How to bleep out words in DaVinci Resolve
DaVinci Resolve gives you precise control over audio, so a bleep is quick once you know the moves: cut the word out of the dialogue, silence that piece and put a beep on the track below. The steps use the Edit page and work in the free version.
You need a beep file first. Download the free 1 kHz beep from our sound page and import it into the Media Pool.
Bleep a word on the Edit page
- Turn off Linked Selection (the chain icon in the timeline toolbar, or Ctrl+Shift+L, Cmd+Shift+L on a Mac) so you can cut the audio without touching the picture.
- Find the word on the audio waveform. Zooming in and scrubbing with the playhead make its edges easy to see.
- Select the audio clip, press B to pick the Blade tool and click the clip at the start of the word, then again at its end. Press A to go back to the Selection tool.
- Select the short piece and press D to disable it, or pull its volume all the way down in the Inspector. A disabled clip stays in place but plays nothing.
- Drag the beep from the Media Pool onto an empty audio track right under the word and trim it to the same length.
- Play the section back, repeat for every word, then render on the Deliver page.
Tips for cleaner bleeps in Resolve
Give the beep short fades by dragging the fade handles at its top corners, so its edges do not click.
Keep every beep on one dedicated audio track. The track fader then raises or lowers all of them at once, and muting the track gives you an uncensored version in one click.
In a long recording, look for the word on the audio waveform: speech shows up as dense peaks, and short pauses around a word are easy to spot.
Swear words over music
When the dialogue and the music are on separate tracks, cut only the dialogue track and the music keeps playing under the beep. When they are mixed into one track, the beep replaces both for that moment, as in a broadcast edit.
Faster: bleep the words automatically
Upload the rendered video, or the raw recording, and BleepItOut transcribes it, marks every swear word with its timing and places the beeps. Check the list, change the sound if you like, download the file and put it back into your Resolve project.
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Questions and answers
How do you censor a swear word in DaVinci Resolve?
Cut the audio clip at both ends of the word with the Blade tool (B), disable that piece with D and place a beep on the track below. The video is not touched as long as Linked Selection is off.
Where do I get a censor beep for DaVinci Resolve?
Download the free 1 kHz beep on our sound page as a WAV, import it into the Media Pool and reuse it for every word. It is public domain (CC0).
Do these steps work in the free version of DaVinci Resolve?
Yes. Splitting, disabling clips, fades and extra audio tracks are all part of the free version.
Why does my bleep click at the start?
The beep or the cut begins in the middle of a sound wave. Add a short fade to both ends of the beep and of the muted piece, and the click goes away.
Is there a quicker way when a video has many swear words?
Yes. Upload it to BleepItOut: the swear words are found and bleeped automatically, and you only check them before you download. The daily free limits are shown under the upload box.
Can I bleep the audio and keep my Resolve edit?
Yes. Run the finished video through BleepItOut and put the bleeped file back on the timeline in place of the original. BleepItOut copies the picture without re-encoding it and changes only the covered words.