Best Audio Editing Software

1. Audacity

Audacity is one of the most popular audio editor and recording software that is both free and open-source. One of the good thing about Audacity is that the user interface is pretty simple and easy to use. Though the software is simple and easy to use, it has almost all the professional features like live recording, multi-track editing, noise and vocal reduction, ability to convert records and tapes to digital formats, the ability to splice and mix music tracks, etc. Moreover, the software is cross-platform compatible. i.e, it supports Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. So, if you are looking for free, simple to use, and capable audio editor than look no further than Audacity. Price: Free. Pros: The software is free and open-source with a huge community to help you get things through. Audacity is cross-platform compatible and is also available as a portable variant. Cons: Though the user interface is simple to use, it looks a bit dated and cluttered with all the options available on the toolbar. If you are just getting started with Audacity, check out our detail article on how to Improve Your Voice Over With Audacity

2. Reaper

Reaper is yet another software that is popular with its professional features and flexibility while being lightweight on system resources. Reaper has a wide range of features, built-in effects, and support for plugins to extend its functionality. In fact, Reaper is a fully featured DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) used by many professionals in music production, audio editing, recording audio from professional and amateur gear, etc. Though Reaper is a premium software, you can download the trial version with 60-days of evaluation period before making the purchase decision. Price: Reaper lets you choose between two licenses, i.e. $60 for Discounted License and $225 for Commercial License. Pros: Fully featured DAW with simple and flexible user interface and supports additional plugins to extend functionality. With the extended 60-day trial, you can properly evaluate the software before buying. Reaper supports Windows and Mac OS. Cons: Since Reaper is a professional DAW, it needs some time and learning curve to get used to. This is especially true if you are a beginner.

3. WavePad

WavePad is a professional and fully featured audio editor and recording software. The good thing about WavePad is that it supports a wide variety of audio formats like MP3, GSM, WAV, VOX, OGG, WMA. etc. Some of the other features include but not limited to built-in audio effects, batch processing, spectral analysis, speech synthesis, voice changer, bookmarking, pitch shifting, auto-trim, etc. To make things even better, you can install additional plugins to add further functionality. Price: WavePad is free for personal use but is limited in terms of some features. For commercial usage, you can buy WavePad Standard Edition for $29.99 and WavePad Master Edition for $49.99. Pros: The software is easy to use and support plugins for added functionality. WavePad supports Windows, Mac OS, Android, iOS, and Kindle. Cons: The free version is limited, doesn’t support plugins and should only use for personal use.

4. Adobe Audition

Who doesn’t know Adobe and its various tools for creators and artists? As you can tell from the name itself, Adobe Audition is a professional audio editor, recording, and mixing software. Being a profession tool, Adobe Audition is a part of Adobe Creative Cloud suite. Some of the features of Adobe Audition include speech synthesizer, automatic loudness reduction, auto-backup to Creative Cloud, timed recordings, built-in filters and effects, frequency band splitter, clip merging, real-time clip stretching, etc. With all the available options and features, you can do things like mixing multiple tracks, batch processing audio files, add built-in effects to your audio tracks, and much more. Price: Being a part of Creative Cloud, you can subscribe for Adobe Audition for $19.99 per month. If you want to, you can get all the Adobe Creative Cloud tools for $49.99 per month. You can also download 30-day free trial to test and evaluate Adobe Audition. Pros: Being a popular and powerful tool, you’ll have all the features and options you’ll ever need to edit audio tracks and create recordings. Moreover, if you’ve used any Adobe Creative Cloud tool, the user interface should be pretty familiar. Cons: Even though Adobe Audition is a professional tool, compared to other software in the list, Adobe Audition is a bit pricey. If you are new to audio editing and recording then there definitely is a learning curve to use the software.

5. FL Studio

FL Studio is a fully featured DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) which is actually used in professional music production environments. Using FL Studio you can record, compose, mix, and edit your audio files and produce quality music like a professional. Though the user interface looks pretty intimidating for the first time users, it makes good use of the screen real-estate and displays all the necessary options and controls as needed. Moreover, FL Studio has multi-touch support and the UI scales perfectly up to 8K resolution. Price: FL Studio comes in four different versions – Fruity, Producer, Signature, and All Plugins Bundle for $99, $199, $299, and $899 respectively. You can get the feature comparison of different editions from here. Pros: Full fledged DAW with all the professional features and options you’ll ever need. Cons: If you are a beginner or first time using the software, the user interface may prove quite intimidating and complex.

6. Hya-Wave

Of all the software listed here, Hya-Wave is a bit different. Hya-Wave is a simple web-app that lets you edit your music and audio files right in the Chrome web browser. In fact, this free web tool is perfect if you just want to do basic tasks like cut, copy, paste, clear, crop, and mix tracks. If you want to, you can also record audio and apply built-in effects to your audio tracks. Though the tool also works in Firefox, you might not be able to use the web app to its fullest due to the audio decoding problems in Firefox. Price: Free. Pros: The web app is simple, straightforward, and easy to use. A pretty good tool if you just want to do basic audio editing. Cons: The app only runs in Google Chrome browser. Moreover, the app is very basic and you can do no more other than basic tasks.

Hope that helps and do comment below sharing your thoughts and experiences about using the above software or to share your favorite audio editing tools. Also Read: 6 Best Audiobook Apps for Android