Visually it has an old school appeal, but so do some of the expensive ones. If you learn how to use this, you’re ready to use any of the big boys like Pro Tools and Logic Pro. This is for the anyone that wants the experience of a (nearly) complete digital audio workstation. It’s open source and has been constantly updated since it’s launch in 1999. You’re looking the king of truly free audio editing software. I’ll point out which platforms they’re available on and their strengths and weaknesses. Let me show you the ones I used (if they’re still around, I’m getting old) and introduce you to some of the new players on the block. You might be trying to produce music, narrate audiobooks, overdub Youtube videos, or clean up your podcast vocals. Sometimes you don’t need a huge program if you only need it for a simple task, and other times you need a full suite. I still laugh about my Cool Edit Pro days and how much fun I had. I cut my teeth on these, got past the learning curve before jumping to a full-fledged digital audio workstation (here’s the best DAWs if you want to compare them to the options below), and have never forgotten those days. Without these companies and their applications, so many of us wouldn’t enter the industry.

That’s why I want to honor the companies that have either produced full-blown audio editing software and are giving it away for free or have created a completely usable but semi-restricted free version of their more expansive audio editors.

Second, I couldn’t have afforded it if I wanted to. First, I wasn’t going to shell out big bucks for a professional-grade audio editor when I was simply curious about the process. Of course, I jest, but the truth is that if they weren’t available to me when I first got started then I’d have never gotten started. Free audio editing software made me into the man I am today.

Ocenaudio mix tracks