Audacity plugin for reducing volume of selection using the envelope tool

Audacity is a free, open source audio editor. This plugin allows for the quick reduction of the volume of the selected audio using the envelope tool. The advantage of using the envelope tool is that this operation is non-destructive.

It can be useful to reduce the volume of breathing noises e.g. in podcast recordings without completely erasing these breaks.

Manual volume adjustment:

Using the plugin with keyboard shortcut:

• Download the file Debreather.ny
• Open Audacity
• Select [Tools]->[Nyquist Plug-in Installer...]
• In the dialog, select the Debreather.ny file and press "OK"
• Select [Tools]->[Add/Remove Plug-ins]
• Search for the plugin with the name "Debreather" and press "Enable"
• Now "Debreather" should appear in the "Tools" menu
• In order to assign a keyboard shortcut to the plugin, click [Edit]->[Preferences]
• Select the category "Keyboard"
• In the search field enter "Debreather", the list below should be filtered now
• Assign a keyboard shortcut to the debreather (e.g. ALT+D)

You should now be able to reduce the volume of the current selection via keyboard shortcut.

• I implemented this plugin using the code, the user steve provided in the audacity forums: https://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?t=107806