Saturday, January 13, 2007

Audio Editing Software

There are many kinds of audio editing software available for the computer, but if you do not know what you want, you might be in for a nasty surprise. Although much of the audio editing software is built to a pretty high standard, it really does vary greatly from program to program, and if you have not really bothered to find out that much about what you are shopping for, you might end up with a product that does not work right to fit all of your needs.

Fortunately, you do not need to fear; most audio editing software comes with a trial version. This version allows you to use most or all of the audio video editing software features in some manner for a limited amount of time. Usually, it is somewhat disabled – that is, either the file can not be saved, can not use all the features at once, or at least can only be used for a limited amount of time. But the companies that make these demos all want you to use their sound processing software, and so they have made it functional enough for you to get a very good idea whether or not it is right for you.

My favorite audio editing software is called CoolEdit. I like it for a lot of reasons, and some of it is highly idiosyncratic. If you are into a really powerful kind of audio editing software that requires minimal tinkering to get high quality effects, you might be more into something like SoundForge. CoolEdit really does take quite a bit of playing with, but that is exactly what I like about it.

Unlike many other audio editing software programs, it allows you to fully customize every aspect of your effects. You can change the way the program samples and adjusts whatever file you are working with, to get novel sound effects. It does not necessarily get the most realistic effects, so if you are looking for, say, a real-feeling echo or a perfect noise cancellation, you really should consider getting a different kind of audio editing software. This is not the best thing for getting your samples perfect, clean, and organic sounding, but then again, if you want that, you can do the most for yourself by investing in some decent recording gear, such as a high quality mike and mixer. Still, it is a lot of fun, and that is what I look for in my software.