Remove breath sounds from audio
Loud gasps before every sentence? fix.fm finds each breath in the pauses and turns it down, never the words. Free, in your browser, nothing uploaded.
UPDATED
Never uploaded. Everything runs in your browser.
In short
Loud breaths are the gasps of air before each sentence that a close mic or a volume boost brings up until you hear them more than the pause. fix.fm finds each breath in the pauses by its airy hiss and turns it down to about 40 dB under the speech, never touching the words. On our breathy sample the check went from 18 loud breaths a minute to 0.
What's happening
Breath sounds are the soft rush of air you pull in before a sentence. Everyone breathes, and a few quiet ones sound natural. The trouble starts when a close mic, a compressor or a volume boost brings them up until every sentence begins with a gasp, and the listener hears you breathing more than they hear the pause.
fix.fm looks in the pauses for short bursts of airy hiss with no voice in them, and counts the ones that come within 30 dB of your loud speech. Its warnings start at 5 loud breaths a minute; it calls them moderate at 12 and severe at 20. The fix turns each breath down until it sits about 40 dB under the speech, too soft to notice but still there, so pauses don't go dead. Your words are never touched, and soft breaths that already sound natural are left alone.
How far the breath fix goes
With 18 loud breaths a minute the check read moderate and after the fix fine: the breaths came down 20.6 dB and not one sample outside them changed. Gasps right on the mic came down 24.5 dB, and soft breaths were left alone. Measured on with the samples described in how we test.
The breath fix looks for one thing: a short burst of airy hiss, with no voice in it, at the end of a pause. The three cases below are the same clean reading with breaths added in software at three levels, so we know what was there and can measure how close the fixer gets back to it.
One clean reading with breaths added in software, then run through this page's fixer at full amount. Every clip is matched to -23 LUFS so only the breaths differ.
Clean reading
The reference. A voice and nothing else, with silent pauses.
Loud breaths, 20 dB under
A rush of air at the end of each long pause, just before the next sentence starts.
Loud breaths, after the fix
The breaths fall to a faint trace of air. The sentences sound exactly as before.
Gasps on the mic, 16 dB under
The same breaths, louder, like breathing in right next to the mic.
Gasps on the mic, after the fix
Turned down further to land at the same soft level as the loud breaths after the fix.
Soft breaths, 36 dB under
The same breaths, quiet enough to sound like a person breathing naturally.
Soft breaths, after the breath fix
Identical to the recording. The check reads these as fine, so the fix leaves them in.
Public-domain LibriVox voice. The breaths are bursts of mouth-shaped hiss added in software rather than recorded off a real mic. So the clean version really is what was there before.
| Case | The check | Distance from clean | Breaths came down | Rest changed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clean reading | 0/min, fine | none | none | none |
| Loud breaths | 18/min moderate to 0/min fine | -27.3 dB to -47.9 dB | 20.6 dB | 0% |
| Gasps on the mic | 18/min moderate to 0/min fine | -23.3 dB to -47.9 dB | 24.5 dB | 0% |
| Soft breaths | 0/min fine to 0/min fine | -43.3 dB to -43.3 dB | left alone | 0% |
The loud breaths are the case the fixer is for. The check counts 18 a minute, moderate; after the fix it counts 0. The breaths came down 20.6 dB, the file is 20.6 dB closer to the clean reading, and 0% of the samples outside the breaths changed. The words come back exactly as they went in.
Gasps right on the mic are louder, so the fix turns them down further, 24.5 dB, to land at the same soft level. Both fixed files end up -47.9 dB from clean: what is left is a faint trace of air in each pause, left in on purpose, because a pause with no breath at all can sound cut.
The soft breaths sit -43.3 dB from clean and already sound natural. The check reads 0 loud breaths a minute, fine, and the fixer returns the file unchanged. A few quiet breaths are part of how people talk, so fix.fm does not go looking for them.
What this does not prove: these breaths are shaped hiss added in software, and the check was tuned on them. A real breath can carry a little voice, a lip smack or a click, and those may not be caught. In heavy background noise, with the voice less than about 20 dB over the noise, the breaths drown and the check finds none, so run the noise fix first. And the fix never removes a breath entirely. How we test has the pass marks behind the check.
How it works here
- 01
Finds each breath
It looks in the pauses for short bursts of airy hiss with no voice in them, then counts the ones loud enough to hear over your speech. An S at the end of a word doesn't count.
- 02
Turns the breath down
Each loud breath is turned down as a whole, with a short fade at each edge, until it sits about 40 dB under your speech. The words around it are never touched.
- 03
Stays on your computer
Your file is never uploaded. The breath fix runs in this browser tab.
Questions
Why are my breaths so loud in recordings?
A mic close to your mouth hears every breath, and a compressor or volume boost added later brings the quiet parts up, breaths included. Lav mics and headset mics near the mouth catch the most.
Does it cut the breaths out completely?
No. It turns each one down until it sits about 40 dB under your speech. A pause with no breath at all can sound cut and robotic, so a trace of air is left in.
Will it change my words?
No. It only changes the moments it marks as breaths, inside the pauses. On our breathy sample not one sample outside the breaths changed.
Why didn't it change my recording?
Because the check found few or no loud breaths. fix.fm only fixes what it measures, so soft breaths that already sound natural come back exactly as they went in. Breaths buried in heavy background noise are hard to find, so try the noise fix first.
Is my audio uploaded anywhere?
No. The file is read and fixed inside this browser tab and never leaves your computer.
How do I record fewer loud breaths next time?
Move the mic a little to the side of your mouth so you breathe past it, not into it. Keep it a hand's width away, and turn your head slightly when you breathe in before a long sentence.