# Clip speed and volume

> How to speed up or slow down a clip, change its speed smoothly along a curve, add smooth slow motion and set its volume by points or mute it in Slicer.

Source: https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/speed-volume/

Every clip has its own speed and its own volume. Speeding up helps skip through a long action or add pace to the reel; slowing down lets you linger on a beautiful moment, and a speed curve lets b-roll rush and then slow right down on the key motion. Volume comes in handy when one clip was recorded louder than the others or the b-roll sound competes with the voice.

**Demo (Web):**

1. Click a clip on the video track
2. Click “Speed” — a panel with values opens at the bottom
3. Pick 1.5× — the clip on the strip gets shorter and shows a 1.5× badge
4. Click ✓ “Done”, then “Volume”
5. Drag the slider to 60% and click ✓ “Done”

## Speed

### 1. Select a clip

Click a clip on the video track or its audio on the audio track — the **Speed** tool is in both sets.

### 2. Open “Speed”

A panel with values opens at the bottom: 0.25×, 0.5×, 0.75×, 1×, 1.25×, 1.5×, 2×, 3×, 4×. Above them are the **Normal** (constant speed) and **Curve** (speed curve) tabs.

### 3. Pick a value

The clip's length on the strip changes right away and a speed badge appears on it, for example “2×”. Click ✓ **Done**. To get back to normal speed, pick 1×.

Good to know:

-   **Pitch stays the same when you speed up or slow down.** The voice doesn't turn into a cartoon or a bass.
-   Captions follow the speech: words of a sped-up clip appear faster.
-   Speed changes the reel's length: 10 seconds at 2× become 5 seconds.
-   A [freeze frame](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/freeze-replace/) has no speed — its length is set by the freeze duration.

## Speed curve

A curve changes the speed smoothly inside a clip: b-roll rushes, almost freezes on the key motion and speeds up again. That's how speed ramps are made — a jump, a ball throw, a hair flip.

### 1. Open the “Curve” tab

Select a b-roll clip, press **Speed** and pick the **Curve** tab.

### 2. Pick a ready-made curve

| Curve | How the speed changes |
| --- | --- |
| **Montage** | normal → 3× → 0.6× slow-down in the middle → 3× → normal |
| **Hero** | 2× → deep 0.3× slow-down in the middle → 2× |
| **Bullet** | normal → almost a freeze at 0.2× in the middle → normal |
| **Flash** | normal → a short 5× burst in the middle → normal |
| **Ramp up** | from 0.5× to 3× over the whole clip |
| **Ramp down** | from 3× to 0.5× over the whole clip |

**Custom** starts with a flat line at 1× — or keeps your curve if there already is one.

### 3. Adjust the graph

Below the curves is a graph: horizontally — the clip from start to end, vertically — the speed, the dashed line — 1×. The vertical line is the playhead moment, and the corner shows the speed at that moment.

**Web**

Drag a point with the mouse — left-right and up-down.

**iPhone and iPad**

Drag a point with your finger — left-right and up-down.

**Add point** adds a point at the playhead, **Remove point** removes the one the playhead is on (the end points stay). The circular-arrow button is **Normal speed**: it removes the curve.

-   **B-roll only.** A curve works on a time-based video clip without speech. On a clip with speech the tab says **A curve works on a time-based video fragment without speech: speech words are tied to time.**
-   **The sound is muted:** **The speed changes smoothly between points. The sound is muted on a speed curve.** [Music](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/music/) fits nicely under such a clip.
-   A curve has 2 to 8 points, the speed goes from 0.1× to 8×. The clip's length on the strip is recalculated right away.
-   A curve and a constant speed don't add up: picking a value on the **Normal** tab replaces the curve.
-   When you [split](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/fragments/) a clip, the curve is divided between the parts.

> **Tip.** **Bullet** and **Hero** look especially striking with smooth slow motion: the frames don't stutter at the slowest moment.

## Smooth slow motion

Ordinary slow motion stretches frames: at 0.25× every frame is shown four times in a row, and the motion stutters. **Smooth slow motion** creates new frames between the real ones — the slowed-down motion becomes smooth, like footage shot at a high frame rate.

1.  Select a b-roll clip and slow it down — with a constant speed below 1× or a curve that has a point slower than 1×.
2.  In the **Speed** panel press **Smooth slow motion**. The hint says: **Smooth slow motion: new frames between the real ones (free, made in the background). For video slower than 1×, up to 10 s.**
3.  The server makes the new frames in the background — **Processing clip…** shows above the preview, and you can keep editing meanwhile. When it's ready, the preview and the export show smooth motion.

If the conditions aren't met, the panel says **Smooth slow motion works on a video fragment up to 10 s slower than 1×.** Press the button again to turn smooth slow motion off.

-   Free and without AI.
-   B-roll without speech only, and a source piece no longer than 10 seconds. [Split](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/fragments/) a long clip and turn smooth slow motion on for the part you need.
-   Doesn't combine with [reverse](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/freeze-replace/).
-   Works best on smooth motion — water, hair, fabric, a camera turn. On very fast, fine motion the created frames may be noticeable.

## Volume

### 1. Select a clip or its audio

Click a clip on the video track or its waveform on the audio track.

### 2. Open “Volume”

The panel has a sound button on the left and a slider from 0 to 100%. The current value is on the right.

### 3. Adjust and click ✓ “Done”

Drag the slider, or press the sound button to mute completely. The whole slider movement is one undo step.

A clip's volume can only go down: 100% is the original level. The reel's overall loudness is normalized on export to the LUFS level you choose ([Export](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/publish/export/)).

### Volume points

The volume can change inside a clip: fade down when speech from another clip starts, or rise towards the climax. It works like [keyframes](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/keyframes/), only for sound.

1.  Open **Volume** — the preview pauses inside the clip. Without points the slider changes the whole clip's volume, and the hint suggests: **Add a point, move the playhead and add another one with a different volume — the sound will rise or fade.**
2.  Press **Volume point** — a point with the current volume appears at the playhead.
3.  Seek and move the slider — another point appears at the new spot. Between points the volume changes smoothly.

With points, the slider shows the volume at the playhead and changes it at that moment — the point the playhead is on, or a new one. The hint shows how many points there are, for example **Volume points: 2. The volume changes smoothly between them; an edit under the playhead adds a new one.** On a point the button becomes **Remove point**.

-   A clip can have up to 24 volume points. Before the first point and after the last one the volume is as at the nearest point.
-   Volume points replace the clip's constant volume. When no points are left, the slider changes the whole clip's volume again.
-   Fade in and fade out work together with points too.

## Fade in and fade out

A clip's sound starts and stops exactly at its edges. Sometimes that sounds harsh: street noise bursts in at a cut, or a phrase is cut off on the last clip of the reel. A fade-in raises the sound smoothly from silence at the start of the clip, a fade-out takes it down to silence at the end.

**Demo (Web):**

1. Click the waveform of a b-roll clip on the “Audio” track and press “Volume” — “Fade in” and “Fade out” rows under the slider
2. In the “Fade in” row pick “1 s” — in the preview the clip's sound comes in smoothly
3. In the “Fade out” row pick “2 s” and click ✓ “Done”

### 1. Open “Volume”

Select a clip or its audio on the audio track and press **Volume**. Under the slider there are two rows: **Fade in** and **Fade out**.

### 2. Pick a duration

Each row offers **None** (the default), 0.5 s, 1 s or 2 s. You hear the change in the preview right away.

### 3. Click ✓ “Done”

The volume rises and falls evenly. The duration is counted in reel time — the same for a sped-up clip as for a normal one.

When it helps:

-   a fade-out on the last clip — the reel ends softly instead of being cut off;
-   a fade-in on noisy b-roll after speech — the sound of the street, the sea or a kitchen comes in smoothly;
-   a fade-out on the clip before a **Fade** [transition](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/transitions/) — picture and sound go together.

A [freeze frame](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/freeze-replace/) has no sound, so it has no fades either. Background music has its own fade-in and fade-out at the start and end of the reel ([Music](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/music/#music-fades)).

## Mute

A quick way to silence a clip: select its audio on the audio track and press **Mute**. The button turns into **Unmute**. A muted clip shows a crossed-out speaker on the video and audio tracks.

That's handy for b-roll with street or wind noise while music or a voice from another clip plays.

> **Tip.** To lower the sound of all clips under the music at once, don't touch each clip — set **Reel sound under the music** on the music ([Music, ducking and beats](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/music/)).

## When to use what

| Goal | Speed |
| --- | --- |
| Tighten a long story while keeping it clear | 1.25× |
| Show a process quickly: cooking, assembly, a trip | 2×–4× |
| Linger on a beautiful moment or the result | 0.5×–0.75× |
| A dramatic pause before a reveal | 0.25× on a short clip |
| A striking accent in motion: a jump, a throw, a flip | the **Bullet** or **Hero** curve with smooth slow motion |
| A smooth start-up or slow-down at the end | the **Ramp up** or **Ramp down** curve |

Check sped-up speech in the preview from start to end — the voice should stay clear.

## Good to know

-   Edits are visible and audible in the preview right away; the finished video updates after **Export**.
-   Volume, speed and the other clip settings carry over to a copy made with **Duplicate**. To carry speed, volume and fades over to other clips, use [Copy and paste the look](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/fragments/#copy-look).
-   Sound effects (whooshes on cuts, pops when emoji and cards appear) are turned on for the whole reel with the **Sound FX** button on a clip's audio ([Audio](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/audio/)).

## What's next

-   [Audio: volume, noise, voice](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/audio/)
-   [Music, ducking and beats](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/music/)
-   [Transitions](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/transitions/)