@@ -348,8 +348,9 @@ describe("analyseCarveDuck", () => {
     // of that rather than right against it.
     expect(at(duck, 2)).toBe(0);
     // Back to inaudible by the end of a long tail rather than held down for the
-    // clip; the envelope's last point is pinned at exactly no cut.
-    expect(at(duck, 15)).toBeCloseTo(0, 1);
+    // clip; the envelope's last point is pinned at exactly no cut. Ten seconds
+    // after the last word is four release constants, so the residue has snapped.
+    expect(at(duck, 15.9)).toBeCloseTo(0, 1);
     expect(duck.at(-1)?.v).toBe(0);
   });
 
@@ -383,10 +384,10 @@ describe("analyseCarveDuck", () => {
 
     // Still most of the way down a third of a second after the last word...
     expect(at(duck, 6.3)).toBeLessThan(atSpeech * 0.6);
-    // ...noticeably recovered by a second and a half...
-    expect(at(duck, 7.5)).toBeGreaterThan(atSpeech * 0.5);
-    // ...and within a hair of flat a few seconds later, rather than held down.
-    expect(at(duck, 11)).toBeGreaterThan(-0.6);
+    // ...noticeably recovered two and a half seconds on...
+    expect(at(duck, 8.5)).toBeGreaterThan(atSpeech * 0.5);
+    // ...and within a hair of flat several seconds later, rather than held down.
+    expect(at(duck, 13.5)).toBeGreaterThan(-0.6);
   });
 
   it("finishes the release past the last word instead of snapping at the end", () => {
 
@@ -552,13 +552,14 @@ const RELEASE_S = 0.25;
  * jumped to full the instant a word ended, and what you hear then is the effect
  * switching off rather than a mix breathing. Slower than any gap inside a
  * sentence, so it rides through the pauses between words and only recovers
- * between sentences.
+ * between sentences. 1.6s still read as the bed "coming back" at every sentence
+ * break on narrated builds; 2.4s lets it swell back over a breath instead.
  *
  * It also has to be well clear of the envelope's own step. A long voice is
  * measured about every 0.3s, so a release anywhere near that puts the entire
  * recovery inside one step — a jump, whatever the constant claims.
  */
-const DUCK_RELEASE_S = 1.6;
+const DUCK_RELEASE_S = 2.4;
 
 /**
  * Windows an envelope may spend. Held under `MAX_AUTOMATION_POINTS` with room