erm-tune

erm — tune and troubleshoot

erm exposes ~30 flags that cluster into five knob groups. Tune by symptom, change one cluster at a time, and re-check with --dry-run + validate.

Launcher convention. This skill assumes erm is already runnable (set up by the erm skill). In the commands below, erm means that launcher: uvx erm … if you ran it via uv, or plain erm … after activating the venv where it's installed.

Resolving documentation

Resolve detail in this order (broadest compatibility last):

1. erm --help — definitive flag names, defaults, and units.
2. Public docs: https://dougcalobrisi.github.io/erm/ — troubleshooting, detection, render-pipeline, denoise-and-room-tone.
3. Bundled docs (Claude plugin only): ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/docs/*.md; flag defaults in ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/src/erm/cli.py.

Never guess values — read one of the above before recommending a setting.

1. Diagnose first — ask what's wrong

Use AskUserQuestion to pin the symptom (each maps to a different cluster), unless the user already described it:

• Fillers still audible / missed → detection
• A specific word should also be cut, or a default word is over-matching → detection word list (--add-fillers / --remove-fillers)
• Real words clipped or chopped → detection (too aggressive) / refinement
• Splices click, pop, or sound smeared/blurry → crossfade / refinement
• Noise floor pumps, audible level changes at edits → denoise / room tone
• Words run together with no breath → splice spacing
• Too slow → detection (--model/--device)

Then read the troubleshooting doc for the symptom→knob fix.

2. The five knob clusters

Read the linked doc page for good-value ranges before changing anything.

1. Detection aggressiveness (what gets cut) — --model (biggest lever), --detect-gaps, --confirm-pitch, --gap-min-ms, --gap-min-voiced-ms, --gap-max-voiced-ms, --intraword-min-ms, --fillers. → detection doc.
   • Word list (pass 1): --add-fillers "word,word" adds words on top of the defaults; --remove-fillers "word" drops a default that over-matches (removal wins). Prefer these over --fillers, which replaces the whole set.
2. Refinement / merge (clean splice points) — --search-ms, --merge-gap-ms. → render-pipeline doc.
3. Splice spacing (remove mode breathing room) — --pad-pause-factor, --pad-min-ms, --pad-max-ms, --min-gap-ms. → render-pipeline doc.
4. Crossfade (splice smoothness) — --crossfade-factor, --min-crossfade-ms, --max-crossfade-ms, --crossfade-ms. → render-pipeline doc.
5. Denoise / room tone (uniform floor) — --denoise none|pre|post|hybrid, --denoise-nr, --denoise-nf, --room-tone/--no-room-tone, --room-tone-level-db, --room-tone-source. → denoise-and-room-tone doc.

3. Iterate safely

1. Tune detection against the cut list first: erm IN.wav --dry-run and inspect the JSON — cheaper than re-rendering audio.
2. Change one cluster, re-render, and erm validate IN.wav OUT.wav.
3. Compare against the previous output before changing anything else.

Optional: parallel A/B (enhancement)

When several settings are plausible, you may render a few variants with different knob values in parallel, validate each, and compare — instead of serial guess-and-check. Keep variants labeled by the flag that changed.