Deadair. The ums, gone.
Deadair is a small service that cleans up podcast recordings: it takes out the ums, the long pauses and the dead air, and leaves everything else exactly where you said it. This photograph is the whole site. Go deeper: click the picture, or ride the plates along the footer.
The recording, printed
One hour of tape, set in halftone like a newspaper photograph. The loud parts print dark, the quiet parts print pale, and the dead air prints as what it is: nothing, taking up room. Closer still, and the pauses show their lengths.
The pauses, measured
Set the gate. Any gap longer than the gate gets a red crop mark and a pair of shears. Nothing shorter is touched, because a breath is not a mistake.
The cut, counted
- ums and ers lifted214
- long pauses clipped31
- words of yours changed0
Every cut is listed in the margin of the returned file, so you can put any of it back.
The classified
For hire · patient ears
PATIENT PAIR OF EARS will take the ums, the ers and the long embarrassed silences out of your recording and return it the same evening, every cut listed in the margin. £8 an episode, the fictional price of this fictional service. No subscription; the ears do not want one.
Box 44, the classified columns. Reply by email and the ears will answer.