Mute a video file, a clip or a whole track in DepCut

Silence is a normal edit. A screen recording picks up the room, a clip of b-roll carries wind noise, or a finished picture will get a new soundtrack elsewhere. DepCut mutes at three levels, and each one suits a different job.

Mute a whole video file with Quick tools

The Mute audio card in Quick tools takes a video file and returns the same video with the audio track stripped.

1. Open the Projects page and find the Quick tools row.
2. Click Mute audio.
3. Drop a video onto the dashed box, or press Choose a file.
4. Press Run. It has no options to set.
5. The dialog shows Uploading, then Rendering. When it says "Done", your download should have started.

The run mutes the clip and renders it the way a normal export renders. Like every Quick tools run, it leaves a project in your Projects list.

Mute one clip in a project

Select a video clip on the timeline. Then use any of these:

• Open the Volume tab in the right panel and turn on the Mute audio switch. The Clip volume slider greys out while the clip is muted, so you can see at once that the clip is silent.
• Press and hold the Volume tab. Its tooltip reads "Hold to mute or unmute". While the clip is muted, the tab shows a muted speaker.
• Press the three-dot Clip options button at the clip's top right and choose Mute clip. The same menu offers Unmute clip afterward.

Muting leaves the picture exactly as it was. The sound stays attached to the clip, so you can switch it back on at any time.

A soundtrack clip mutes the same way. Open its Clip options menu and choose Mute clip, or select it and use the Mute tab in the right panel, which has its own Mute audio switch. A muted soundtrack clip stays on the timeline and dims so you can see it is off.

Mute a whole track

The column at the left edge of the timeline holds a small speaker button beside each video track that carries sound and beside each soundtrack lane. Its tooltip reads Mute track.

One click silences every clip on that track. The speaker changes to a muted speaker, and the tooltip changes to Unmute track. The next click turns every clip on the track back on, including clips you had muted one at a time.

If only some clips on a track are muted, the muted speaker shows in a dimmer tone. That makes the column a quick readout of which tracks are partly silent.

Which level to use

• You want a silent copy to share or upload: Mute audio in Quick tools.
• One shot has bad sound and the rest is fine: mute that clip.
• A whole layer should be silent while you work, such as a reference track: mute the track.

A muted clip keeps its volume setting, and a track mute leaves each clip's other settings as they were.

Hear the difference

Open DepCut, select a clip, and hold the Volume tab to hear it go quiet.