Whether or not you are simply beginning your podcast otherwise you’ve been podcasting for some time, you may discover some issues simpler through the use of higher instruments. Listed here are the audio-editing apps I like to recommend most for podcasting in 2023.
Sidenote: I desire the friendlier phrase “audio-editing app” as a substitute of the industrial time period “digital audio workstation” or “DAW.”
(As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases by means of a few of these hyperlinks. However I like to recommend issues I really imagine in, no matter earnings.)
4. Audacity (02:24)
I think that the majority podcasters have used Audacity sooner or later and even nonetheless do. Audacity has been a staple in audio-editing as a result of it was succesful and—perhaps what retains it hottest—it is free.
I like to recommend Audacity precisely as a result of it is free and but nonetheless very succesful! Not like GarageBand (which is free on macOS), Audacity sticks to standard audio-editing instruments and rules. These conventions make it simpler to be taught audio-editing on Audacity and later transfer as much as extra superior software program. Plus, the latest versions of Audacity are making huge leaps forward in improving the software.
Audacity runs on macOS, Home windows, and Linux.
3. Adobe Audition (4:40)
A number of years in the past, I forced myself to step up from Audacity to Adobe Audition, and I discovered it considerably improved my workflow. There have been a number of issues that Audition made quicker or simpler for me, and but there had been some things Audition couldn’t do that Audacity did. Nonetheless, a lot of these objects may be moot at this level.
Audition is premium software program that comes at a value. And sadly, that’s solely a subscription value: presently $31.49 per thirty days and not using a contract, or $239.88 per 12 months (primarily $19.99 per thirty days) on the “greatest” value. (There’s tax on these costs, too.)
I will not pay that and I do not assume it is best to, both.
Nonetheless, in case you are a slave to Adobe Creative Cloud, like I’m, then you have already got Adobe Audition together with all of Adobe’s different software program within the full subscription suite for $599 per 12 months (about $50 per thirty days, plus tax). I already pay for Adobe Audition together with Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Adobe Fonts, Premiere Professional, Lightroom, and After Results. And it is as a result of I am already paying for it, that I exploit Adobe Audition with my audio-producer John Bukenas. But when I did not want the remainder of Adobe’s apps, I’d swap to my #1 podcast-editing app in a heartbeat.
At $239.88 (plus tax) per 12 months, I feel Adobe Audition is simply too costly for many podcasters except they already subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud. So if you happen to can afford it, then I feel Audition is among the greatest audio-editing apps you should use!
Audition runs on macOS and Home windows and provides a free trial.
2. Descript (7:35)
Just a few years in the past, I acquired to satisfy the workforce behind Descript once they had been exhibiting on the Podcast Movement convention. I cherished their concept and I anticipated massive issues to come back from them!
Why? As a result of Descript takes an industry-leading intuitive, user-friendly strategy to enhancing audio. Though you can edit with a traditional audio waveform (like in different apps), Descript transcribes your audio to allow you to edit audio like enhancing a textual content doc. You may see the phrases, choose them, after which transfer or delete them with ease!
There are additionally a number of choices for considerably enhancing the audio of low-quality recordings by leveraging the ability of synthetic intelligence (AI)!
On high of that, Descript now permits you to edit video with this similar text-based simplicity!
There is a really restricted free plan. After that, pricing begins at $144 per 12 months for longer recordings and prolonged options.
Descript is browser-based, so it is going to work on almost something!
Honorable point out: Reaper (9:39)
Though I’ve by no means personally used it, I see quite a lot of podcasters extremely advocate Reaper as an excellent improve from Audacity.
Reaper is a traditional audio-editing app, nevertheless it appears to me like its consumer interface is caught in a previous decade or supposed just for people who find themselves extraordinarily snug enhancing audio. A fast have a look at their not-mobile-friendly web site may overload you with technical terminology and technical-looking pictures.
However the pricing is affordable: presently $60 for private use or industrial use in case your yearly income is under $20,000. Past that, it is $225 for a industrial license. Nonetheless, these are one-time licenses that embrace free upgrades for fairly a while. (The present model 6.75 license guarantees free upgrades by means of model 7.99!)
Reaper is on the market for Home windows, macOS, and Linux and it provides a totally useful 60-day trial.
Honorable point out: Adobe Podcast (11:16)
Previously generally known as “Undertaking Shasta,” Adobe Podcast is an even less complicated text-based audio-editor just like Descript, however considerably optimized for even simpler use. For instance, as a substitute of getting variable controls over audio-processing settings, Adobe Podcast provides a easy toggle swap for various AI-powered results. Nonetheless, the easy outcomes nonetheless sound nice (and a few individuals assume they sound even higher that Descript‘s “studio” sound.)
There is no audio waveform in Adobe Podcast; you are enhancing solely with sections of transcript and audio clips. However there’s truly a built-in visitor/cohost audio-recording characteristic you might use as a substitute of Squadcast, Riverside, Zencastr, or StreamYard.
Adobe Podcast is presently in beta that you could request to strive without cost. I count on will probably be included within the Adobe Express subscription, which provides a restricted free plan and an expanded premium plan for less than $99.99 per 12 months. And just like the Adobe Express instruments, Adobe Podcast will in all probability be included within the costlier Creative Cloud subscription.
I am wanting ahead to how Adobe Podcast improves, and the way Adobe may convey a few of these nice options into Audition and Premiere Professional.
Adobe Podcast can also be browser-based, so it ought to work on almost something!
1. Hindenburg (13:43)
And now we come to my #1 suggestion for enhancing your audio podcast: Hindenburg (previously generally known as “Hindenburg Journalist”)!
Whereas Hindenburg initially seems like many different typical audio-editing apps, I’ve really useful it for years as a result of it comprises additional options designed particularly for enhancing spoken-word content material, which is strictly what almost all podcasts are! So you will discover intuitive options like automated loudness normalization for each clip, a useful clipboard (nice in your audio-branding clips and bumpers!), and even text-based enhancing options coming in Hindenburg Professional 2.
I additionally count on Hindenburg to be the primary to help Podcasting 2.0 options, like higher chapters, the transcript tag, and extra.
Plus, Hindenburg provides a perpetual pay-once license! It is $99 for Hindenburg Lite or $399 for Hindenburg Professional. Or, you possibly can subscribe to Hindenburg Professional for $120 per 12 months and that can embrace upgrades for so long as you keep your subscription. This pricing may change with 2. And so they typically supply massive gross sales round important radio and podcasting occasions. Get price-drop alerts from PodcastingDeals.com!
It is the mixture of typical enhancing, podcasting-focused advantages, and versatile pricing choices that lead me to advocate Hindenburg because the greatest podcast-editing app! And I do not even—presently—earn any commissions from recommending Hindenburg! (Although I preserve asking for an associates program and can replace my hyperlinks in the event that they ever supply an associates program.) If I wasn’t already paying for Adobe Audition, I’d instantly swap to Hindenburg—and I typically contemplate it anyway!
Hindenburg runs on Home windows and macOS.
When and why do you have to improve? (16:69)
Earlier than you rush out to change apps, I counsel you take heed to my previous episode “When to Upgrade Your Podcasting Tools.” Briefly: improve when the brand new resolution supplies one thing you really need. Generally, upgrading will not enhance your audio high quality, however the improve might make it simpler to get higher audio. For instance, the AI-powered sound enhancement presently from Descript and Adobe Podcast may give you outcomes that rival spending hours studying to make use of after which fine-tune compression, EQ, gating and growth, noise and reverb discount, and extra.
So if you happen to want one thing less complicated, strive Descript or Adobe Podcast. In the event you want one thing typical however higher, strive Hindenburg.
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Disclosure
This submit might comprise hyperlinks to services or products with which I’ve an affiliate relationship. I could obtain compensation out of your actions by means of such hyperlinks. Nonetheless, I do not let that corrupt my perspective and I do not advocate solely associates.
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