No matter if you’re a voiceover artist or a videographer, having good audio software is of utmost priority.
Even if you’re into singing, you’ll be looking for something that can record, edit and even mix audios to create the best possible tracks for your audience. Audio software is really essential for music producers as well because all of their work revolves around making good music and their main goal is to deliver crisp quality audio.
There are times even if your surrounding isn’t that noisy; you’ll still find your audio to be a little disturbing with unnecessary chatter or traffic noises, mostly because your microphone isn’t doing the best of its job.
In all those cases, you should look into finding the most suitable audio software for your needs to make your piece stands out incredibly. Thankfully, I’ve done all the research for you by compiling this handy list.
Let’s jump straight into them to find out which one would be appropriate for you.
Audacity
A veteran to start with, Audacity has been around since 2000 and remains one of the most popular audio editing software out there. It’s a free, open-source, and cross-platform software that’s super easy to use for anybody without having any prior expertise in audio editing.
Here are some of the many things you can do with it:
- Record audio
- Digitize recordings from other media
- Edit and add effects to your audio, such as reverb, auto-tune, distortion and echo
- Enable keyboard shortcuts for faster workflow
- View audio in spectrogram mode to select and visualize it in frequencies
- Add plugins like LV2 and VST to further improve your audio.
- Import/export 16-bit, 24-bit, and 32-bit audios for great sound quality
Audacity supports a handful of operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Adobe Audition
Anything that comes from Adobe is bound to be great, and it’s no different for Adobe Audition. You can edit and polish your rough audios into impeccable sound by mixing, cleaning, and literally fine-tuning it, all while having a smooth workflow.
Their spectral display and essential sound panel help you restore audios and achieve professional-level quality even if you’re not a professional at what you do. Not to mention, you can also make audio remixes by rearranging the tracks to fit any duration.
If your existing audio has issues, you can fix it and their in-built tools like diagnostics panel, audio reduction, DeClipper, and DeHummer.
Adobe Audition is made for various audio utilizing purposes, including podcasts, which itself demands highly crisp sound nowadays. So, you can clearly visualize how good your edited audios will be with this software.
WavePad
WavePad is another phenomenal audio editor that has a ton of basic and advanced features. You can use it for all your audio editing purposes, including music production and regular recordings.
It supports all major audio formats and allows you to cut, copy, trim, split, amplify, equalize and normalize your audio tracks within mere seconds. There are also options to reduce noise and access advanced tools like spectral analysis, FFT, and TFFT to better understand your audio frequency.
If you’re someone who produces a lot of soundtracks or any audio and wants to save time in the process of editing it, then you can utilize their batch processing feature to edit them all at once. It’s super handy for people who’re busy and want something quick.
WavePad can be downloaded for free on Windows, Mac, IOS, Android, and Chromebook with limited features. To unlock this software’s full potential, you need to pick their paid version, which is totally worth in my opinion.
TwistedWave
With the ability to record, master, convert and batch process your audio, TwistedWave was bound to make it to this list.
It’s an all-in-one solution for everything related to audios, and the great thing is, it’s super simple to use for anybody.
Apart from the usual features, here are some unique things you can do with this software:
- Auto-detect silence points in the audio track for easy splitting
- Correct the pitch or speed it up independently
- Create iPhone ringtones easily and export in a supported format.
- Work on your present audio tracks while your large files are being loaded in the background.
- Load any number of audio effects in your stack to apply them instead of having to add each from scratch
TwistedWave is supported on Mac and IOS, or you can use it online as well if you don’t wish to download anything.
AVS Audio Editor
Created exclusively for Windows, AVS Audio Editor supports all major audio formats and makes it easy for you to come up with brilliant tracks. You can cut, trim, split, merge and manipulate your audios to a great extent, including the ability to blend different tracks together.
There’s also a library of effects, such as reverb, chorus, flanger, and echo, that can be instantly applied to your desired points of the track. Besides that, you can:
- Record audio from several inputs like microphone and vinyl records
- Extract audio from video files
- Remove unnecessary background noises.
- Change sound bitrate to any level.
- Turn written text to a natural-sounding voice, all thanks to their text-to-speech feature.
Since this software is only available for Windows, you can download it on Vista, 2003, XP, 7, 8, 8.1, and 10 versions.
Logic Pro
Logic Pro by Apple allows you to implement some of the most hardcore audio producing and editing practices. You can use their Step Sequencer, Sampler, and Quick Sampler features to build drum beats, melodic patterns and transform sounds into instruments, all in a jiffy.
Creating and improvising your music also has a whole new meaning with this software because it has Live Loops, which basically allows you to play with different sets of musical arrangements on a grid of cells to identify which one sounds the best, without having to add it to your timeline beforehand.
Besides that, you can add in DJ-style effects, play any instrument (Guitar, drums, keyboard, etc.), record crisp-clear audio, add new music to the existing track without disturbing the current tempo and perform pitch correction.
If you use iPhone or iPad, you can utilize the Logic Remote feature to control certain features like Live Loops and Remix FX right from your device with multi-touch gestures.
Very cool, but there’s so much more to it, and you can try it all out using the free trial available. That way, you’ll easily be able to unpack each feature and see if this software is suitable for you or not, though in most certainty it definitely is. 🙂
Pro Tools
With one of the cleanest audio workflows among all the options in this list, Pro Tools will feel like home to you because it houses all the features you need to come up with great-sounding tracks. It comes in 3 different plans – Pro Tools First (Free), Pro Tools (Paid), and Pro Tools Ultimate (Paid with advanced features).
The fact that they have a free plan really does make things easier for you to decide if this software is suitable for your needs or not. There are a lot of features to unpack in this tool, but to name a few, it has:
- Powerful and nifty track freeze and commit options
- 64-bit recording and mixing
- Robust hardware and support policies
- Dolby Atmos, Ambisonics, and other 3D audio qualities
- Option to stream and sell your created music anywhere without worrying about licenses
- Outstanding factory and Plugsound sound packs
Pro Tools is made for everybody out there, irrespective of your level of expertise. And there are so many more brilliant features that’ll blow your mind. Be sure to get started with the free plan and take it forward from there if it impresses you.
REAPER
Very affordable yet powerful, REAPER is an audio production software that can be extended, modified, and scripted comprehensively. It supports various plugins, hardware, and digital formats for you to achieve your sound production goals without being limited.
You can record, edit and render audios in 64-bit, play virtual instruments, apply various sound effects, and explore many more features. The best thing about this software is that it rolls out updates every few weeks to stay relevant in what you’re creating with REAPER.
Pricing plans start from just $60, but there’s a generous 60-day free trial that awaits you before shelling out any money.
Cubase
Edit, mix and master your audios into professional-sounding tracks with Cubase. It helps you elevate your creative potential irrespective of whether you’re a beginner or a big shot composer/producer. This software is fast, flexible, intuitive, and suits literally every genre.
You can use product tracks from start to finish without really breaking a sweat, as Cubase is quite intuitive and knows what a usual person behind the screen wants to achieve.
It has been praised by some of the most influential people in the music space, such as Zedd, Tyler Smyth, and Kurt Oldman.
You can pick from different versions of the software suitable to your requirement and budget. But first, you can utilize the free trial available to know what’s in store for you.
Conclusion
Audio editing is an essential part of a great music track, video, or simply a recording. With the help of the above tools, you’ll be able to turn your ordinary-sounding audios into professional-level quality, irrespective of which one you go for.
