
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Click “Analyze” — DaVinci Resolve will scan the clip and highlight the regions it has identified as silence
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Review the highlighted segments in the preview to confirm the detections look correct
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If the results look accurate, click “Remove Silence” to execute
Resolve will ripple-delete the silent sections and close the resulting gaps automatically, shifting the remaining clips together on the timeline.
Adjusting Results After Removal
The first pass is rarely perfect. Here is what to do when the output needs refinement:
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Undo immediately with Ctrl+Z (Windows) or Cmd+Z (Mac) if the cuts are too aggressive, then re-run with a lower threshold
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Re-run with adjusted settings — there is no penalty for running the tool multiple times on the same clip
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Trim residual gaps manually using the blade tool (B) to cut and then ripple-delete any leftover pauses the tool missed
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Check clip boundaries for clipped words — scroll through the timeline and listen to the first frame of each cut section to catch any speech that was partially removed
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Use the trim tool to nudge clip edges back a few frames if the cuts feel abrupt
Tips for Getting Better Results
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Normalize your audio first. If your clip has inconsistent volume levels, the threshold will be unreliable. Apply a normalization or gain adjustment before running Remove Silence so the tool reads a consistent signal throughout.
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Unlink audio and video before processing if needed. Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac) and click the clip to select audio independently. This prevents the tool from creating video jump cuts when it detects false positives on the audio track.
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Work on individual dialogue clips, not a full mixed timeline. If your sequence has music under dialogue, isolate the speech track first. Background music will confuse the silence detection and cause missed cuts or false triggers.
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Start with clean source audio. A low noise floor makes threshold calibration straightforward. Recordings made with a compact wireless mic like the Hollyland LARK M2 (which includes AI noise isolation) keep ambient noise well below speech level, so DaVinci Resolve can clearly distinguish true silence from soft background sounds without over-trimming.
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Add handles after cutting. Use the trim tool to restore two to four frames at each cut point. This adds a small buffer of natural audio before and after each word, preventing the edit from sounding overly tight or robotic.
What to Do If You’re on an Older Version of DaVinci Resolve
The Remove Silence tool was introduced in DaVinci Resolve 18. If you are running version 17 or earlier, you will need to cut manually: use the blade tool to mark silence boundaries, select the silent clips, and choose Ripple Delete to close the gaps. Since DaVinci Resolve 18 and 19 are available as free upgrades, upgrading is the simplest solution and unlocks the automated tool with no additional cost.
FAQ
Q: Does Remove Silence work on the Cut page in DaVinci Resolve?
No. The Remove Silence tool is only available on the Edit page. Switch to the Edit page using the F6 shortcut or by clicking the edit icon at the bottom of the interface, then right-click your timeline clip to access the option. The Cut page does not include this feature in any current version of Resolve.
Q: Can I remove silence from multiple clips at once?
Yes. Select multiple clips on the timeline by holding Shift or Ctrl/Cmd and clicking each one, then right-click and choose Remove Silence. DaVinci Resolve applies the same threshold and minimum duration settings to each selected clip individually, processing them in a single pass.
Q: Why is DaVinci Resolve cutting off the beginning of my words?
Your threshold is set too high. Lower the dB value — for example, move from −25 dB to −40 dB — so the tool only flags true silence rather than soft speech, breaths, or the natural fade-in at the start of a sentence. Lowering the value makes detection less aggressive.
Q: Does this feature work on audio-only clips (not video)?
Yes. The Remove Silence tool works on any clip that has an audio component on the Edit page timeline, including audio-only tracks. The clip does not need a video track attached for the feature to function.
Next Step
With silence removed, your timeline is ready for pacing review. Play through the full sequence to catch any cuts that feel too tight and use the trim tool to restore natural rhythm where needed. From here, a good next step is reviewing your dialogue levels in Fairlight or exploring how to sync external audio in DaVinci Resolve for multi-camera setups.
