If you're looking for the best audio-editing apps for podcasting in 2023, then you will want to hear this list. Thank you for joining me for The Audacity to Podcast! I'm Daniel J. Lewis. Whether you're just starting your podcast or you've been podcasting for a while, you might find some things easier by using better tools. And one of the most common tools we use as audio podcasters is an audio editing app. So here are the apps I recommend most
for podcasting in 2023. And a little side note here, I prefer the friendlier phrase audio editing app instead of the commercial term digital audio workstation or DAW. That just sounds so business-like. I feel like I have to go grab a suit and tie when I say a DAW or I start talking about your digital audio workstation. Okay, that tangent aside though, DAW, audio editing app, digital audio workstation, whatever you want to call it.
We're talking about editing the audio for your podcast and the app that you use. This list is computer based because I still think that the best experience for editing audio or video is on a computer. are plenty of options for mobile devices, but that would be best for a different episode. And before I get into sharing these links and recommendations, to disclose to you, I
am an affiliate for some of these. So I might earn a commission through your purchases that you make through some of my links that are in the notes or on the website at theaudacitytopodcast.com/audioediting23. But I recommend things I truly believe in regardless of earnings, as you will see with my number one suggestion. How's that for a little teaser? So getting into this list,
follow along in the notes for this episode. Now I know what you're probably doing. You're looking at the chapters for this episode or you're looking ahead in the notes to see what is my number one suggestion, aren't you? Come on, fess up, you're doing it. Tweet me @TheDanielJLewis if you sneaked a peek ahead to see what my number one suggestion is because like a top
list, this is going backwards. But you can follow along in those notes if you haven't already inside your app or go to theaudacitytopodcast.com/audioediting23. Number 4. Audacity. I suspect that most podcasters have used Audacity at some point or even still do. Audacity has been a staple in audio editing because it is capable and maybe where it keeps it most popular, it's free. Completely free. Like free lunch. You can use Audacity for
years for free and pay nothing. They used to accept donations for Audacity and I have donated to support the development of Audacity, but since it was acquired by the Muse Group, they no longer even accept donations. I don't know if they may someday charge for certain upgrades or features, but right now everything at the time of this recording in early 2023, Everything you see in Audacity that is regularly improving is completely free.
And I recommend Audacity exactly because it's free and yet still very capable. Unlike GarageBand which is free on Mac OS, Audacity sticks to conventional audio editing tools and principles. These conventions make it easier to learn audio editing on Audacity and then later move up to more advanced software. And plus, the latest versions of Audacity, since being acquired by Muse Group, are making huge leaps forward in improving the software.
So no longer is it a completely destructive editor, it's now a non-destructive editor. So that means if you clip something, if you do a fade or certain other things, that doesn't permanently affect your audio. Even some of the effects are now in real time or non-destructive. That's fantastic. Audacity is getting really good. This is why I did an episode about it, link in the notes, about the innovations that Audacity is seeing and improvements.
I'm not talking about industry-breaking innovations, but things that more professional software has that are now coming to Audacity for free. And Audacity runs on Mac OS, Windows, and Linux. If you want to try Audacity, I have a link to it in the notes, a tap or swipe away, or at theaudacitytopodcast.com/audioediting23. That's number 4 on my top list. Number 3. Adobe Audition. Several years ago, I forced myself to move up from Audacity to
Adobe Audition and I found it significantly improved my workflow. There were several things that Audition made faster or easier for me and yet there were some things Audition couldn't do that Audacity did. However, many of those things might be moot at this point because that was several years ago that I made that switch and I haven't really looked back since then. Audition is premium software that comes at a premium price. And unfortunately, that
is only a subscription price. And this is where you might gasp. That is currently $31.49 plus tax per month without a contract, or $239.88 per year. Essentially $19.99 per month. That's the best price, and that's plus tax as well. So $240 per year, that's a lot. I won't pay that, and I don't think you should either.
However, if you are a slave to Adobe Creative Cloud, like I am, then you already have Adobe Audition along with all of Adobe's other software in the complete subscription suite for $599 per year, about $50 per month plus tax. I already then pay for Adobe Audition along with Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Adobe Fonts, Premiere Pro, Lightroom, and After Effects, all other apps that I use in my business and production process.
And it's because I'm already paying for it that I use Adobe Audition and that was a big reason that inspired me to try Adobe Audition because I realized I am already paying for this so I might as well give it a try since I'm paying the price to use it, along with all of these other apps, and my audio producer John Bukenas also uses Adobe Audition now.
But if I didn't need the rest of Adobe's apps, and believe me I think about this so often, I would switch to my number one podcast editing app in a heartbeat. Come on, you probably already know the spoiler of what that number one is, but I hope you haven't peeked ahead. That will be in a moment. At $240 per year essentially plus tax, I think Adobe Audition is too expensive for most podcasters unless they already subscribe to Adobe Creative
Cloud. So if you can afford it, then I think Adobe Audition is one of the best audio editing apps you can use. And Adobe is leading the way in certain innovations and might bring some of those features to Adobe Audition right there inside of your digital audio workstation or audio editing app. Adobe Audition runs on Mac OS and Windows and they do offer a free trial if you want to play with it, see how it works for you.
I've got a link to that in the notes at theaudacitytopodcast.com/audioediting23. Moving on to number 2, Descript. A few years ago I got to meet the team behind Descript when they were exhibiting at the Podcast Movement Conference. I loved their idea and I expected big things to come from them. Why? Because Descript takes an industry-leading, intuitive, user-friendly approach to editing audio. Although you can edit with a conventional audio waveform like in other apps, Descript
transcribes your audio to let you edit audio like editing a text document. You can see the words that you spoke and your co-host spoke. You can select them then move them around or delete them with complete ease just like editing a text document and that's editing your audio. You don't have to
look at the waveform. You can just edit the words. That's so much easier. There are also several options for significantly improving the audio of low quality recordings by leveraging the power of artificial intelligence inside of Descript. And it produces some really good results. On top of that, Descript now lets you edit video with the same text-based simplicity. This is fantastic, very easy, industry-leading. I really like Descript.
That's why I've given them the number two spot on my recommendations for top podcast editing apps for audio in 2023. There is a very limited free plan so you can try out Descript without paying anything and maybe even use it depending on how long your podcast is. After that, the pricing starts at $144 per year for longer recordings and extended features. And $144 per year I think is a pretty good deal, especially since you're also getting
the ability to edit video with the same kind of tools. Descript is browser-based too, so it will work on nearly anything. If you'd like to try the script for your podcast, I have a link in the notes, a tap or swipe away, or at theaudacitytopodcast.com/audioediting23. Before I get to number one, a couple honorable mentions. First, Reaper. Although I've never personally used it, I see a lot of podcasters highly recommend Reaper as a great upgrade from Audacity.
Reaper is a conventional audio editing app, but it seems to me like its user interface is stuck in a past decade or intended for only people who are extremely comfortable editing audio. Like I know some super professional, super advanced audio engineers, not just podcast editors but audio engineers, who use Reaper and will swear by it. Maybe that's a bit too advanced for you.
And a quick look at their not so mobile friendly website might overload you with technical terminology and technical looking images. But the pricing is reasonable. Currently $60 for personal use or commercial use if your yearly revenue is below $20,000. Beyond that, it's $225 for a commercial license. However, these are one-time licenses that include free upgrades for quite some time.
Like right now the current version is 6.75 and the license for that current version promises free upgrades through version 7.99. So that license will last quite a while. Reaper is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux and it offers a fully functional 60-day trial. You can try it out through the link in the notes at theaudacitytopodcast.com/audioediting23.
Second honorable mention: Adobe Podcast. Formerly known as Project Shasta, which is hard enough to pronounce, Adobe Podcast, and that's singular not plural, is an even simpler text-based audio editor similar to Descript but significantly optimized for even easier use. For example, instead of having variable controls over audio processing settings, Adobe Podcast offers a simple toggle switch for different AI powered effects. Nonetheless, the simple results still
sound great. Some people think they sound even better than Descript's studio sound. There is no audio waveform in Adobe Podcast. You're editing only with sections of transcript and audio clips. But there is actually a built-in guest or co-host audio recording feature you could use instead of Squadcast, Rivercast, Zencast, or StreamYard. And then your other guest or co-host gets their voice transcribed as well and you can enable the processing
on their voice separately from your voice. It's amazingly easy. Like dead simple easy. Adobe Podcast is currently in beta that you can request to try for free. So it's free now, we don't know exactly what the pricing will be, but I expect it will be included in the Adobe Express subscription, which offers a limited free plan and an expanded premium
plan for only $99.99 per year, plus tax. And like the Adobe Express tools, which are really good, Adobe Podcast will probably be included in the more expensive Creative Cloud subscription as well. So if you're already paying for Adobe Creative Cloud, you'll get access to this super simple option as well.
I'm really looking forward to how Adobe Podcast improves and how Adobe might bring some of these great features from Adobe Podcast into their more advanced apps like Audition and Premiere Pro so that while I'm there doing more advanced kind of work inside of Audition or Premiere Pro, I can just enable the Adobe Podcast feature and do that one-click single toggle kind of thing to instantly improve the quality of my audio or video.
Adobe Podcast is also browser based so it should work on almost anything. If you want to try it then go to theaudacitytopodcast.com/audioediting23. And now for my number one suggestion for editing your audio podcast, Hindenburg, formerly known as Hindenburg Journalist.
While Hindenburg initially looks like many other conventional audio-editing apps, and I think that's a good thing, I've recommended it for years because it contains extra features designed specifically for editing spoken word content, which is exactly what nearly all podcasts are.
So you'll find intuitive features like automatic loudness normalization for every clip you drag into the timeline, a handy clipboard which is great for audio branding clips and bumpers and clips that you'll use in your podcast, and even text-based editing features coming in Hindenburg Pro 2. So those Descript and Adobe Podcast-like editing features will be in Hindenburg Pro 2. And I think that puts all of this together in such a fantastic package.
I also expect Hindenburg to be the first to support Podcasting 2.0 features natively inside of the audio editing experience, like better podcast chapters, which it already supports podcast chapters by mean even better podcasting 2.0 chapters, exporting to the transcript tag and more. Plus, Hindenburg offers a perpetual pay once license, or at least once per significant version, which I think is totally fair. It's currently $99 for Hindenburg Lite or $399
Hindenburg Pro. Or you can subscribe to Hindenburg Pro for $120 per year and that will include upgrades for as long as you maintain your subscription. Keep in mind this pricing might change with Hindenburg Pro 2 when that comes out. And they do also sometimes offer really big sales around significant radio and podcasting events. So keep an eye out
for that. I send out notifications for podcasting deals like this over at podcastingdeals.com and that links to an email notification list, Twitter, Facebook, and even a subreddit if you're interested in following along and finding great deals on podcasting resources and tools. That's at podcastingdeals.com. Back to Hindenburg, it's this combination of conventional editing, podcasting focused benefits, and flexible pricing options that lead me to recommend
Hindenburg as the best podcast editing app. And I don't even, at least currently, earn any commissions from recommending Hindenburg. And I've been recommending them for years. I keep asking for years for an affiliate program. And I will update my links if they ever offer an affiliate program. But I don't get paid anything for recommending Hindenburg right now. And it is my number one recommendation because it is so good. And if I wasn't already
paying for Adobe Audition, I would immediately switch to Hindenburg. And believe me, I consider it anyway quite often. Hindenburg runs on Windows and macOS. And if you'd like to try it out, click the link in the notes, which might someday be an affiliate link, but it's unfortunately not an affiliate link yet. So I earn nothing by your trying out Hindenburg. But if you'd like to try it, get the link in the notes a tap or swipe away or at theaudacitytopodcast.com/audioediting23.
Now before you jump out and buy one of these apps, you need to think about when and why you should upgrade. And I've done an episode specifically about this question, when to upgrade your podcasting tools. I have the link to that in the notes for this episode as well. In short, upgrade when the new solution provides something you actually need that you don't currently have. Maybe that's solving a problem.
Maybe that's making something faster or easier for you so you can focus on what's more important In most cases, upgrading will not improve your audio quality, but the upgrade could make it easier to get better audio.
For example, the AI-powered sound enhancement currently from Descript, an Adobe Podcast, and maybe from Hindenburg Pro in the future, can give you results that rival spending hours learning to use and then fine-tune compression, equalization, gating, and expansion, noise and reverb reduction and more and hundreds of dollars in other software like iZotope RX and such, when that can all be replaced with a simple toggle switch.
So it might not necessarily give you better quality, but maybe at your skill level or at your interest in honing your skills or investing the time and money into better tools, maybe a simple toggle switch will do it better for you since you might not have the skills or the time or the money to do all of that manually yourself. Ain't nobody got time for that. So if you need something simpler, try Descript or Adobe Podcast. If you need something conventional, but better, try Hindenburg.
Again I have the links to all of these and some of these are affiliate links so I might earn commissions from qualifying sales if you purchase through my links, but as you can tell, I recommend things I truly believe in regardless of earnings. If you want these links, go to theaudacitytopodcast.com/audioediting23 where there's simple tap or swipe away inside of your app. If you have some thoughts on any of these apps or other things to consider,
I'd love for you to comment as well on this episode. You can do that on the website at theaudacitytopodcast.com/audioediting23. Now that I've given you some of the guts and taught you some of the tools, it's time for you to go start and grow your own podcast for passion and profit. I'm Daniel J. Lewis from theaudacitytopodcast.com. Please follow me on Twitter @theDanielJLewis, and thanks for listening! [Music]