Review: Audacity Free Audio Editor

This is my review of Audacity, a piece of software that I use constantly and have come to rely on it’s stability and performance.

Audacity is a free, open source audio editor that supports Windows, Mac, and Linux. It is good for performing basic audio editing and format transfers in a way that many beginners find it easy to adjust to and learn.

I find myself using Audacity instead of a purchased software package for the all of my audio needs, and if you are creating a podcast, you may do this as well. First, I use it to record audio from a microphone or from some other source, like a tape deck or CD Player. Then, when I record vocals, I can edit the mistakes out, remove unwanted noise and pops between sentences, and create a mix of the best tracks for my final compilation.

Sometimes I apply a few simple audio effects, like a compressor, to even out any peaks in the sound or the pitch effect, to change my voice and make it deeper to sound like a different person. The effects seem alright, but they are best, only average. The biggest downside for me here is that effects can only be applied one way, destructively, which means you permanently change the audio when you effect it. You can not go back later and turn a compressor off or tweak an EQ or remove the pitch back to normal, again the way you can in more advanced, purchased packages. Of course, saving your original, unedited version will allow you to at least, start over again.

I can use Audacity to bring in music, create intros and outros, and use sound effects, and then convert my finished project to MP3 format for publishing. When saving as an MP3, I can preset the ID3 tags so that my file is ready for iTunes and other publishing platforms. Sometimes, I also import audio files that are giving me issues, and view their waveforms to see if there are any clues as to what the problem might be, so that I can correct the issue and resave the file.

Audacity can record and edit 16-bit, 24-bit, and 32-bit (floating point) samples, and up to 96 KHz. sample rate. Audacity is compatible with a wide range of formats such as WAV, MP3, AIFF, and others. What this means is that although some of it’s tools are simplistic, Audacity’s audio quality is not second rate; it performs up to professional standards like the more advanced packages do.

There are unlimited Undo and Redo options, and the only limit to the number of tracks you can edit and mix are the limits of your computer’s processor and RAM. The program comes with several installed effects, including one that can help remove vocals, remove static, hiss, hum, or other constant background noises. You can also load and use VST plug-ins with the add-on VST Enabler, which gives you access to the very big world world of free VST plug-ins online (although these will still be applied destructively).

Audacity is not made for complex music production. I wouldn’t use Audacity for using loops or multi-track recording. One reason is because the different tracks in the work panel are not truly synced together. Each time you overdub a previous track with another recording, the track you record will be slightly out of sync requiring you to fix this during your pre-processing.

This is not really a big deal for most podcasts, where you can slide elements around, and it’s not that important to have them perfectly in sync. However, for multi-track music, this is a big problem.

Although it is not the end-all be-all of audio editors, Audacity has a simple tool set that works well, and many people decide to stay with it because it works for them. For those ready to take a step up to a more powerful audio editor, Adobe’s Audition offers tremendous power and flexibility, which has earned it the top spot among radio stations and professional podcasters everywhere.

But many podcasters don’t need Audition’s power. For them, Audacity fills a niche for quality, free software from a trustworthy source, and I’m sure it enables many people to start podcasting who otherwise wouldn’t or couldn’t. And of course, at a price that everyone can afford!

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