Which Is The Best Software For Audio Recording And Editing?

The process of altering the nature and content of recorded sound so as to create a desired effect is known as audio editing. It is simply the process of manipulating sound recordings to give a desired outcome after filtering the unwanted or undesirable portion.

For Podcasters, video editors, DJs, and social media content creators like TikTokers, audio editing software is a very important tool for their professional content production. 

Also known as digital audio workstation (DAW), audio editing software offers different features, with which you can record, edit and produce audio files. In this article, we would be talking about the top 5 audio recording and editing software for producing high-quality and professional audio file. 

Which is the best software for Audio recording and editing?

The top 5 best software for audio recording and editing are Audacity, GarageBand, Adobe Audition, Hinderburg Journalist Pro, and Ableton Live. These software are designed with features which allow the user to record and edit high-quality audio file. The features in each of the software allow you to cut, copy, paste, or remove part of recordings and introduce additional effects like echo to arrive at a desired result. With this tool, you can also mix, amplify, and restore audio to improve the quality. The selected top 5 are compatible with Windows or Mac and can be used by different level of audio-editing professionals.     

Top 5 Audio Recording and Editing Software

Audacity

Best Overall

Audacity is an open source, free, easy-to-use, and multi-track audio recording and editing software for Windows, macOS, Linus/GNU, and other operating systems. The software is rated the best overall because of its amazing features and best user experience. It is intermediate-friendly and comes with professional tools for editing audio recordings. 

Some of the features of the software include recording, export/import of different file formats, sound quality, plugins, editing, effects, accessibility, and sound frequency analysis. It is totally free software with loaded functionalities. As an open-source software, any volunteer developer can contribute to the project.   

Pros

• Free download and usage
• Less system requirements for all desktop operating systems
• Easy-to-use multi-track editing

Cons

• Absurd visual interface
• Complex features for audio-editing beginners  

 

GarageBand

Best Free

GarageBand is also a free audio editing software available for macOS laptops and desktop computers. The clear and simple interface keeps it outstanding among other free editors. It also comes with different features some of which are necessary for professional recording and edition of audio files. 

As a Mac computer user, GarageBand might come pre-installed with your system or you can get it for free on the Apple App Store and integrate it in your Mac ecosystem. Apart from recording and editing features, it is also an easy option for Podcasters. It offers a multi-tracks layer which makes it easy for musicians to build complex project on it. 

Above all, it comes with myriads of useful instrument generators and effects which help handle your project professionally. 

Pros

• Best for instrument and vocal recordings
• Free for use on Mac computers
• Easy-to-use audio editor

Cons

• Might not be up to professional or industry standard
• Not available on Windows

Adobe Audition

Best for Live Music

For Window and Mac users, Adobe Audition is a very powerful tool for editing audios; mixing, restoring, and improving its quality. The software is available on its own and can also stand as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite. It is widely used across the music, movie, television, and media industries as a whole.

It handles the recording of multiple channels from different sources effectively and processes it with some sets of post-recording production tools. The pricing of the software is $20.99 per month and comes with super-amazing editing features. Some of these features include: reducing background noise, mix and master recordings, effects addition, and live music recordings, among others.    

Pros

• Offers audio mixing and background noise reduction option
• Editing and effects for professional-quality audio
• Software and device support (when you’re stuck) 

Cons

• Requires subscription after free trial period
• Not recommended for beginners 

Hindenburg Journalist Pro

Best for Podcasts

Hindenburg Journalist Pro is a field-tested, professional and robust, yet easy-to-learn, audio editor designed to simplify the recording, editing, and publishing of high-quality audio. The starting price of the software is $99 after the one month free trial is exhausted.

It is a multi-track audio editor specially made for radio journalists, large-scale audio producers, and podcasters, 

Some of the features of the app include automatic creation of an EQ, sound adjusting, vice profiler, voice track mistakes fixer, and top-notch spoken-word productions. It can also be used to cut portions of your sound recordings and re-arrange it into a narrative format.   

Pros

• Offers vocal audio editing 
• Tools for fixing faults in audio and auto-leveling
• Normalization and editing of multi-track recordings

Cons

• It is expensive when compared to others
• Not the best when it comes to music production

Ableton Live

Best for Music Production

For songwriters, singers, bands, EDM producers, and DJs, Ableton Live is a go-to audio recording and editing software for them. It is responsible for the creation and recording of music with high-level editing tools and effects. 

The starting price of the software is $99 for the lightweight intro version up to $749 for the Suite version. Each of the versions of Ableton Live come loaded with varying features and amazing tools for audio editing experts. You can enjoy up to 5,000+ sounds, 16 MIDI effects, 60 audio effects, and 17 software instruments in all of the versions. 

Looking to alter, edit, refine, and give a warm-sounding finish to your music project, go get Ableton Live now.     

Pros

• Live recording and music creation features
• Myriads of instruments, effects and sounds for alteration
• Optimization for multi-track edition 

Cons

• Expensive nature of its standard and suite version 

Final Thoughts

Altering the state of a sound recording can be done using different software some of which are discussed above. With varying features that come with each of these software, you can professionally handle a wide range of editing, restoring, and mixing of audio to meet your need.

There are several software out there that function similarly to the outlined ones, but the choice of the top 5 is based on the uniqueness and price of each of the software. Above all, before choosing any audio recording and editing software, you must put some factors into consideration. 

Some of these factors include: recording options, number of channels supported (for podcasts), editing features, plug-ins and add-ons, pricing, operating system or system requirements, and export option.