Silence removal in Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve
By Mohamed Mokbel, founder · Last updated:
Both editors can cut silence without a plugin, but not in one click: Premiere Pro does it through its transcript, and DaVinci Resolve 20 added an AI Remove silence tool. Plugins and AI first-cut tools such as Cutora AI add a faster starting point, and you still review the cuts.
What can Premiere Pro do on its own?
Can Premiere Pro remove silence automatically?
Partly. Premiere Pro's Text-Based Editing detects pauses in a transcript and lets you delete them, but it is a transcript feature, not a single silence-remover button. Adobe's announcement (13 September 2023) calls it "an easy way to clean up everything from long silences to brief pauses" and says you can change the length of pauses (Adobe Community announcement, read 27 October 2026). An Adobe community manager wrote in February 2025 that "The shortest pause Premiere can allow is .1 seconds" (Adobe Community thread, read 27 October 2026).
Can AI remove silences automatically in Premiere Pro?
Yes, in two ways. Premiere Pro's own Text-Based Editing uses a transcript to find pauses you can delete in bulk, and Adobe's Premiere page says AI transcribes your video on import (Adobe Premiere page, read 27 October 2026). Or you can add a plugin: AutoCut says its silence removal will "Detect and remove dead air automatically" and supports Premiere Pro 2023 to 2027 (AutoCut, read 27 October 2026). Either way, play the result through, because RedShark News (5 December 2023) warned that bulk deletion can remove pauses left in for effect (RedShark News, read 27 October 2026).
Is Premiere Pro's Text-Based Editing included in the subscription, or does it cost extra?
Adobe's Premiere page lists Text-Based Editing as a feature of the app, and prices the single-app plan at US$22.99 a month on an annual plan billed monthly, with a seven-day trial (Adobe Premiere page, read 27 October 2026). The page says generative features powered by Adobe Firefly use generative credits, and does not name Text-Based Editing among them. Plans and terms change, so confirm on Adobe's checkout page before you buy.
What can DaVinci Resolve do on its own?
How to automatically remove silence in DaVinci Resolve?
Resolve 20 added an AI tool for it, and older versions used a transcription route. Blackmagic's DaVinci Resolve 20 announcement (4 April 2025) says "Remove silence removes low level or silent areas for a cleaner audio track" as part of AI IntelliCut, and does not say which edition runs it (Blackmagic Design, read 27 October 2026). A November 2023 Envato Tuts+ tutorial for an earlier version says its transcribe-then-Remove-Silent-Portions method was "only available in the Studio Edition" (Envato Tuts+, read 27 October 2026). Blade and ripple delete works by hand in any version.
What AI features does DaVinci Resolve have (and are they Studio-only)?
Some are Studio-only, and the pages do not settle all of them. Blackmagic's Resolve page says Studio includes everything in the standard version plus the DaVinci AI Neural Engine, and lists text based editing and magic mask under Studio, with Studio at $236 and the standard version at no charge (Blackmagic Design, read 27 October 2026). The same page names Voice Isolation and IntelliSearch without saying which edition has them, and the Resolve 20 announcement does the same for IntelliCut and IntelliScript. Check Blackmagic's current feature comparison before you rely on one.
What do plugins and other tools add?
Which plugin cuts dead air in Premiere Pro?
Two plugins run inside Premiere Pro and say they cut silence: AutoCut and FireCut. AutoCut says "Detect and remove dead air automatically" and supports Premiere Pro 2023 to 2027 and DaVinci Resolve 18.6 or later (AutoCut, read 27 October 2026). FireCut says it "runs inside Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve, automating silence removal, captions, zoom cuts, chapters and more" (FireCut, read 27 October 2026). We have not tested either, so try a trial on your own footage. Prices change, so use each vendor's pricing page.
We use a specific video editor. Who offers a plugin for removing silence automatically?
For Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve, AutoCut and FireCut say they run inside the editor (AutoCut, FireCut, read 27 October 2026). For Final Cut Pro, standalone tools such as TimeBolt and Gling list exports to it, as our pause removal guide records from their sites (checked 4 October 2026). Cutora AI is a separate browser editor whose ZIP holds Final Cut Pro XML, Premiere XML, EDL and OpenTimelineIO files, verified in DaVinci Resolve 21; Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro not yet tested by us.
Which should I choose?
Premiere Pro or Descript for text-based editing?
Choose Premiere Pro if you already edit there, and Descript if you want a transcript-first tool. Premiere Pro keeps text editing inside a full timeline editor, at US$22.99 a month for the single-app plan on an annual plan billed monthly (Adobe Premiere page, read 27 October 2026). Descript's pricing page lists a $0 plan with 60 media minutes a month and watermarked 720p local export, and lists Remove Filler Words on its paid plans (Descript pricing, read 27 October 2026). We make Cutora AI, a different kind of tool: it makes a first cut of talking-head video for you to review.
How do I choose between Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and an AI tool (for color)?
Choose by how much control you want. DaVinci Resolve's Color page offers "hundreds of artistic tools in an easy to learn node based interface" (Blackmagic Design, read 27 October 2026). We did not read an Adobe page on Premiere Pro's colour tools, so we do not compare them. Cutora AI is the automatic option: it corrects white balance and exposure shot by shot with skin tones protected, you can switch it off for a video, and it has no manual colour grading, only one colour look that follows the style.