I am specifically seeking suggestions for audio editing software, distinct from digital audio workstations (DAWs).

I've been a long time user of Audacity. It has been my go-to audio editor for many years. I've observed what I perceive as a notable decline in its functionality and stability since its acquisition by Muse Group. It appears that there is a shift towards transforming it into a software resembling GarageBand, which is not what I need.

Linux already has several excellent DAWs, and I don't see Audacity replacing them. On the other hand, Audacity became the de-facto audio editor for Linux, but it now seems to be in the process of being repurposed as a front-end for muse group's on-line services. What I need is a really good audio editor.

I am currently using Audacity 2.4.2, which does everything I need. However, given its age and lack of maintenance, I am exploring alternatives that offer similar functionality and reliability. I have a strong preference for open source.

Hello everyone,

I am currently on the fence of working on Audacity or not. I was recently gifted a mic and wanted to have fun recording audio and practicing voice acting and singing. I instantly thought of using audacity for voice editing, but after some research I saw that there where mixed opinions of whether audacity is safe. How data is collected while using audacity. I want to broaden my thoughts. What are all of you guys thoughts? is audacity safe in your opinion? Is it worth learning to edit audio with this software? or should I look in to another way to edit audio?

I'm having a problem with Audacity, where it just decides I'm not allowed to use it, and it just straight up refuses to record until I restart my PC entirely, closing out of all of my current things, as I usually do my voice over for videos WHILE editing the video files, (tutorials and such, so I cut them down, write out the words, then record, pause, cut, unpause and record again, pause, repeat. That kinda thing. It's just how my workflow works for me. But I have to exit everything and restart the entire computer, pull it all back up, and so on. So if there's a way to stop this, by using a program that actually does it's literal only job, and let's me freakin record, can someone tell me some to look at? And I'm posting this, rather than just going to google, because I assume people here would know, rather than a random list from somewhere I've never heard of.

Thanks.

EDIT:

Ok, maybe I'M the idiot here? But how in the world are the only replies I got as of this edit, for VIDEO programs? I quite literally asked for alternatives to AUDACITY, the AUDIO recording program. Yes, I know I mentioned video in this. That's because I do the audio recording, while I edit the video. IN SEPARATE PROGRAMS! This is literally not hard to understand. So. One more time. Slowly so people get it.

RECOMMENDATIONS.

FOR.

ALTERNATIVES.

TO.

AUDACITY.

Not alternatives to any video editors. A-U-D-I-O. Is that easier to understand?

Good lord.

I just need something for recording and splicing desktop audio. I've heard that Audacity since acquisition by Muse Group resulted in changes that people said were privacy intrusive. Is it true, because some say they walked back on them but I'm not sure.

Hi! I am tryong to learn a new skill that I have a lot of interest in. It was suggested that a good free program to start with is Audacity. I have followed a couple of tutorial videos but I am struggling with the program quite a bit, it feels clunky and I am not the most technically savy person when it comes to these programs.

Do you have any tips/ tricks that made using this program more manageable?

Also, is there another more beginner friendly program y'all might recommend?

Thank you in advance for all your help and information ^{_^}

I decided that the time has come to look for better alternative and more advanced software. The biggest con about audacity is destructive audio and no real time pluggins and issues with VST3 which is becoming bigger issue for me in recent days. What you people are using beside audacity? I'm looking for something with similar UI. I can even buy some product but currently I am bit confused. I checked the Reaper but I don't like UI, I was thinking about adobe audition but it's not fully focused on audio. However I edit visual parts in adobe premiere. I create mostly very long podcasts 1-3h each, so I don't create music, yet.

Please let me know your thoughts and what are you using and why!

Basically, any robust audio editing software where I can cut, filter, play with waveforms and such

Hi Guys & Gals,

I've been through the YouTube rabbit hole lately trying to find the best Audacity settings to have that nice crisp voice for my videos. I use a Blue Snowball Mic so I knew I needed some good editing to have the sound of a higher quality mic. After combining different effects from numerous videos I found these settings to be the best for me. (I will put the specific settings in brackets)

• Do a quick Noise Reduction right off the bat (-12, 3.5, 3, Reduce) Unlike the previous Audacity you will need to select an audio section of BACKGROUND noise only, if you select voice audio it will reduce all voice audio throughout the recording and diminish quality.

• Compressor (-12, -40, 1.1:1, 0.20, 1.0)

• Normalize (-1.0, Bottom box unchecked)

• Now that you have Normalized you can perform another Noise Reduction if necessary (-12, -6, 3, Reduce) Normalizing can bring out noises not heard prior.

• Equalization Treble then Bass boost (Either use default presets or play with the setting, these really depend on the natural sound of your voice, I use default)

• Limiter (Soft Limit, 0.00, 0.00, -6.0, 10.0, No)

• Amplify (4.0)

• Limiter (Soft Limit, 0.00, 0.00, -6.0, 10.0, No)

I record all my videos at 80% Mic volume. It may not be the best audio quality but for an 80$ Mic I think it sounds very good.

Hope it helps any new YouTubers who have the same problem.

Pretty seasoned with video editing and such. Making YouTube videos. 2k+ subs.

Been recording either with my phone (surprisingly good mic) or through Windows default mic app with a dedicated mic, more than acceptable audio quality for a small YouTuber like me even when I obsess over superior sound quality.

Why do people use Audacity? Why not record and cut out/normalise volume in post (e.g. in editing software)

Is Audacity really that advanced a suite, I can't really seem to grasp it mostly because people on the Internet just accept it, use it, and don't really elaborate on WHY. They just say HEY USE AUDACITY, ITS HELLA GOOD but then don't explain any further how OR why.

Thanks in advance!

Hey folks--if you haven't heard, Audacity may now be acting as Spyware on our computers: https://fosspost.org/audacity-is-now-a-spyware/.

I just launched my podcast and have been using Audacity for the first few episodes. Can anyone recommend an alternative recording and editing software that is ideally free and easy to use?

I've been using it off and on for a decade or so, but I recently tried to download it and it wants my credit card for an $88 charge. Is there somewhere else to download it?

I’m getting back into podcasting after a 2+ year hiatus & wtf happened to Audacity? I feel like it used to be the gold standard for audio editing, but the iOS interface has totally changed. What’re y’all using these days to edit your episodes (paid or free)? Thanks!

Basically, the title. This is for my own podcast and I’m an experienced public speaker, don’t use filler words and have already established one season of a podcast, which my cousin edited for me remotely. Now I need to do it myself. Recording the audio is in Zoom and I have a .wav or .mp3 audio file for the bumper in the beginning and the ending. But I need to edit the music in. Don’t need to edit the actual speaking audio. Please give me the simplest tips you have!

I've been part of a podcast for going on 4 years.

I want to improve our audio quality, and I think one of the cheapest, most basic steps is with the audio editing.

What is the best guide for how to do this? From normalizing, to amplify, etc ...

There are a lot of guides out there, and I want to make sure that I'm using the best information.

Ive tried to switch to others daws (ableton, Audition and reaper) but I still just find audacity more intuitive. I kinda feel pressure to learn another program but I am wondering in what are the shortcomings of audacity that make other options better?

I've been using Audacity to record, mix and master music for almost seven years now. I have to admit that it's sometimes a bit of a struggle, but I also am really used to it so I know how to obtain results with this software. I've produced a few albums with it. They sound okay.

I keep reading that Audacity doesn't actually sound good, that it's far too limited, etc. I'm a Linux user so a lot of people suggested that I use Ardour instead. The thing is, Ardour is a DAW, and these things, well, scare me. I have tried a few before... They look so big and complicated and make me uncomfortable. They leave me clueless. Will using one of these really improve how my music sounds?

If you haven't heard of Audacity, it is a free audio editing program. Don't let the fact that it's free fool you. It's a powerful little tool, and works just as well as many of those paid audio editing programs.

Recording your voice with Fraps, DXtory, or whatever capture program you use is fine, but if you want to make your audio even better, Audacity is great because it allows you to manipulate some things. There are a lot of great tutorials on youtube, and on the audacity website, but for now we'll cover some of the basic stuff to get you started. For a few more advanced tricks please see THIS Post

Your Settings - This can be down to personal preference, but these settings should help you get started. Reference THIS POST For your best audio quality! Thanks to u/ExclamationDan

First, go to Edit > Preferences > Interface. These are the basic settings you should use

Next, go to Edit > Preferences > Quality Here are the settings you should use for optimal audio quality.

Finally, set your audio to record in MONO, shown here All vocal tracks should be recorded in mono, with game audio recorded in stereo.

Here's why you should use mono, thanks again u/ExclamationDan

Stereo has two channels for each track of audio. If all you're recording is speech or a video game, both channels will hold the same or very similar information. This doesn't increase quality but rather wastes disk space.

This makes audio encoding and editing more or less twice as work intensive for programs in addition to resulting in a larger file size. For the vast majority of recordings and people who make YouTube videos, stereo offers little to no benefits. Mono only holds one channel per track.

So you've downloaded Audacity...now what? Well, open it, silly!

Okay, now you've got it opened...and it looks scary! Fear not! It may look daunting at first, but I assure you, it's quite simple to use! Right now you should be looking at something similar to this.

Great, I see a lot of grey, some buttons, and some other crap, so what? Well, let's cover some of the "crap" you're looking at. So, going from left to right we have...

Control Bar - This fancy little guy is your control bar. This is how you will record your audio, and play it back. Simply enough, and I'm sure you already knew it, but this is the basics, after all!

Tools This is possibly one of the more important things you need to know. These will allow you to (From left to right, top to bottom) select, envelope, draw, zoom, and shift time.

Select - This allows you to select specific parts like so

Envelope - This lets you shift the volume of the audio over time based on control points that you place on the track. Useful for fad-ins and fade-outs, though there is an effect you can apply in Audacity to do so also. Example

Draw Tool - Allows you to "draw" in the samples, and is useful for editing out pops and crackles. You need to zoom in until you can see the individual sound waves. I don't use this at all, as a LPer since I never really need to get THAT detailed.

Zoom - It zooms. Yeah.

Shift Time - This allows you to become Doctor Who. Kidding aside, This allows you to take a sample of audio (Try selecting a small piece with the selection tool!) and move it around the time line. This can be useful from syncing audio, or placing something you wanted to say after a particular part in your video, and many other reasons. Example

So we've covered the tools, what's next? Oh yes, the monitors!

The monitor on the left is for your output levels. These will light up when you press play on your recorded audio and let you keep an eye on how loud or quiet your audio is. The monitor on the right lets you see how loud or quiet your input - or microphone audio is. If you left click on your input monitor, it allows you to see your microphones audio levels even while not recording! This helps you get a good idea on positioning, volume, etc. even before hitting record. You should, however, always do test recordings before you start recording a LP!

Next in Line? Ah yes, Mr. and Ms. volume, and their children. From left to right we have the basics, which you should all be familiar with:

Cut This is just like when you cut some text out of notepad and paste it somewhere else, but with audio. Allows you to cut out a piece of audio and place it somewhere else, either in the same audio file or in another. This is destructive.

Copy Same deal as before, but rather than cutting out and removing that audio from the sample, you are copying it, with the ability to place it anywhere in the same sample, or a different.

Paste Well, remember those samples you cut/copied? This is how you place them.

Next we get a little more different...

Trim This will remove any audio around a selected segment, like so

Silence This will mute any sound you have selected.

Next!

Undo Well, you should know what this does...but essentially if you make a boo boo, you can hit undo (or CTRL+Z / Command +Z) and your boo boo will go away.

Redo We all love second tries. This is Undo's "hero" brother. That time you accidentally undid something, this guy fixes it by stepping forward a step.

Sync Locked Tracks I'll be honest, I've never used this before, and have no idea what it does, so coming right from the Audacity page:

"Any audio track in Audacity can be in a group of one or more adjacent tracks that can be Sync-Locked with other tracks in that group. Sync-Lock is off by default, but can be turned on at Tracks > Sync-Lock Tracks or by using the Sync-Lock Tracks button () in Edit Toolbar.

When Sync-Lock is on an icon () shows bottom right in the Track Control Panel of each track in a Sync-Locked group provided at least one of those tracks is selected. The icon denotes all tracks that will be affected when a menu operation in a selected track inserts or deletes audio (or otherwise changes the audio's position on the Timeline). The unselected tracks that will be affected are denoted by a patterned "Sync-Lock" selection in the waveform instead of the dark gray of a normally selected track.

Label Tracks can be included in a group so that their labels are synchronised with the audio. If present a Label Track also delimits a track group so that the audio track(s) underneath are in separate group(s). Tracks in those groups will not be affected by actions in the group above unless at least one track in those separate groups is selected. If a group includes more than one label track, the bottom label track delimits the group."

Best of luck with that...

The rest in that row are just other ways of zooming in and out.

Whew! That was a lot! We're almost done!

The last bar you see is one damn important bar. From these drop down menu's, you select your audio host (shouldn't have to change this, but you can), your output (Where your audio plays to), and your input (your microphone / recording device), and your input channels (Stereo, mono). For recording voice, you should use MONO!

Sexy MS Paint Skillz

Last, but certainly not least: Effects. I'm not going to go over all of them, as that's a guide for another time (and guide, many covered in the guide posted at the top) But the ones you should get familiar with are: Amplify, Bass and Treble, Click Removal, Equalization, Fade In/Out, Noise Removal, Normalize (I'm sure there are others, but those will be the most helpful, in my opinion, for some one just starting out.)

Welp, that about covers what you need to know to start using Audacity. I've seen a few people say they're afraid to use it because it looks complicated, and this guide is meant to get you familiar with the tools and the environment. but it really is an essential tool in any LP's toolkit. Sorry for the wall of text, and I hope this helped those of you who want to try Audacity!

Happy LPing!

I just recorded the thing that I wanted, carefully trimmed. Crash crash... Blows your flow. Any suggestions?

For a very long time, my go-to software for editing audio was Audacity. However, on Linux it has an ugly interface, weird graphical glitches and playback doesn't always work.

Can someone recommend a free and open-source audio-editing program?