Best Audio Editing Software 2021 Free Download

Over the years the content consumption has increased manifolds and so has the number of creators, in order to give the full experience you need to focus on the audio as well. Today we’ll be talking about some of the best audio editing software available in the market right now.

What is audio editing software?

Audio editing software is a piece of software that can help you manipulate audio in ways that can help you reach your goal which in most cases is to get better quality audio or to clean the signal.

Most audio editing software can also double as recording software in case you want to shoot two birds with one arrow. Although some of the options on this list exclude this feature, this feature does help your content creation but is not enough to be a factor while considering which audio editing software to use.

An important thing to look at is the availability of a spectrum analyzer. Without a spectrum analyzer, it is difficult to find critical issues in your audio. An added bonus is to be able to see the noise in the signal, which helps you to treat the audio just right to remove the noise.

Some of the options on this list are more suited to editing audio for video editing. The reason I say so is that they can help you sync the audio with the video when working on the audio.

On the other hand, we’ll also be talking about more musically inclined audio editing software that is suitable for musical artists. Such software can help you arrange and use external elements in your composition apart from helping you with editing software.

We’ll also talk about some general-purpose audio editing software that can help everyone irrespective of their background. These audio editors are slightly less powerful hence I wouldn’t recommend this for professional content creators but there are quite a few content creators who use these editors. The only limitation is your imagination and experience.

How to use audio editing software

For most people using audio editing for general purposes, editing the audio length and the volume of the audio will be important.

Here we’re talking about audacity but you can follow similar procedures on other editors as well.

How to change the length of audio clip

METHOD 2: To crop the audio to a small snippet might be difficult when the raw audio clip is much longer than the desired audio clip then we use this method.

First, find the snippet of audio you want to keep. Next press the ‘ctrl button and the ‘x’ button together to copy the audio and remove it from the source. You can delete the source in case you don’t need it anymore

Now, click on the area of the software where there are no tracks and press down on “ctrl” and “v” to paste the audio snippet.

You’ve successfully created an audio snippet!

How to change the volume of the snippet

METHOD 1:

select the part of the audio that you want to amplify, go to the Effects tab in the toolbar and select the amplify option, add a suitable amount of amplification by the method of estimation, hit the preview button to listen to the changes. Keep doing this till you reach the required amplification.

This method is a bit tedious but with enough practice, this will be easy.

By default the value in the box is the maximum amplification possible, just hit enter if making the audio louder is your goal.

METHOD 2:

Let us introduce you to envelopes within audacity. An envelop tool allows you to set different levels of amplification to different parts easily and also helps with the transition between the two volumes.

This method is much easier to use as compared to the previous method but this method is sorta lengthy and depends on how precisely you can move your mouse.

In my experience, I use this tool only when I’m dealing with very short snippets of audio, and compressing the waveform does not help me.

Try avoiding this method if the previous method suits you.

First click on the envelope tool, next with a single right-click, insert a point on the waveform. Next insert the other waveforms required. After adding in all the points on the waveform, drag the waveforms to select the amplification.

How to export the audio

Click on the “File” option on the toolbar in the dropdown select the export option. In the export option, you can see multiple export options such as .mp3, .ogg, .wav, etc, you can select any one of them it won’t make much of a difference for most applications. I suggest using .wav since it is widely used and has decent quality.

General tips

The more you use the editor, the more comfortable you get over time. For professionals, it is important to master the audio before exporting it so learn a bit more about mastering and mixing which can really help you shine out.

Don’t get too involved in the world of tutorials, just do what feels right and try to experiment with tools once in a while to see what sticks and what does not.

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Audio editing software options

1. Audacity

Audacity is one of the best audio editing tools. The software might look boring or old but it is highly functional. Don’t let the looks dissuade you, it’s actually really easy to use.

For video editors, you can export the audio separately and send it to audacity where you can process it one final time to add clarity.

You can even export the individual layer audio files and put them into audacity.

For musicians, audacity can serve as your Digital Audio Workstation. You can easily record yourself and add in external sounds wherever you want.

Audacity is one of the most popular audio software that has a huge userbase that can help you if you get stuck which makes this ideal for general users.

If these points weren’t strong enough for you, this audio editing software is available for free and will be free for the foreseeable future.

One of the very few cons of using audacity is that it is independent of other apps which means that it becomes difficult to constantly export audio from the videos and then check whether it fits with the audio or not which is a huge pain. Another problem for the musicians is that the software does not have the provision to record or use the beats of the song as a reference, which makes it difficult to use it as a Digital Audio Workstation.

FEATURES:

1. You can record as many tracks as you need. No limitations on the number of tracks.
2. With support for a wide range of audio files, rest assured you will be able to find the right file format to export to
3. Are you an audiophile? You can export audio in upto 32-bit depth
4. User third party effects in the forms of plugins to enhance your workflow
5. Make too many mistakes? No need to worry with an unlimited number of undo’s
6. Cut, Copy, Paste audio snippets with ease
7. Use multiple inbuilt effects to enhance your audio
8. Analyze your audio with a spectrum analyzer
9. You can use Audacity without any payment, it’s free!

2. Adobe Audition

Coming second on our list is an audio editing software very dear to the video production community yet unanimously hated for being too expensive.

This is the audio editing software that you want to use in case you use other Adobe products to edit your video. The single most useful feature is its integration with adobe premiere. This really streamlines your workflow.

Adobe audition boasts about the same number and types of features as audacity but this audio editing software is more popular amongst the video creation community due to how easy it is to use it along with adobe premiere.

Any change made in Audition is reflected in Premiere which can reduce the amount of time taken to master and mix the audio.

One of the things that Audition is really good at is eliminating background noise from your source audio. 

The biggest con is that it is paid and the payment is billed monthly which makes it really expensive in the long run. Apart from being a popular tool in video editing, it serves very little purpose as an audio editing software for musicians or even a general-purpose audio editing software.

FEATURES:

1. Plugin your mic, headphone and get a recording without any other further setup required
2. Streamline your workflow with Adobe Sensei. Adobe sensei makes adjusting volumes dynamically easy and helps you to snip the audio to exactly how much you need
3. Integrates very well with Adobe Premiere
4. Eliminate background noise with powerful tools in Adobe Audition
5. Find the audio effect you need to make the moment perfect in adobe’s huge audio library with over 12,000 sounds

3. Avid Pro Tools

Anyone who has been to any studio knows this name. Avid pro tools in one of the most popular audio editing software among professionals.

Avid has been an integral part of the industry for a long time and continues to be one of the most important names in the industry. This is the tool used by mix and master engineers all over the world.

Apart from being a great software for mixing and mastering, you can use this audio editing software for music as well since Avid works with beats instead of time. 

With audio effects built to work better than any other third-party effect, AVID really does deliver on this promise.

AVID pro tools are a good choice for those who can invest money into such professional quality software. You can use the free version as well in case you can’t spend that much money right now, although I wouldn’t recommend it for those who want to do this seriously as the free version is limited to 8 instrument/audio tracks and 4 sends which is barely enough to make a basic guitar and drum instrumental.

FEATURES:

1. Be on the go with the AVID control app on iOS and ipadOS
2. Add in key instruments and play them live with a MiDi keyboard
3. Get creative with some high-quality audio effects
4. Recreate real-life instruments or create unreal soundscapes with the included synthesizers
5. Working with Dolby 5.1 sound? No worries AVID supports that as well
6. Freeze tracks for playback, saving CPU hence juicing out every drop of performance from your computer
7. Industry-standard software helps you stay on top of your game

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Special shoutouts

Now, we’ve covered most of the bases but here are some special mentions that can also be useful.

4. Soundtrap

This is an online Digital Audio Workstation made by Spotify, designed to help podcasters and collaborators is a good starting point in case you don’t want to install and software.

The audio editing features are a bit lacking but what it lacks in post-recording editing, it makes up recording modes that help you record clear audio from any type of microphone with the click of a button.

5. TwistedWave

This is an online audio editing software that is eerily similar to audacity. In case you just want to do some basic audio editing without any installation, this is your go-to.

Conclusion

SOFTWARE	Price	Perfect for	Recording
Audacity	Free	General use	Yes
Adobe Audition	$9.99	Video creators	Yes
Avid Pro Tools	$0 to $799.99/month	Musicians	Yes

All in all, you need to select the software that suits your need the best. Working with music on audacity is difficult, it would be sensible to use Avid Pro Tools instead, similarly, it would be a better idea to use adobe audition rather than using Avid Pro tools to mix the audio from your video. So choose based on your requirement.

FAQ’s