Essential Free Tools for Every Freelancer’s Audio Editing Needs on Windows/Mac Platforms (Updated 2023)

11 Best Free Audio Editors for Windows and Mac (Totally Free)

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Are you a creative person and have a passion for creating a masterpiece? The audio must be perfect and clear, whether you are composing an instrumental piece or the next big podcast. Any background noise or low pitch can spoil your audio recording.

The audio editors come as an incredible help to save you in such situations. But, when you are a beginner or your budget is too low to afford the best audio editors, the free audio editor comes as a sigh of relief. Here are the 11 best audio editors for Windows and Mac.

• Part 1: 6 Best Free Audio Editors for Windows
• Part 2: 5 Best Free Audio Editors for Mac

Part 1: 6 Best Free Audio Editors for Windows

Let’s take a look at the best 6 audio editors we recommend you to use on Windows.

1 - Filmora	2 - Audacity	3 - Audio Cutter
4 - DVDVideoSoft Free Audio Editor	5 - Free Audio Editor	6 - Ocenaudio

1. Filmora [Free trial and Paid subscription]

Filmora is a full-featured professional video editing and audio editing software for Windows and Mac computers. You can use the built-in editing tools to cut, copy, paste, or insert audio files, mute the audio in video, add your voiceover, or add a new audio track from the Audio Library. Follow this simple guideline below to edit the audio track of your video.

Edit Audio with AI

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Secure Download

Edit Audio with AI

For macOS 10.14 or later

Secure Download

2. Audacity

One of the best free audio editors is Audacity, a flexible and powerful tool. Audacity is the first choice for free download for any Windows desktop platform. The extensive suite of built-in tools makes Audacity one of the preferred choices among users. The main features of Audacity are as below:

• Easy to use multitrack audio editor.
• Free, open-source audio editing software for all levels.
• Record live audio through a mixer or microphone.
• Digitize recordings from other media.
• Combine sound files and export recordings in various formats.
• Supports 16-bit, 24-bit, and 32-bit.
• Support for LADSPA, LV2, Nyquist, VST, and Audio Unit effect plug-ins.

3. Audio Cutter

Are you looking for an app to help you edit audio into the browser? Audio Cutter is one of the apps that allows you to cut and edit the audio in the Windows browser. It is a completely free app that supports 300 file formats. It comes with ringtone quality presets and fades in and out. The other features of Audio Cutter include as:

• Extract an audio track from a video.
• No installation is required. A few clicks can let you cut an audio track right in your browser tab.
• The process is completely secure, you can get access to the file once uploaded, and it is automatically deleted from the server after you finish.
• Make a ringtone in just one click.

4. DVDVideoSoft Free Audio Editor

If you are looking for a free audio editing software, which is also easy to use for homemade audio files, try your hand at DVDVideoSoft Free Audio Editor. This app lets you edit audio for Windows easily, split the audio files, and delete unwanted audio parts in just a few clicks. The features of DVDVideoSoft Free Audio Editor are as follows:

• The interface is intuitive and simple.
• The waveform of the audio files is displayed that can be edited by any user visually.
• Convert audio to a wide range of formats.
• Adjust the audio volume.
• Use tags or selections to ease the work.
• Supports audio formats like MP3, WAV, AC3, M4A, MP2, OGG, WMA, and FLAC.

Filmora Audio Editor

Edit Audio with AI

Experience the power of Filmora ‘s AI tools and make your audio or music stand out like never before!

Try It Free Try It Free Try It Free Learn More >

5. Free Audio Editor

For the past few years, Free Audio Editor has been a choice for many because of its simplicity. The pared-back tool feature in this app makes the process of audio editing simple and easy. The other features of Free Audio Editor are as below:

• Trimming and converting sound files is completely straightforward.
• Well-designed interface but does not have any creative filters.
• Supports a range of export formats.
• Digitize sound recordings of your rare music cassette tapes, vinyl, LPs, and videos, creating standard digital sound files.
• Edit audio using the traditional Waveform View or the frequency-based Spectral Display.
• Easy to isolate and remove undesirable noise.
• More than 30 native signal and effects processing engines.

6. Ocenaudio

One of the most powerful and best audio editors, Ocenaudio is easy to use and master than its counterparts. The features of Ocenaudio include:

• Great filter selections.
• Clean and simple interface.
• Easy for everyday audio editing.
• Real-time effect previewing to speed up your work.
• Highly precise selection tool.
• Select different portions of an audio file and listen, edit or apply an effect to them simultaneously.
• Allows spectrogram view to analyze the spectral content of your audio signal with maximum clarity.

Audio Editor	Features	Support Files
Audacity	Easy to use for all level users. Record live audio. Digitize recording from other media files.	Supports multiple file formats
Audio Cutter	Extract audio tracks from video in an easy way. Cut an audio track right in your browser window. The process is completely secure.	Supports 300 file formats
DVDVideoSoft	Intuitive and simple interface. Edit the audio file visually. Convert audio to any other kind of format.	MP3, WAV, AC3, M4A, MP2, OGG, WMA, FLAC
Free Audio Editor	Easy to trim and convert sound files. Well-designed interface. Easy to isolate and remove unwanted noise. Over 30 native signal and effects processing engines.	Supports a range of export formats
Ocenaudio	Clean and simple interface to operate. Easy for all skill levels. Real-time preview effects.

Part 2: 5 Best Free Audio Editors for Mac

Below are the 5 useful audio editors that can perfectly work on Mac:

1 - WavePad	2 - Apple Garageband	3 - LMMS
4 - Zortam Mp3 Media Studio	5 - CDex

1. WavePad

WavePad is an ample edit audio Mac software that allows you to record and edit audio recordings, music, and voice. WavePad audio editor’s free download feature makes it more endearing amongst the users. The other features of this free audio editor are:

• Easy to use interface.
• Supports sample rates from 6 to 192kHz, stereo or mono, 8, 16, 24, or 32 bits.
• Allows noise reduction and click pop removal features.
• Convert thousands of files as a single function with the help of batch processing.
• Supports all popular audio and music file formats.
• Amplify, normalize, equalize, envelope, reverb, echo, reverse, and many more audio effects.

2. Apple Garageband

The built-in audio creation studio inside your Mac device, Apple Garageband, offers a fully-equipped sound library, including an amazing selection of drums, guitars, and voice presets. The features of Apple Garageband are as follows:

• Intuitive and modern design that is easy to learn.
• Free audio editing software for Mac.
• Easy to learn, play, record , create and share.
• Choose from a jaw‑dropping array of realistic amps and effects.
• Every synth with shape‑shifting controls.
• Compression and visual equalizer.

Filmora AI Audio Editor

Wondershare Filmora - AI Audio Editor

• Simply split, rearrange, and apply more than 100+ remix effects on multiple audio clips

• Edit audio files like denoise, crop, audio ducking, audio auto synchronization, etc…

• Cross-platform supported - (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android)

Edit Audio for Free Edit Audio for Free Edit Audio for Free Learn More >

3. LMMS

An additional free audio editing software may be used for the creation of beats, the organization of samples, and the mixing of sounds. Linux MultiMedia Studio is what “LMMS” stands for when abbreviated. Connecting LMMS to any of your MIDI instruments allows you to give live performances using the software. The following is a list of LMMS’s most notable features:

• The editor has a 32-bit VST bridge in addition to 16 synthesizers that are built-in and can work with 64-bit VST instruments.
• A ZynAddSubFX synthesizer that has been built in.
• The essentials, such as the limiter, reverb, delay, and other effects, are covered here.

4. Zortam Mp3 Media Studio

Do you wish to keep your music collection well-organized? The Zortam Mp3 Media Studio is a comprehensive music tool for organizing your ripped CD, Mp3/Karaoke collection to edit Mp3 ID3 tags, normalizing Mp3, and more. The features of this free audio editor are:

• Directly from your iPod, you can play, normalize and burn MP3s.
• Mp3 Tagger and MP3 Manager, and iPod Manager.
• Auto-tagging your mp3 music collection is allowed.
• Load 50000 Mp3’s and more with the speed of light.
• Audio library with a powerful interface.

5. CDex

From ripping data from CDs to compressing ripped audio data with the help of an audio encoder, CDex is free audio editing software to edit audio on Mac devices. The features of CDex are:

• Directly record multiple tracks.
• Conversion of external WAV files.
• Normalization of the audio signal.

Free Audio Editor	Features	Support Files
WavePad	Easy to use interface. Allows noise reduction and click pop removal. Convert thousands of files.	Supports all popular audio and music file formats.
Apple Garageband	Intuitive and modern design that is easy to use. Synth with shape‑shifting controls. Compression and visual equalizer.	Supports popular used file formats
LMMS	The editor has a 32-bit VST bridge in addition to 16 synthesizers that are built-in and can work with 64-bit VST instruments. A ZynAddSubFX synthesizer has been built in. The essentials, such as the limiter, reverb, delay, and other effects, are covered here.
Zortam Mp3 Media Studio	Auto-tagging mp3 music collection. Load 50000 Mp3’s and more very quickly.	Supports many common used audio formats
CDex	Record multiple tracks. Normalization of the audio signal.	Supports commonly used audio formats

Conclusion

Now you know about the 11 best audio editors for Windows and Mac. You can choose one of them to explore and bring sound effects to your audio files. Watch the below video to learn how to make Hollywood sound effects too.

A cross-platform for making videos anywhere for all creators

Why your video editing isn’t good enough? How about some creative inspo?

• 100 Million+ Users
• 150+ Countries and Regions
• 4 Million+ Social Media Followers
• 5 Million+ Stock Media for Use

Try It Free Try It Free

Try It Free

Try It Free

* Secure Download

FAQs about Free Audio Editors

1. What is the best software to edit audio?

It depends on your needs. If you are looking for the best free software to edit audio, Audacity is a great choice. However, if you work in the music industry, Adobe Audition is very popular among musicians due to its irreplaceable functionalities.

2. Is GarageBand better than Audacity?

Both GarageBand and Audacity are the most commonly used free audio editing tools. However, they differ in several aspects. GarageBand can only work on macOS and iOS products, but Audacity can work on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Then one of the biggest differences between them is GarageBand is remarkable for making music, but Audacity is more like an audio editing tool. That’s why we can’t simply say GarageBand is better than Audacity because everyone has different purposes when choosing tools.

3. Can I record my voice over a music file using WavePad?

You cannot record your voice directly over the music file with WavePad; however, you can create a second voice file and combine the tracks using the Paste Mix tool.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Are you a creative person and have a passion for creating a masterpiece? The audio must be perfect and clear, whether you are composing an instrumental piece or the next big podcast. Any background noise or low pitch can spoil your audio recording.

The audio editors come as an incredible help to save you in such situations. But, when you are a beginner or your budget is too low to afford the best audio editors, the free audio editor comes as a sigh of relief. Here are the 11 best audio editors for Windows and Mac.

• Part 1: 6 Best Free Audio Editors for Windows
• Part 2: 5 Best Free Audio Editors for Mac

Part 1: 6 Best Free Audio Editors for Windows

Let’s take a look at the best 6 audio editors we recommend you to use on Windows.

1 - Filmora	2 - Audacity	3 - Audio Cutter
4 - DVDVideoSoft Free Audio Editor	5 - Free Audio Editor	6 - Ocenaudio

1. Filmora [Free trial and Paid subscription]

Filmora is a full-featured professional video editing and audio editing software for Windows and Mac computers. You can use the built-in editing tools to cut, copy, paste, or insert audio files, mute the audio in video, add your voiceover, or add a new audio track from the Audio Library. Follow this simple guideline below to edit the audio track of your video.

Edit Audio with AI

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Secure Download

Edit Audio with AI

For macOS 10.14 or later

Secure Download

2. Audacity

One of the best free audio editors is Audacity, a flexible and powerful tool. Audacity is the first choice for free download for any Windows desktop platform. The extensive suite of built-in tools makes Audacity one of the preferred choices among users. The main features of Audacity are as below:

• Easy to use multitrack audio editor.
• Free, open-source audio editing software for all levels.
• Record live audio through a mixer or microphone.
• Digitize recordings from other media.
• Combine sound files and export recordings in various formats.
• Supports 16-bit, 24-bit, and 32-bit.
• Support for LADSPA, LV2, Nyquist, VST, and Audio Unit effect plug-ins.

3. Audio Cutter

Are you looking for an app to help you edit audio into the browser? Audio Cutter is one of the apps that allows you to cut and edit the audio in the Windows browser. It is a completely free app that supports 300 file formats. It comes with ringtone quality presets and fades in and out. The other features of Audio Cutter include as:

• Extract an audio track from a video.
• No installation is required. A few clicks can let you cut an audio track right in your browser tab.
• The process is completely secure, you can get access to the file once uploaded, and it is automatically deleted from the server after you finish.
• Make a ringtone in just one click.

4. DVDVideoSoft Free Audio Editor

If you are looking for a free audio editing software, which is also easy to use for homemade audio files, try your hand at DVDVideoSoft Free Audio Editor. This app lets you edit audio for Windows easily, split the audio files, and delete unwanted audio parts in just a few clicks. The features of DVDVideoSoft Free Audio Editor are as follows:

• The interface is intuitive and simple.
• The waveform of the audio files is displayed that can be edited by any user visually.
• Convert audio to a wide range of formats.
• Adjust the audio volume.
• Use tags or selections to ease the work.
• Supports audio formats like MP3, WAV, AC3, M4A, MP2, OGG, WMA, and FLAC.

Filmora Audio Editor

Edit Audio with AI

Experience the power of Filmora ‘s AI tools and make your audio or music stand out like never before!

Try It Free Try It Free Try It Free Learn More >

5. Free Audio Editor

For the past few years, Free Audio Editor has been a choice for many because of its simplicity. The pared-back tool feature in this app makes the process of audio editing simple and easy. The other features of Free Audio Editor are as below:

• Trimming and converting sound files is completely straightforward.
• Well-designed interface but does not have any creative filters.
• Supports a range of export formats.
• Digitize sound recordings of your rare music cassette tapes, vinyl, LPs, and videos, creating standard digital sound files.
• Edit audio using the traditional Waveform View or the frequency-based Spectral Display.
• Easy to isolate and remove undesirable noise.
• More than 30 native signal and effects processing engines.

6. Ocenaudio

One of the most powerful and best audio editors, Ocenaudio is easy to use and master than its counterparts. The features of Ocenaudio include:

• Great filter selections.
• Clean and simple interface.
• Easy for everyday audio editing.
• Real-time effect previewing to speed up your work.
• Highly precise selection tool.
• Select different portions of an audio file and listen, edit or apply an effect to them simultaneously.
• Allows spectrogram view to analyze the spectral content of your audio signal with maximum clarity.

Audio Editor	Features	Support Files
Audacity	Easy to use for all level users. Record live audio. Digitize recording from other media files.	Supports multiple file formats
Audio Cutter	Extract audio tracks from video in an easy way. Cut an audio track right in your browser window. The process is completely secure.	Supports 300 file formats
DVDVideoSoft	Intuitive and simple interface. Edit the audio file visually. Convert audio to any other kind of format.	MP3, WAV, AC3, M4A, MP2, OGG, WMA, FLAC
Free Audio Editor	Easy to trim and convert sound files. Well-designed interface. Easy to isolate and remove unwanted noise. Over 30 native signal and effects processing engines.	Supports a range of export formats
Ocenaudio	Clean and simple interface to operate. Easy for all skill levels. Real-time preview effects.

Part 2: 5 Best Free Audio Editors for Mac

Below are the 5 useful audio editors that can perfectly work on Mac:

1 - WavePad	2 - Apple Garageband	3 - LMMS
4 - Zortam Mp3 Media Studio	5 - CDex

1. WavePad

WavePad is an ample edit audio Mac software that allows you to record and edit audio recordings, music, and voice. WavePad audio editor’s free download feature makes it more endearing amongst the users. The other features of this free audio editor are:

• Easy to use interface.
• Supports sample rates from 6 to 192kHz, stereo or mono, 8, 16, 24, or 32 bits.
• Allows noise reduction and click pop removal features.
• Convert thousands of files as a single function with the help of batch processing.
• Supports all popular audio and music file formats.
• Amplify, normalize, equalize, envelope, reverb, echo, reverse, and many more audio effects.

2. Apple Garageband

The built-in audio creation studio inside your Mac device, Apple Garageband, offers a fully-equipped sound library, including an amazing selection of drums, guitars, and voice presets. The features of Apple Garageband are as follows:

• Intuitive and modern design that is easy to learn.
• Free audio editing software for Mac.
• Easy to learn, play, record , create and share.
• Choose from a jaw‑dropping array of realistic amps and effects.
• Every synth with shape‑shifting controls.
• Compression and visual equalizer.

Filmora AI Audio Editor

Wondershare Filmora - AI Audio Editor

• Simply split, rearrange, and apply more than 100+ remix effects on multiple audio clips

• Edit audio files like denoise, crop, audio ducking, audio auto synchronization, etc…

• Cross-platform supported - (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android)

Edit Audio for Free Edit Audio for Free Edit Audio for Free Learn More >

3. LMMS

An additional free audio editing software may be used for the creation of beats, the organization of samples, and the mixing of sounds. Linux MultiMedia Studio is what “LMMS” stands for when abbreviated. Connecting LMMS to any of your MIDI instruments allows you to give live performances using the software. The following is a list of LMMS’s most notable features:

• The editor has a 32-bit VST bridge in addition to 16 synthesizers that are built-in and can work with 64-bit VST instruments.
• A ZynAddSubFX synthesizer that has been built in.
• The essentials, such as the limiter, reverb, delay, and other effects, are covered here.

4. Zortam Mp3 Media Studio

Do you wish to keep your music collection well-organized? The Zortam Mp3 Media Studio is a comprehensive music tool for organizing your ripped CD, Mp3/Karaoke collection to edit Mp3 ID3 tags, normalizing Mp3, and more. The features of this free audio editor are:

• Directly from your iPod, you can play, normalize and burn MP3s.
• Mp3 Tagger and MP3 Manager, and iPod Manager.
• Auto-tagging your mp3 music collection is allowed.
• Load 50000 Mp3’s and more with the speed of light.
• Audio library with a powerful interface.

5. CDex

From ripping data from CDs to compressing ripped audio data with the help of an audio encoder, CDex is free audio editing software to edit audio on Mac devices. The features of CDex are:

• Directly record multiple tracks.
• Conversion of external WAV files.
• Normalization of the audio signal.

Free Audio Editor	Features	Support Files
WavePad	Easy to use interface. Allows noise reduction and click pop removal. Convert thousands of files.	Supports all popular audio and music file formats.
Apple Garageband	Intuitive and modern design that is easy to use. Synth with shape‑shifting controls. Compression and visual equalizer.	Supports popular used file formats
LMMS	The editor has a 32-bit VST bridge in addition to 16 synthesizers that are built-in and can work with 64-bit VST instruments. A ZynAddSubFX synthesizer has been built in. The essentials, such as the limiter, reverb, delay, and other effects, are covered here.
Zortam Mp3 Media Studio	Auto-tagging mp3 music collection. Load 50000 Mp3’s and more very quickly.	Supports many common used audio formats
CDex	Record multiple tracks. Normalization of the audio signal.	Supports commonly used audio formats

Conclusion

Now you know about the 11 best audio editors for Windows and Mac. You can choose one of them to explore and bring sound effects to your audio files. Watch the below video to learn how to make Hollywood sound effects too.

A cross-platform for making videos anywhere for all creators

Why your video editing isn’t good enough? How about some creative inspo?

• 100 Million+ Users
• 150+ Countries and Regions
• 4 Million+ Social Media Followers
• 5 Million+ Stock Media for Use

Try It Free Try It Free

Try It Free

Try It Free

* Secure Download

FAQs about Free Audio Editors

1. What is the best software to edit audio?

It depends on your needs. If you are looking for the best free software to edit audio, Audacity is a great choice. However, if you work in the music industry, Adobe Audition is very popular among musicians due to its irreplaceable functionalities.

2. Is GarageBand better than Audacity?

Both GarageBand and Audacity are the most commonly used free audio editing tools. However, they differ in several aspects. GarageBand can only work on macOS and iOS products, but Audacity can work on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Then one of the biggest differences between them is GarageBand is remarkable for making music, but Audacity is more like an audio editing tool. That’s why we can’t simply say GarageBand is better than Audacity because everyone has different purposes when choosing tools.

3. Can I record my voice over a music file using WavePad?

You cannot record your voice directly over the music file with WavePad; however, you can create a second voice file and combine the tracks using the Paste Mix tool.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Are you a creative person and have a passion for creating a masterpiece? The audio must be perfect and clear, whether you are composing an instrumental piece or the next big podcast. Any background noise or low pitch can spoil your audio recording.

The audio editors come as an incredible help to save you in such situations. But, when you are a beginner or your budget is too low to afford the best audio editors, the free audio editor comes as a sigh of relief. Here are the 11 best audio editors for Windows and Mac.

• Part 1: 6 Best Free Audio Editors for Windows
• Part 2: 5 Best Free Audio Editors for Mac

Part 1: 6 Best Free Audio Editors for Windows

Let’s take a look at the best 6 audio editors we recommend you to use on Windows.

1 - Filmora	2 - Audacity	3 - Audio Cutter
4 - DVDVideoSoft Free Audio Editor	5 - Free Audio Editor	6 - Ocenaudio

1. Filmora [Free trial and Paid subscription]

Filmora is a full-featured professional video editing and audio editing software for Windows and Mac computers. You can use the built-in editing tools to cut, copy, paste, or insert audio files, mute the audio in video, add your voiceover, or add a new audio track from the Audio Library. Follow this simple guideline below to edit the audio track of your video.

Edit Audio with AI

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Secure Download

Edit Audio with AI

For macOS 10.14 or later

Secure Download

2. Audacity

One of the best free audio editors is Audacity, a flexible and powerful tool. Audacity is the first choice for free download for any Windows desktop platform. The extensive suite of built-in tools makes Audacity one of the preferred choices among users. The main features of Audacity are as below:

• Easy to use multitrack audio editor.
• Free, open-source audio editing software for all levels.
• Record live audio through a mixer or microphone.
• Digitize recordings from other media.
• Combine sound files and export recordings in various formats.
• Supports 16-bit, 24-bit, and 32-bit.
• Support for LADSPA, LV2, Nyquist, VST, and Audio Unit effect plug-ins.

3. Audio Cutter

Are you looking for an app to help you edit audio into the browser? Audio Cutter is one of the apps that allows you to cut and edit the audio in the Windows browser. It is a completely free app that supports 300 file formats. It comes with ringtone quality presets and fades in and out. The other features of Audio Cutter include as:

• Extract an audio track from a video.
• No installation is required. A few clicks can let you cut an audio track right in your browser tab.
• The process is completely secure, you can get access to the file once uploaded, and it is automatically deleted from the server after you finish.
• Make a ringtone in just one click.

4. DVDVideoSoft Free Audio Editor

If you are looking for a free audio editing software, which is also easy to use for homemade audio files, try your hand at DVDVideoSoft Free Audio Editor. This app lets you edit audio for Windows easily, split the audio files, and delete unwanted audio parts in just a few clicks. The features of DVDVideoSoft Free Audio Editor are as follows:

• The interface is intuitive and simple.
• The waveform of the audio files is displayed that can be edited by any user visually.
• Convert audio to a wide range of formats.
• Adjust the audio volume.
• Use tags or selections to ease the work.
• Supports audio formats like MP3, WAV, AC3, M4A, MP2, OGG, WMA, and FLAC.

Filmora Audio Editor

Edit Audio with AI

Experience the power of Filmora ‘s AI tools and make your audio or music stand out like never before!

Try It Free Try It Free Try It Free Learn More >

5. Free Audio Editor

For the past few years, Free Audio Editor has been a choice for many because of its simplicity. The pared-back tool feature in this app makes the process of audio editing simple and easy. The other features of Free Audio Editor are as below:

• Trimming and converting sound files is completely straightforward.
• Well-designed interface but does not have any creative filters.
• Supports a range of export formats.
• Digitize sound recordings of your rare music cassette tapes, vinyl, LPs, and videos, creating standard digital sound files.
• Edit audio using the traditional Waveform View or the frequency-based Spectral Display.
• Easy to isolate and remove undesirable noise.
• More than 30 native signal and effects processing engines.

6. Ocenaudio

One of the most powerful and best audio editors, Ocenaudio is easy to use and master than its counterparts. The features of Ocenaudio include:

• Great filter selections.
• Clean and simple interface.
• Easy for everyday audio editing.
• Real-time effect previewing to speed up your work.
• Highly precise selection tool.
• Select different portions of an audio file and listen, edit or apply an effect to them simultaneously.
• Allows spectrogram view to analyze the spectral content of your audio signal with maximum clarity.

Audio Editor	Features	Support Files
Audacity	Easy to use for all level users. Record live audio. Digitize recording from other media files.	Supports multiple file formats
Audio Cutter	Extract audio tracks from video in an easy way. Cut an audio track right in your browser window. The process is completely secure.	Supports 300 file formats
DVDVideoSoft	Intuitive and simple interface. Edit the audio file visually. Convert audio to any other kind of format.	MP3, WAV, AC3, M4A, MP2, OGG, WMA, FLAC
Free Audio Editor	Easy to trim and convert sound files. Well-designed interface. Easy to isolate and remove unwanted noise. Over 30 native signal and effects processing engines.	Supports a range of export formats
Ocenaudio	Clean and simple interface to operate. Easy for all skill levels. Real-time preview effects.

Part 2: 5 Best Free Audio Editors for Mac

Below are the 5 useful audio editors that can perfectly work on Mac:

1 - WavePad	2 - Apple Garageband	3 - LMMS
4 - Zortam Mp3 Media Studio	5 - CDex

1. WavePad

WavePad is an ample edit audio Mac software that allows you to record and edit audio recordings, music, and voice. WavePad audio editor’s free download feature makes it more endearing amongst the users. The other features of this free audio editor are:

• Easy to use interface.
• Supports sample rates from 6 to 192kHz, stereo or mono, 8, 16, 24, or 32 bits.
• Allows noise reduction and click pop removal features.
• Convert thousands of files as a single function with the help of batch processing.
• Supports all popular audio and music file formats.
• Amplify, normalize, equalize, envelope, reverb, echo, reverse, and many more audio effects.

2. Apple Garageband

The built-in audio creation studio inside your Mac device, Apple Garageband, offers a fully-equipped sound library, including an amazing selection of drums, guitars, and voice presets. The features of Apple Garageband are as follows:

• Intuitive and modern design that is easy to learn.
• Free audio editing software for Mac.
• Easy to learn, play, record , create and share.
• Choose from a jaw‑dropping array of realistic amps and effects.
• Every synth with shape‑shifting controls.
• Compression and visual equalizer.

Filmora AI Audio Editor

Wondershare Filmora - AI Audio Editor

• Simply split, rearrange, and apply more than 100+ remix effects on multiple audio clips

• Edit audio files like denoise, crop, audio ducking, audio auto synchronization, etc…

• Cross-platform supported - (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android)

Edit Audio for Free Edit Audio for Free Edit Audio for Free Learn More >

3. LMMS

An additional free audio editing software may be used for the creation of beats, the organization of samples, and the mixing of sounds. Linux MultiMedia Studio is what “LMMS” stands for when abbreviated. Connecting LMMS to any of your MIDI instruments allows you to give live performances using the software. The following is a list of LMMS’s most notable features:

• The editor has a 32-bit VST bridge in addition to 16 synthesizers that are built-in and can work with 64-bit VST instruments.
• A ZynAddSubFX synthesizer that has been built in.
• The essentials, such as the limiter, reverb, delay, and other effects, are covered here.

4. Zortam Mp3 Media Studio

Do you wish to keep your music collection well-organized? The Zortam Mp3 Media Studio is a comprehensive music tool for organizing your ripped CD, Mp3/Karaoke collection to edit Mp3 ID3 tags, normalizing Mp3, and more. The features of this free audio editor are:

• Directly from your iPod, you can play, normalize and burn MP3s.
• Mp3 Tagger and MP3 Manager, and iPod Manager.
• Auto-tagging your mp3 music collection is allowed.
• Load 50000 Mp3’s and more with the speed of light.
• Audio library with a powerful interface.

5. CDex

From ripping data from CDs to compressing ripped audio data with the help of an audio encoder, CDex is free audio editing software to edit audio on Mac devices. The features of CDex are:

• Directly record multiple tracks.
• Conversion of external WAV files.
• Normalization of the audio signal.

Free Audio Editor	Features	Support Files
WavePad	Easy to use interface. Allows noise reduction and click pop removal. Convert thousands of files.	Supports all popular audio and music file formats.
Apple Garageband	Intuitive and modern design that is easy to use. Synth with shape‑shifting controls. Compression and visual equalizer.	Supports popular used file formats
LMMS	The editor has a 32-bit VST bridge in addition to 16 synthesizers that are built-in and can work with 64-bit VST instruments. A ZynAddSubFX synthesizer has been built in. The essentials, such as the limiter, reverb, delay, and other effects, are covered here.
Zortam Mp3 Media Studio	Auto-tagging mp3 music collection. Load 50000 Mp3’s and more very quickly.	Supports many common used audio formats
CDex	Record multiple tracks. Normalization of the audio signal.	Supports commonly used audio formats

Conclusion

Now you know about the 11 best audio editors for Windows and Mac. You can choose one of them to explore and bring sound effects to your audio files. Watch the below video to learn how to make Hollywood sound effects too.

A cross-platform for making videos anywhere for all creators

Why your video editing isn’t good enough? How about some creative inspo?

• 100 Million+ Users
• 150+ Countries and Regions
• 4 Million+ Social Media Followers
• 5 Million+ Stock Media for Use

Try It Free Try It Free

Try It Free

Try It Free

* Secure Download

FAQs about Free Audio Editors

1. What is the best software to edit audio?

It depends on your needs. If you are looking for the best free software to edit audio, Audacity is a great choice. However, if you work in the music industry, Adobe Audition is very popular among musicians due to its irreplaceable functionalities.

2. Is GarageBand better than Audacity?

Both GarageBand and Audacity are the most commonly used free audio editing tools. However, they differ in several aspects. GarageBand can only work on macOS and iOS products, but Audacity can work on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Then one of the biggest differences between them is GarageBand is remarkable for making music, but Audacity is more like an audio editing tool. That’s why we can’t simply say GarageBand is better than Audacity because everyone has different purposes when choosing tools.

3. Can I record my voice over a music file using WavePad?

You cannot record your voice directly over the music file with WavePad; however, you can create a second voice file and combine the tracks using the Paste Mix tool.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Are you a creative person and have a passion for creating a masterpiece? The audio must be perfect and clear, whether you are composing an instrumental piece or the next big podcast. Any background noise or low pitch can spoil your audio recording.

The audio editors come as an incredible help to save you in such situations. But, when you are a beginner or your budget is too low to afford the best audio editors, the free audio editor comes as a sigh of relief. Here are the 11 best audio editors for Windows and Mac.

• Part 1: 6 Best Free Audio Editors for Windows
• Part 2: 5 Best Free Audio Editors for Mac

Part 1: 6 Best Free Audio Editors for Windows

Let’s take a look at the best 6 audio editors we recommend you to use on Windows.

1 - Filmora	2 - Audacity	3 - Audio Cutter
4 - DVDVideoSoft Free Audio Editor	5 - Free Audio Editor	6 - Ocenaudio

1. Filmora [Free trial and Paid subscription]

Filmora is a full-featured professional video editing and audio editing software for Windows and Mac computers. You can use the built-in editing tools to cut, copy, paste, or insert audio files, mute the audio in video, add your voiceover, or add a new audio track from the Audio Library. Follow this simple guideline below to edit the audio track of your video.

Edit Audio with AI

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Secure Download

Edit Audio with AI

For macOS 10.14 or later

Secure Download

2. Audacity

One of the best free audio editors is Audacity, a flexible and powerful tool. Audacity is the first choice for free download for any Windows desktop platform. The extensive suite of built-in tools makes Audacity one of the preferred choices among users. The main features of Audacity are as below:

• Easy to use multitrack audio editor.
• Free, open-source audio editing software for all levels.
• Record live audio through a mixer or microphone.
• Digitize recordings from other media.
• Combine sound files and export recordings in various formats.
• Supports 16-bit, 24-bit, and 32-bit.
• Support for LADSPA, LV2, Nyquist, VST, and Audio Unit effect plug-ins.

3. Audio Cutter

Are you looking for an app to help you edit audio into the browser? Audio Cutter is one of the apps that allows you to cut and edit the audio in the Windows browser. It is a completely free app that supports 300 file formats. It comes with ringtone quality presets and fades in and out. The other features of Audio Cutter include as:

• Extract an audio track from a video.
• No installation is required. A few clicks can let you cut an audio track right in your browser tab.
• The process is completely secure, you can get access to the file once uploaded, and it is automatically deleted from the server after you finish.
• Make a ringtone in just one click.

4. DVDVideoSoft Free Audio Editor

If you are looking for a free audio editing software, which is also easy to use for homemade audio files, try your hand at DVDVideoSoft Free Audio Editor. This app lets you edit audio for Windows easily, split the audio files, and delete unwanted audio parts in just a few clicks. The features of DVDVideoSoft Free Audio Editor are as follows:

• The interface is intuitive and simple.
• The waveform of the audio files is displayed that can be edited by any user visually.
• Convert audio to a wide range of formats.
• Adjust the audio volume.
• Use tags or selections to ease the work.
• Supports audio formats like MP3, WAV, AC3, M4A, MP2, OGG, WMA, and FLAC.

Filmora Audio Editor

Edit Audio with AI

Experience the power of Filmora ‘s AI tools and make your audio or music stand out like never before!

Try It Free Try It Free Try It Free Learn More >

5. Free Audio Editor

For the past few years, Free Audio Editor has been a choice for many because of its simplicity. The pared-back tool feature in this app makes the process of audio editing simple and easy. The other features of Free Audio Editor are as below:

• Trimming and converting sound files is completely straightforward.
• Well-designed interface but does not have any creative filters.
• Supports a range of export formats.
• Digitize sound recordings of your rare music cassette tapes, vinyl, LPs, and videos, creating standard digital sound files.
• Edit audio using the traditional Waveform View or the frequency-based Spectral Display.
• Easy to isolate and remove undesirable noise.
• More than 30 native signal and effects processing engines.

6. Ocenaudio

One of the most powerful and best audio editors, Ocenaudio is easy to use and master than its counterparts. The features of Ocenaudio include:

• Great filter selections.
• Clean and simple interface.
• Easy for everyday audio editing.
• Real-time effect previewing to speed up your work.
• Highly precise selection tool.
• Select different portions of an audio file and listen, edit or apply an effect to them simultaneously.
• Allows spectrogram view to analyze the spectral content of your audio signal with maximum clarity.

Audio Editor	Features	Support Files
Audacity	Easy to use for all level users. Record live audio. Digitize recording from other media files.	Supports multiple file formats
Audio Cutter	Extract audio tracks from video in an easy way. Cut an audio track right in your browser window. The process is completely secure.	Supports 300 file formats
DVDVideoSoft	Intuitive and simple interface. Edit the audio file visually. Convert audio to any other kind of format.	MP3, WAV, AC3, M4A, MP2, OGG, WMA, FLAC
Free Audio Editor	Easy to trim and convert sound files. Well-designed interface. Easy to isolate and remove unwanted noise. Over 30 native signal and effects processing engines.	Supports a range of export formats
Ocenaudio	Clean and simple interface to operate. Easy for all skill levels. Real-time preview effects.

Part 2: 5 Best Free Audio Editors for Mac

Below are the 5 useful audio editors that can perfectly work on Mac:

1 - WavePad	2 - Apple Garageband	3 - LMMS
4 - Zortam Mp3 Media Studio	5 - CDex

1. WavePad

WavePad is an ample edit audio Mac software that allows you to record and edit audio recordings, music, and voice. WavePad audio editor’s free download feature makes it more endearing amongst the users. The other features of this free audio editor are:

• Easy to use interface.
• Supports sample rates from 6 to 192kHz, stereo or mono, 8, 16, 24, or 32 bits.
• Allows noise reduction and click pop removal features.
• Convert thousands of files as a single function with the help of batch processing.
• Supports all popular audio and music file formats.
• Amplify, normalize, equalize, envelope, reverb, echo, reverse, and many more audio effects.

2. Apple Garageband

The built-in audio creation studio inside your Mac device, Apple Garageband, offers a fully-equipped sound library, including an amazing selection of drums, guitars, and voice presets. The features of Apple Garageband are as follows:

• Intuitive and modern design that is easy to learn.
• Free audio editing software for Mac.
• Easy to learn, play, record , create and share.
• Choose from a jaw‑dropping array of realistic amps and effects.
• Every synth with shape‑shifting controls.
• Compression and visual equalizer.

Filmora AI Audio Editor

Wondershare Filmora - AI Audio Editor

• Simply split, rearrange, and apply more than 100+ remix effects on multiple audio clips

• Edit audio files like denoise, crop, audio ducking, audio auto synchronization, etc…

• Cross-platform supported - (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android)

Edit Audio for Free Edit Audio for Free Edit Audio for Free Learn More >

3. LMMS

An additional free audio editing software may be used for the creation of beats, the organization of samples, and the mixing of sounds. Linux MultiMedia Studio is what “LMMS” stands for when abbreviated. Connecting LMMS to any of your MIDI instruments allows you to give live performances using the software. The following is a list of LMMS’s most notable features:

• The editor has a 32-bit VST bridge in addition to 16 synthesizers that are built-in and can work with 64-bit VST instruments.
• A ZynAddSubFX synthesizer that has been built in.
• The essentials, such as the limiter, reverb, delay, and other effects, are covered here.

4. Zortam Mp3 Media Studio

Do you wish to keep your music collection well-organized? The Zortam Mp3 Media Studio is a comprehensive music tool for organizing your ripped CD, Mp3/Karaoke collection to edit Mp3 ID3 tags, normalizing Mp3, and more. The features of this free audio editor are:

• Directly from your iPod, you can play, normalize and burn MP3s.
• Mp3 Tagger and MP3 Manager, and iPod Manager.
• Auto-tagging your mp3 music collection is allowed.
• Load 50000 Mp3’s and more with the speed of light.
• Audio library with a powerful interface.

5. CDex

From ripping data from CDs to compressing ripped audio data with the help of an audio encoder, CDex is free audio editing software to edit audio on Mac devices. The features of CDex are:

• Directly record multiple tracks.
• Conversion of external WAV files.
• Normalization of the audio signal.

Free Audio Editor	Features	Support Files
WavePad	Easy to use interface. Allows noise reduction and click pop removal. Convert thousands of files.	Supports all popular audio and music file formats.
Apple Garageband	Intuitive and modern design that is easy to use. Synth with shape‑shifting controls. Compression and visual equalizer.	Supports popular used file formats
LMMS	The editor has a 32-bit VST bridge in addition to 16 synthesizers that are built-in and can work with 64-bit VST instruments. A ZynAddSubFX synthesizer has been built in. The essentials, such as the limiter, reverb, delay, and other effects, are covered here.
Zortam Mp3 Media Studio	Auto-tagging mp3 music collection. Load 50000 Mp3’s and more very quickly.	Supports many common used audio formats
CDex	Record multiple tracks. Normalization of the audio signal.	Supports commonly used audio formats

Conclusion

Now you know about the 11 best audio editors for Windows and Mac. You can choose one of them to explore and bring sound effects to your audio files. Watch the below video to learn how to make Hollywood sound effects too.

A cross-platform for making videos anywhere for all creators

Why your video editing isn’t good enough? How about some creative inspo?

• 100 Million+ Users
• 150+ Countries and Regions
• 4 Million+ Social Media Followers
• 5 Million+ Stock Media for Use

Try It Free Try It Free

Try It Free

Try It Free

* Secure Download

FAQs about Free Audio Editors

1. What is the best software to edit audio?

It depends on your needs. If you are looking for the best free software to edit audio, Audacity is a great choice. However, if you work in the music industry, Adobe Audition is very popular among musicians due to its irreplaceable functionalities.

2. Is GarageBand better than Audacity?

Both GarageBand and Audacity are the most commonly used free audio editing tools. However, they differ in several aspects. GarageBand can only work on macOS and iOS products, but Audacity can work on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Then one of the biggest differences between them is GarageBand is remarkable for making music, but Audacity is more like an audio editing tool. That’s why we can’t simply say GarageBand is better than Audacity because everyone has different purposes when choosing tools.

3. Can I record my voice over a music file using WavePad?

You cannot record your voice directly over the music file with WavePad; however, you can create a second voice file and combine the tracks using the Paste Mix tool.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Mastering OBS Audio Levels: Techniques for Dynamic Ducking and Lifting

How to Balance Your Stream Sound with OBS Audio Ducking?

Benjamin Arango

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

Video making or filmmaking has now come to the level where the history of imperfections faded away a long time ago. Yes, while the animation is still ruling the floor, an inevitable back-end process might look off-screen and a little complicated. One such job is ducking sound that is the process of balancing voiceover and the background audio. If you aren’t a tech-savvy person, I hope to go in-depth isn’t needed, and hence we stop here. To depict how you need to work out this ducking music process, we have this post.

If you are a content creator, maybe you will be familiar with coordinating the right audio with the video. If not, it isn’t a problem anymore as I have included a detailed guide of implementing audio ducking in a step-wise way. With primary importance to the popular software OBS followed by a suitable alternative, let’s begin our article!

Part 1: How to Balance Your Stream Sound with OBS Audio Ducking?

OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is free and open-source software reliable for Windows, Linux, and macOS 10.13+. With countless features like real video/audio capture, mixer, custom transitions, easy-to-use configurations, pre-source filters, VST plug-in support, noise suppression, and a lot more, you can accomplish audio ducking in OBS by adding a sidechain/ducking compression filter. Thus, perform OBS audio ducking in a clean manner by lowering the audio automatically once OBS detects audio on the other audio source.

Does this magic of OBS audio ducking seem new to you? It will not be anymore as the below step-by-step manual will guide you through the process.

Step 1: Add video files

Launch the OBS software on your system, and import the files into the workspace with the “File” menu. If you need to add voiceover from your microphone, you can click the “Start Recording” option under the main interface’s control section.

If the video plays on VLC in the background, it will appear on the mixer column.

Step 2: Choose filter and compressor

On the Settings icon next to the streaming video, click on it, and choose the “Filters” option from the drop-down.

You will reach the pop-up of the “Filters for Desktop Audio” whereby clicking on the “+” icon, choose the compressor option.

On the space bar, enter a name for the filter. For example, for ducking music, specify as “ducking,” and press “OK.”

Step 3: Change the parameters

You can now specify the values of the ratio, threshold, attack, release, output gain, and the ducking source, for example, “Mic” for microphone voiceover addition.

It’s complete. Yes, OBS audio ducking is over. Now you can check the video and alter the parameters if required after a preview.

Part 2: The Best Audio Ducking Alternative to OBS

Although OBS is preferable for being an open-source and free option with comprehensive abilities in video recording and live streaming strategies, the OBS ducking interface might seem a little unfriendly, making it difficult for newbies. Hence, we have come up with Wondershare Filmora in this session as the best alternative to Streamlabs OBS audio ducking. With an intuitive easy-to-use interface, and attractive video/audio features, Filmora stands as the recommended choice for professionals and beginners!

Developed for the inspired, Filmora follows its unique way of ducking sound, easy to handle for travel Vlogs, makeup tutorials, video lectures, presentations, and so on. Going through the below feature set can reveal why is Filmora is better than OBS.

• With simple steps, you can perform audio ducking in just on a single scale to attain the right audio balance on your video without complication.
• Get access to other in-built options like noise remover, after effects; fade in/out, equalizer, keyframing, and so on.
• Perfect your audio to the video along with tons of features like an audio mixer along with options like mute, detach, split, and background removal.
• Add voiceover, sprinkle magic with filters, detect beat, and create markers easily with Wondershare Filmora.

How to use the audio ducking feature in Wondershare Filmora?

Download and install Wondershare Filmora by clicking on the Try It Free button above. Once installed, follow the steps below.

Step 1: Launch the application

Open or launch the Wondershare Filmora application and choose “New Project“ or open the existing project from the primary dashboard.

Step 2: Import the video into the timeline

Drag the video file to which you need to balance the stream sound.

Another option to bring the video file into the timeline is by executing “File> Import Media> Import Media Files”.

Step 3: Ducking sound in the video

Select the clips with dialogue, whereby right-clicking or double-clicking on them, choose the “Adjust Audio” option.

On the following audio editing window, tick the “Lower the volume of other clips“ option to reduce background music or any other media volume.

Conclusion

I hope you have now come to know why ducking sound is a must and how well Streamlabs OBS and Wondershare Filmora carry out the job. Lastly, with the step-by-step guide to accomplish audio ducking with both the software, we can conclude that OBS performance is better, whereas Wondershare Filmora is the best choice in terms of interface and features!

Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

Video making or filmmaking has now come to the level where the history of imperfections faded away a long time ago. Yes, while the animation is still ruling the floor, an inevitable back-end process might look off-screen and a little complicated. One such job is ducking sound that is the process of balancing voiceover and the background audio. If you aren’t a tech-savvy person, I hope to go in-depth isn’t needed, and hence we stop here. To depict how you need to work out this ducking music process, we have this post.

If you are a content creator, maybe you will be familiar with coordinating the right audio with the video. If not, it isn’t a problem anymore as I have included a detailed guide of implementing audio ducking in a step-wise way. With primary importance to the popular software OBS followed by a suitable alternative, let’s begin our article!

Part 1: How to Balance Your Stream Sound with OBS Audio Ducking?

OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is free and open-source software reliable for Windows, Linux, and macOS 10.13+. With countless features like real video/audio capture, mixer, custom transitions, easy-to-use configurations, pre-source filters, VST plug-in support, noise suppression, and a lot more, you can accomplish audio ducking in OBS by adding a sidechain/ducking compression filter. Thus, perform OBS audio ducking in a clean manner by lowering the audio automatically once OBS detects audio on the other audio source.

Does this magic of OBS audio ducking seem new to you? It will not be anymore as the below step-by-step manual will guide you through the process.

Step 1: Add video files

Launch the OBS software on your system, and import the files into the workspace with the “File” menu. If you need to add voiceover from your microphone, you can click the “Start Recording” option under the main interface’s control section.

If the video plays on VLC in the background, it will appear on the mixer column.

Step 2: Choose filter and compressor

On the Settings icon next to the streaming video, click on it, and choose the “Filters” option from the drop-down.

You will reach the pop-up of the “Filters for Desktop Audio” whereby clicking on the “+” icon, choose the compressor option.

On the space bar, enter a name for the filter. For example, for ducking music, specify as “ducking,” and press “OK.”

Step 3: Change the parameters

You can now specify the values of the ratio, threshold, attack, release, output gain, and the ducking source, for example, “Mic” for microphone voiceover addition.

It’s complete. Yes, OBS audio ducking is over. Now you can check the video and alter the parameters if required after a preview.

Part 2: The Best Audio Ducking Alternative to OBS

Although OBS is preferable for being an open-source and free option with comprehensive abilities in video recording and live streaming strategies, the OBS ducking interface might seem a little unfriendly, making it difficult for newbies. Hence, we have come up with Wondershare Filmora in this session as the best alternative to Streamlabs OBS audio ducking. With an intuitive easy-to-use interface, and attractive video/audio features, Filmora stands as the recommended choice for professionals and beginners!

Developed for the inspired, Filmora follows its unique way of ducking sound, easy to handle for travel Vlogs, makeup tutorials, video lectures, presentations, and so on. Going through the below feature set can reveal why is Filmora is better than OBS.

• With simple steps, you can perform audio ducking in just on a single scale to attain the right audio balance on your video without complication.
• Get access to other in-built options like noise remover, after effects; fade in/out, equalizer, keyframing, and so on.
• Perfect your audio to the video along with tons of features like an audio mixer along with options like mute, detach, split, and background removal.
• Add voiceover, sprinkle magic with filters, detect beat, and create markers easily with Wondershare Filmora.

How to use the audio ducking feature in Wondershare Filmora?

Download and install Wondershare Filmora by clicking on the Try It Free button above. Once installed, follow the steps below.

Step 1: Launch the application

Open or launch the Wondershare Filmora application and choose “New Project“ or open the existing project from the primary dashboard.

Step 2: Import the video into the timeline

Drag the video file to which you need to balance the stream sound.

Another option to bring the video file into the timeline is by executing “File> Import Media> Import Media Files”.

Step 3: Ducking sound in the video

Select the clips with dialogue, whereby right-clicking or double-clicking on them, choose the “Adjust Audio” option.

On the following audio editing window, tick the “Lower the volume of other clips“ option to reduce background music or any other media volume.

Conclusion

I hope you have now come to know why ducking sound is a must and how well Streamlabs OBS and Wondershare Filmora carry out the job. Lastly, with the step-by-step guide to accomplish audio ducking with both the software, we can conclude that OBS performance is better, whereas Wondershare Filmora is the best choice in terms of interface and features!

Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

Video making or filmmaking has now come to the level where the history of imperfections faded away a long time ago. Yes, while the animation is still ruling the floor, an inevitable back-end process might look off-screen and a little complicated. One such job is ducking sound that is the process of balancing voiceover and the background audio. If you aren’t a tech-savvy person, I hope to go in-depth isn’t needed, and hence we stop here. To depict how you need to work out this ducking music process, we have this post.

If you are a content creator, maybe you will be familiar with coordinating the right audio with the video. If not, it isn’t a problem anymore as I have included a detailed guide of implementing audio ducking in a step-wise way. With primary importance to the popular software OBS followed by a suitable alternative, let’s begin our article!

Part 1: How to Balance Your Stream Sound with OBS Audio Ducking?

OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is free and open-source software reliable for Windows, Linux, and macOS 10.13+. With countless features like real video/audio capture, mixer, custom transitions, easy-to-use configurations, pre-source filters, VST plug-in support, noise suppression, and a lot more, you can accomplish audio ducking in OBS by adding a sidechain/ducking compression filter. Thus, perform OBS audio ducking in a clean manner by lowering the audio automatically once OBS detects audio on the other audio source.

Does this magic of OBS audio ducking seem new to you? It will not be anymore as the below step-by-step manual will guide you through the process.

Step 1: Add video files

Launch the OBS software on your system, and import the files into the workspace with the “File” menu. If you need to add voiceover from your microphone, you can click the “Start Recording” option under the main interface’s control section.

If the video plays on VLC in the background, it will appear on the mixer column.

Step 2: Choose filter and compressor

On the Settings icon next to the streaming video, click on it, and choose the “Filters” option from the drop-down.

You will reach the pop-up of the “Filters for Desktop Audio” whereby clicking on the “+” icon, choose the compressor option.

On the space bar, enter a name for the filter. For example, for ducking music, specify as “ducking,” and press “OK.”

Step 3: Change the parameters

You can now specify the values of the ratio, threshold, attack, release, output gain, and the ducking source, for example, “Mic” for microphone voiceover addition.

It’s complete. Yes, OBS audio ducking is over. Now you can check the video and alter the parameters if required after a preview.

Part 2: The Best Audio Ducking Alternative to OBS

Although OBS is preferable for being an open-source and free option with comprehensive abilities in video recording and live streaming strategies, the OBS ducking interface might seem a little unfriendly, making it difficult for newbies. Hence, we have come up with Wondershare Filmora in this session as the best alternative to Streamlabs OBS audio ducking. With an intuitive easy-to-use interface, and attractive video/audio features, Filmora stands as the recommended choice for professionals and beginners!

Developed for the inspired, Filmora follows its unique way of ducking sound, easy to handle for travel Vlogs, makeup tutorials, video lectures, presentations, and so on. Going through the below feature set can reveal why is Filmora is better than OBS.

• With simple steps, you can perform audio ducking in just on a single scale to attain the right audio balance on your video without complication.
• Get access to other in-built options like noise remover, after effects; fade in/out, equalizer, keyframing, and so on.
• Perfect your audio to the video along with tons of features like an audio mixer along with options like mute, detach, split, and background removal.
• Add voiceover, sprinkle magic with filters, detect beat, and create markers easily with Wondershare Filmora.

How to use the audio ducking feature in Wondershare Filmora?

Download and install Wondershare Filmora by clicking on the Try It Free button above. Once installed, follow the steps below.

Step 1: Launch the application

Open or launch the Wondershare Filmora application and choose “New Project“ or open the existing project from the primary dashboard.

Step 2: Import the video into the timeline

Drag the video file to which you need to balance the stream sound.

Another option to bring the video file into the timeline is by executing “File> Import Media> Import Media Files”.

Step 3: Ducking sound in the video

Select the clips with dialogue, whereby right-clicking or double-clicking on them, choose the “Adjust Audio” option.

On the following audio editing window, tick the “Lower the volume of other clips“ option to reduce background music or any other media volume.

Conclusion

I hope you have now come to know why ducking sound is a must and how well Streamlabs OBS and Wondershare Filmora carry out the job. Lastly, with the step-by-step guide to accomplish audio ducking with both the software, we can conclude that OBS performance is better, whereas Wondershare Filmora is the best choice in terms of interface and features!

Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

Video making or filmmaking has now come to the level where the history of imperfections faded away a long time ago. Yes, while the animation is still ruling the floor, an inevitable back-end process might look off-screen and a little complicated. One such job is ducking sound that is the process of balancing voiceover and the background audio. If you aren’t a tech-savvy person, I hope to go in-depth isn’t needed, and hence we stop here. To depict how you need to work out this ducking music process, we have this post.

If you are a content creator, maybe you will be familiar with coordinating the right audio with the video. If not, it isn’t a problem anymore as I have included a detailed guide of implementing audio ducking in a step-wise way. With primary importance to the popular software OBS followed by a suitable alternative, let’s begin our article!

Part 1: How to Balance Your Stream Sound with OBS Audio Ducking?

OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is free and open-source software reliable for Windows, Linux, and macOS 10.13+. With countless features like real video/audio capture, mixer, custom transitions, easy-to-use configurations, pre-source filters, VST plug-in support, noise suppression, and a lot more, you can accomplish audio ducking in OBS by adding a sidechain/ducking compression filter. Thus, perform OBS audio ducking in a clean manner by lowering the audio automatically once OBS detects audio on the other audio source.

Does this magic of OBS audio ducking seem new to you? It will not be anymore as the below step-by-step manual will guide you through the process.

Step 1: Add video files

Launch the OBS software on your system, and import the files into the workspace with the “File” menu. If you need to add voiceover from your microphone, you can click the “Start Recording” option under the main interface’s control section.

If the video plays on VLC in the background, it will appear on the mixer column.

Step 2: Choose filter and compressor

On the Settings icon next to the streaming video, click on it, and choose the “Filters” option from the drop-down.

You will reach the pop-up of the “Filters for Desktop Audio” whereby clicking on the “+” icon, choose the compressor option.

On the space bar, enter a name for the filter. For example, for ducking music, specify as “ducking,” and press “OK.”

Step 3: Change the parameters

You can now specify the values of the ratio, threshold, attack, release, output gain, and the ducking source, for example, “Mic” for microphone voiceover addition.

It’s complete. Yes, OBS audio ducking is over. Now you can check the video and alter the parameters if required after a preview.

Part 2: The Best Audio Ducking Alternative to OBS

Although OBS is preferable for being an open-source and free option with comprehensive abilities in video recording and live streaming strategies, the OBS ducking interface might seem a little unfriendly, making it difficult for newbies. Hence, we have come up with Wondershare Filmora in this session as the best alternative to Streamlabs OBS audio ducking. With an intuitive easy-to-use interface, and attractive video/audio features, Filmora stands as the recommended choice for professionals and beginners!

Developed for the inspired, Filmora follows its unique way of ducking sound, easy to handle for travel Vlogs, makeup tutorials, video lectures, presentations, and so on. Going through the below feature set can reveal why is Filmora is better than OBS.

• With simple steps, you can perform audio ducking in just on a single scale to attain the right audio balance on your video without complication.
• Get access to other in-built options like noise remover, after effects; fade in/out, equalizer, keyframing, and so on.
• Perfect your audio to the video along with tons of features like an audio mixer along with options like mute, detach, split, and background removal.
• Add voiceover, sprinkle magic with filters, detect beat, and create markers easily with Wondershare Filmora.

How to use the audio ducking feature in Wondershare Filmora?

Download and install Wondershare Filmora by clicking on the Try It Free button above. Once installed, follow the steps below.

Step 1: Launch the application

Open or launch the Wondershare Filmora application and choose “New Project“ or open the existing project from the primary dashboard.

Step 2: Import the video into the timeline

Drag the video file to which you need to balance the stream sound.

Another option to bring the video file into the timeline is by executing “File> Import Media> Import Media Files”.

Step 3: Ducking sound in the video

Select the clips with dialogue, whereby right-clicking or double-clicking on them, choose the “Adjust Audio” option.

On the following audio editing window, tick the “Lower the volume of other clips“ option to reduce background music or any other media volume.

Conclusion

I hope you have now come to know why ducking sound is a must and how well Streamlabs OBS and Wondershare Filmora carry out the job. Lastly, with the step-by-step guide to accomplish audio ducking with both the software, we can conclude that OBS performance is better, whereas Wondershare Filmora is the best choice in terms of interface and features!

Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Benjamin Arango

“Film Team Dynamics: How Every Crew Member Contributes to the Final Product”

When shooting a small-scale video, only one person handles all department workings. He or she works not only as a director, but also a cinematographer and the camera operator.

However, as the production grows and needs large-scale filming, more specific members are needed for different departments. Whether you want to set up a filming studio, or join a movie-making workshop, you’d better figure out the entire composition of the film crew and choose the best one according to your capabilities.

To simplify the scenario, we have divided the crew into these major departments, as shown below, with their work areas.

What Is the Role of a Producer?

The producer is the main handler of the filming. Before filming, he finds out the content and directions and links with the director and DP for each direction to get the best vision of the music video. The producer are responsible for:

1. Schedule the crew members

Producers can make the call sheets for the crew members to maintain their schedule according to the specific timelines.

2. Find the studio space

To find the studio space, the producers work with the directors to get the exact location according to the script of their music video for better illustrations.

3. Find the gear

Producers found the gear for the studio space and handled the renting of the equipment from the warehouse.

4. Build relationships with the industries

If the filming is starting and you don’t know who to choose, you should build a relationship with the appropriate people in the industry. So that when you are in trouble, you can call them off to get the solution.

Roles of a Director Department

The director is considered to be in charge of filmmaking. His main responsibility is creatively giving the idea to the production and communicating to the crew and characters to check out what they want in their scenes to play out.

The director department mainly consists of the director and the first assistant director, and sometimes there is a 2nd, a 3rd, and 4th AD. For example,

1st AD

The first lead is mainly in charge of time management, communicate with the crew member, and ensuring that the shorts get done safely and readily.

Note: If there is no dialogue in the shorts, then the director usually gives reference pictures of the scenes and moods to act in that way.

You need to work with different people in the industry to check their personalities and work according to them. There is no need to work with the same people repeatedly.

Team for Production Designing

The next and foremost department is the production design. In this the production designer is the leader of all and has to work with the art director. He is mainly in charge of the set builders, set dressers, prop makers, hair and makeup, and costume and wardrobe departments.

In this department, the production designer is mainly involved in decorating the sets, making props, and setting up the lighting.

Cinematographers Department

The cinematic department comes to the frontline to give the shots and the lit music video final touches. In this, the head of the department is also known as the director of photography.

Director of photography

He mainly decides how the shots and the music video footage look. The main action is to handle the lightning and interact with the lights with the environment and the characters. He should build relationships with each other for better illusions.

Director’s monitor

The director’s monitor is the screen that displays a live shoot and filming of everything happening on camera. It mainly gives each take’s exact position and views for coordinating with the director and the DP.

Due to this, they can change the direction and the setup wherever they want and whenever they want.

Camera operators

To operate the camera, the DPs are not involved, but there is a specific job of the camera operators, which handle the shots and moves according to the director’s directions. There are also 1st and 2nd Assistant Cameras (AC) with the camera operators.

1st Assistant Camera

The duty of the 1st AC is to focus on the required target, pulling, swapping the lenses from the camera. He is ensuring that the camera is all set and workable on the shoot day without any trouble.

2nd Assistant Camera

The 2nd AC has to consider the slates of the shots, place exact locations and markers for the characters, and give exposed footage to save for the backup.

Gaffers and key grip

Gaffers and key grip have their own teams for maintaining the lighting and grip work assigned by the DP according to the creative plans.

Digital media technician

It is essential to get the backup of footage of every shot. If you are working on a large scale, the backup planner is recognized as the Digital Media Technician (DMT).

DMT will handle the exposed footage, which Digital Memory Card will do with tapes denoting the card’s number. Make sure to make two backups of the footage to prevent any trouble.

Note: Making two copies for the backup will reduce the risk of corrupted files and physical accidents of losing the footage.

Additional Roles

If you are the music video director, you need a Cinematographer with Camera Operators. He will be in charge of pulling and adjusting all the camera alignments. If you have enough budget, go with the co-producer to help you direct the talents.

To make your subject looks good and modern according to the theme, you should hire hair and makeup artist. If you have more budget, you can do it professionally with more and more crew members.

Conclusion

If you are a starter, then there is no need to worry to pull-off all the roles in a crew; you just need two to three people for the start-up. That’s all about the large production, but whenever you scale up, you should know how to manage all the members with their required areas.

You need to work with different people in the industry to check their personalities and work according to them. There is no need to work with the same people repeatedly.

Team for Production Designing

The next and foremost department is the production design. In this the production designer is the leader of all and has to work with the art director. He is mainly in charge of the set builders, set dressers, prop makers, hair and makeup, and costume and wardrobe departments.

In this department, the production designer is mainly involved in decorating the sets, making props, and setting up the lighting.

Cinematographers Department

The cinematic department comes to the frontline to give the shots and the lit music video final touches. In this, the head of the department is also known as the director of photography.

Director of photography

He mainly decides how the shots and the music video footage look. The main action is to handle the lightning and interact with the lights with the environment and the characters. He should build relationships with each other for better illusions.

Director’s monitor

The director’s monitor is the screen that displays a live shoot and filming of everything happening on camera. It mainly gives each take’s exact position and views for coordinating with the director and the DP.

Due to this, they can change the direction and the setup wherever they want and whenever they want.

Camera operators

To operate the camera, the DPs are not involved, but there is a specific job of the camera operators, which handle the shots and moves according to the director’s directions. There are also 1st and 2nd Assistant Cameras (AC) with the camera operators.

1st Assistant Camera

The duty of the 1st AC is to focus on the required target, pulling, swapping the lenses from the camera. He is ensuring that the camera is all set and workable on the shoot day without any trouble.

2nd Assistant Camera

The 2nd AC has to consider the slates of the shots, place exact locations and markers for the characters, and give exposed footage to save for the backup.

Gaffers and key grip

Gaffers and key grip have their own teams for maintaining the lighting and grip work assigned by the DP according to the creative plans.

Digital media technician

It is essential to get the backup of footage of every shot. If you are working on a large scale, the backup planner is recognized as the Digital Media Technician (DMT).

DMT will handle the exposed footage, which Digital Memory Card will do with tapes denoting the card’s number. Make sure to make two backups of the footage to prevent any trouble.

Note: Making two copies for the backup will reduce the risk of corrupted files and physical accidents of losing the footage.

Additional Roles

If you are the music video director, you need a Cinematographer with Camera Operators. He will be in charge of pulling and adjusting all the camera alignments. If you have enough budget, go with the co-producer to help you direct the talents.

To make your subject looks good and modern according to the theme, you should hire hair and makeup artist. If you have more budget, you can do it professionally with more and more crew members.

Conclusion

If you are a starter, then there is no need to worry to pull-off all the roles in a crew; you just need two to three people for the start-up. That’s all about the large production, but whenever you scale up, you should know how to manage all the members with their required areas.

Also read: