Slow down audio and stay in tune
Playing a record slower drops the pitch, which is no use if you want to play along. Keep pitch mode stretches the audio in time and leaves the pitch alone. Your instrument stays in tune with the track at any speed from 0.5× up.
This page opens at 0.75×, a common starting point for learning fast parts. Change it, listen live, and export when you are happy.
Slowing down in keep pitch mode is also how most transcription and practice apps work, but here there is nothing to install and no subscription. Open the page, drop the file, and you are practising within seconds.
A practice plan by speed
Musicians often learn a hard passage slowly and step the speed back up. Here is one simple way to do it.
| Speed | Stage | What to focus on |
|---|---|---|
| 0.5× | First look | Hear every note and work out fingering |
| 0.7× | Learning | Play it cleanly, no mistakes |
| 0.85× | Building | Keep it relaxed as it speeds up |
| 1× | Performance | Play along with the original |
What people slow audio down for
Slowing audio down is one of the oldest practice tricks. Common uses:
- Learning guitar solos, piano runs and drum fills by ear.
- Transcribing a melody or bass line note by note.
- Following fast speech in a lecture, interview or language lesson.
- Writing down lyrics that fly past at full speed.
- Dancers learning choreography step by step.
- Transcribing interviews and voice notes accurately.
Tips for transcription and practice
Combine slowing down with stem separation. Split the song first, solo the part you are learning, download it, then slow it down here. It is much easier to transcribe a bass line with nothing else playing.
Tune your instrument to the track. If a song is slightly off standard pitch, the pitch shifter can nudge it into line.
Speech stays clear even at 0.5×. For music, 0.6× and above usually sounds more natural.
Set small goals. Get a passage clean at 0.7×, then move to 0.8×, and so on. Jumping straight from half speed to full speed rarely works, while small steps build the part into muscle memory.
Limitations
The slowest speed is 0.5×. At very slow settings, time-stretching can add some smearing to drums and a slight echo on reverb. That is normal for any keep pitch algorithm. If you want the deep, dreamy slowed sound instead, use varispeed or the slowed and reverb page, where the pitch drops on purpose.
Slow down audio for transcription
Transcribing speech or music is much easier at a slower speed. For interviews and lectures, 0.75× usually gives you time to type without pausing every few seconds. For a fast guitar solo, 0.5× lets you hear each note clearly.
Speech handles slowing well because the voice keeps its pitch in keep pitch mode. The words sound drawn out, but they stay the same voice. Music at very slow speeds can sound a little smeared, but the notes are still in tune.
Tip: export the slowed file and play it in any player with a loop or rewind shortcut. That way you can hop back a few seconds each time you miss something.
- Interviews and meetings: 0.75× to 0.85×.
- Language learning: 0.7× to 0.8×.
- Fast solos and runs: 0.5× to 0.6×.
- Drum fills: 0.6× to 0.75×.
Slow down audio with no upload
Your file is processed in your browser and never sent anywhere. There is no sign up and no watermark, and it is free. It works on Mac, Windows and Linux in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari, and on iPhone and Android in a mobile browser.