Audio to text free download - Text to Audio File, MediaHuman Audio Converter, Audio Hijack Pro, and many more programs.
With a free trial, Temi brings an array of features as an audio-to-text converter. It works as an advanced speech recognition software and accepts audio and even video files of any type then uses automated software to convert your speech to text in five minutes. When you are in quest of a credible free Mac audio to text translator software, MAXQDA would be a great option anyday. The powerful transcription software comes with a robust data analysis functionality which makes data recognition easier for the users. It can analyze audio.
If you are reading this article it means that you are looking for the perfect audio editing software for Mac that you can use. But, before you blindly follow the list and start downloading all the audio editing software mentioned here, one thing you should keep in mind is your personal requirements. Before you even begin reading this article, you should know what you are looking for. For example, whether you are looking for audio editing software to edit podcasts or something complex enough to help you score a movie.
You should also keep your budget in mind. No matter how good a software is, the one that you can afford will always serve you better. Finally, you should also keep your skillset in mind and ask yourself whether you are ready to invest time in learning an audio editing software or not. Once you have answered all these questions for yourself, you will be able to find and focus on the software that will help you the most and will not waste time chasing the shiniest audio editing software in the market.
I have tried to structure this article, by keeping all these things in mind. So, you will find the best free audio editing software, the best audio editing software for editing podcasts, best professional audio editing software, and so on and so forth. However, note that all these classifications are not entirely exclusive as most of the audio softwares have features that overlap a lot with each other. At the end of the day, the best audio editing software for you will depend on what you need and feel comfortable working with. With all that said, here is our list of the best audio editing software for Mac that you should use:
- Adobe Audition: Best Overall Audio Editing Software
- Logic Pro X: Best DAW Software for Mac
- Avid Pro Tools First: Best Free Audio Editing Software
- Audacity: Best Audio Editing Software for Podcasters
- ocenaudio: Best Audio Editing Software for Beginners
- RX Post Production Suite 4: Best Audio Post Production Tools
- Fission: Best Audio Editing Software for Fast and Lossless Audio Editing
Note: While I am focusing this article on macOS operating system, most of these apps work on Windows PC too. The only app that doesn’t work on Windows is the Logic Pro X.
Best Audio Editing Software to Use in 2020
1. Adobe Audition: Best Overall Audio Editing Software
I want to start this list by using the most obvious and best overall audio editing software that the market has to offer. Whether you want to record and edit audio or want to create a background score for your upcoming movie, Adobe Audition can handle all your needs. Not only the software has all the features that you require from an audio editing program but it also has multi-track recording and editing capabilities which is something that we associate with digital audio workstations. Adobe Audition also offers one of the best audio clean-up and restoration tools on the market. It supports a ton of plugins which add even more power to the software. Whether you want to remove noise with precision or add audio effects, you can find plugins for everything here.
My favorite feature of the Adobe Audition is its waveform editing environment which allows you to pinpoint the problems and apply necessary adjustments. Adobe also brings AI enhanced tools which can make your audio editing life easier. For example, there’s an “Auto Ducking” feature which uses Adobe’s AI-based ‘Adobe Sensei’ technology to automatically lower the volume of background track to make the vocals more pronounced. Other features of the app include batch processing of audio files, automatic speech alignment, iXML metadata support, synthesized speech, and more. You will also appreciate the clean and user-friendly UI.
Note that Adobe Audition is a pro audio editing tool so users who have never used an audio editing software before might find it a little difficult at the start. That said, Adobe does provide free tutorials for both beginners and experienced users which should get you started.
Pros:
- Good User interface
- Extensive Editing Tools
- Huge plug-in support
- Great audio clean-up and restoration tools
Cons:
- Subscription-based pricing makes it expensive for long-term use
- Hard for beginners
Supported Platforms: Windows, macOS
Install:Free Trial, $19.99/month
2. Logic Pro X: Best DAW Software for Mac
I love Apple's software products just for the fact that they integrate so well with the hardware. Final Cut Pro X is my favorite video editing tool as it allows me to edit a 4K video on my 2016 MacBook Pro. The experience is the same for Logic Pro X. Despite being one of the best overall audio editing software on the market, it works without any hiccup even on the older generation of MacBook Pros. That said, let's move away from the obvious advantage that Logic Pro X has over other music editing software and talk about its features, starting with its UI. In my opinion, the user interface of Logic Pro X is probably the best among all the software listed on this list. It is clean and every tool that you want to access is accessible with just a few clicks.
Note that while you can use Logic Pro X for just editing audio files for your podcast or any other similar project, you will be under-utilizing the software and it will be hard to justify its cost. Logic Pro X is a proper DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) which is aimed at music producers. It features a varied instrument library covering almost all music genres. What surprises me the most is how close the virtual instruments sound to their real counterpart. Even people with the most discerning ears will be able to tell them apart. What few instruments or music genres it doesn't support can easily be added thanks to its support for plugins and extensive plugins library that is available for anyone to use.
My favorite music kit is the 'Drummer Kit' plugin which when enabled gives you an AI-enabled drum track (electronic or acoustic) while you add your music on top. Logic Pro X also comes with more than 7000 royalty-free music loops that can automatically conform to the tempo and key of your project. There's also support for patches which allow you to quickly load complex multichannel sounds. There are features like 'Smart Tempo' which automatically manages tempo across all the content in your project, Flex Time and Flex Pitch, Track Alternatives, automation, audio effects, music notation, and more.
The only problem with Logic Pro X is it cost. I think for people who are even going to use 10% of the features of Logic Pro X, the cost is justifiable. It's a onetime fee, after which the software is yours. There's no hidden charges and no subscription. That said, if you just want to use it for normal audio editing this will be an overkill, especially when there are a ton of good options out there.
Pros:
- Flawless integration with Mac hardware and operating system
- A complete DAW
- Drummer Kit
- Over 7000 royalty-free track loops
- Beautiful user interface
Cons:
- High upfront costs make it inaccessible to many prospective users
Supported Platforms: macOS
Install:$199.99
3. Avid Pro Tools First: Best Free Audio Editing Software
Avid Pro Tools First is the free version of 'Avid Pro Tools', a professional grade audio editing software, costing upwards of $500 and used by filmmakers and TV professionals to produce and score music for movies and TV shows. While the 'Avid Pro Tools First' is a toned down version of its paid counterpart, it is more than enough for most of the users. It brings a fast 64-bit audio recording and mixing engine along with a variety of session templates with preloaded instrumental tracks covering most genres so that you can start creating your music as soon as you get familiar with the software.
It brings professional grade editing tools. From editing the MIDI tracks to adjusting tempo to fixing pitch and time, Avid Pro Tools First can handle everything. The software also comes with Avid's Xpand!2 virtual instruments and UVI Workstation 3 sample player, thus giving you access to royalty free loops and beats. This free version even comes with 23 utility plugins allowing you to shape your music just the way you want to. Recording your own music or audio is as simple as connecting your mic or instrument and hitting the record button.
When recording audio, you can take advantage of the loop recording feature which allows you to record multiple takes and then use the one that you like the most. The software is also great for people who like to collaborate with others. If you buy Avid's cloud subscription ($4.99/month), your work will be saved on the cloud. You can then share it with your colleagues to work together. In fact, even the free version which we are discussing here allows you to share up to three projects with other users. So, as you can see, you are getting a ton of professional grade features inside an app made for professionals which are used by the industry leaders and you don't have to pay a penny. That's a deal that I cannot refuse and neither should you.
Pros
- Professional grade editing tool for free
- Free online sync for up to three projects
- Royalty free track loops
Cons
- Steep learning curve
- Costs a lot to upgrade to the pro version
Supported Platforms: Windows, macOS
Install:Free
4. Audacity: Best Audio Editing Software for Podcasters
Not everyone needs a complete digital audio workstation. In fact, 90% of people who are looking for an audio editing software are looking for a simple program which can help them carry out basic audio editing such as trimming, noise reduction, voice modulation, background score addition, and so on. Whether you are a YouTube or a podcaster or someone who just needs to edit audio for home videos, all of the above-mentioned audio editing software will be a bit of overkill. you need a piece of software which not only enables you to perform these essential editing actions but also which is easy to learn use. For that use case scenario, Audacity is the best tool on the market.
Don't get me wrong, you can use Audacity as a DAW (especially now that it supports MIDI import) but in my views, it's not meant for that. It's simple and approachable UI makes it best for users who don't want to spend months learning an audio editing software. It is an open-source and free audio editing tool which brings a simple and interactive user interface with all the essential tools that you will need. From recording your audio clips to editing it using cut, trim, copy, and paste tools, to using audio effects, generators, and analyzers, Audacity can handle everything. Since Audacity is popular, it is also supported by a host of plugin developers allowing you to find plugins for almost anything that you might need for your project.
Despite being open-source and free, Audacity sees new updates on a fairly regular basis so you are not left using a software of the past. Just recently, Audacity was updated to support the dark mode on macOS Mojave and it looks great. There's also the new spectrogram view which allows you to pinpoint the problems and edit them accordingly. My favorite thing about Audacity is that it will take you just a couple of hours on YouTube to learn the basics and start your editing journey. That alone makes Audacity far more approachable than any other audio editing software.
Pros:
- Free and open-source
- Approachable and simple user interface
- Doesn't require you to do a Ph.D. to start editing
- Large and helping online community
Cons:
- If you are the right target audience, I don't think there are any cons
Supported Platforms: Windows, macOS, and Linux
Install:Free
5. ocenaudio: Best Audio Editing Software for Beginners
Just like Audacity, ocenaudio is a free and open-source audio editing software that brings a simple to understand user interface. If for some reason Audacity is doesn't feel right to you or you just want to check out other audio editing software before settling on one, ocenaudio should be next on your list. Just like Audacity, ocenaudio features a clean editing environment which makes it easy for beginners to get started. In fact, as far as looks are concerned, ocenaudio looks more modern than Audacity.
Coming to the features, ocenaudio brings all the basic audio recording and editing features. You can just connect a microphone and press the record button and start recording. When you are editing, you can access all the tools including track selection, track cutting and splitting, copy and paste, multi-trackediting and more. Just like Audacity, ocenaudio supports real-time preview for applied effects. Users can not only apply native effects but also use VST (Virtual Studio Technology) plugins to import effects which are not included with the software.
Like Audacity, ocenaudio also supports the spectrogram view. You can use it to analyze the spectral content of your audio signal for getting a better understanding of all the problems.ocenaudio is also good at handling big files. Even after uploading files which were multiple GB in size, the software didn't hiccup. I have a 2016 13-inch MacBook Pro, so it's not even that I was using it on a powerful machine like an iMac.
While ocenaudio is a good audio editing program, there is one big problem with the software that will turn many users off. The app doesn’t support multi-track editing which makes it useless for many users including me. I have so much fun when using this program and I prefer it over audacity both for its UI and speed. However, the missing support for multi-track editing means that I cannot use this app for my work. Another drawback of this app is that it lacks is a thriving online community.
You won’t find many online video tutorials on this one. If your work involves multi-track editing, you won’t be using ocenaudio. That said, for users who are just getting started with audio editing and doesn’t require a multi-track editing program, this is the best free audio editing software on the market right now.
Pros:
- Free and open-source
- Modern looking UI
- Easy for beginners
- Support for VST Plugins
- Can easily handle large audio files
Cons:
- Multi-track editing not supported
- Not many quality video tutorials available
Supported Platforms: Windows, macOS, and Linux
Install:Free
6. RX Post Production Suite 4: Best Audio Post Production Tools
iZotope RX Post Production Suite 4 is without a doubt the best post-production tools available for audio editors. iZotope has been leading the industry when it comes to refining audio for decades now and no other company comes even close to it. The latest version 4 update has made its tools even more potent when it comes to editing audio. The suite comprises of multiple tools namely RX 7 Advanced, Dialogue Match, Neutron 3 Advanced, Stratus 3D, Symphony 3D, Insight 2, and RX Loudness Control. Each tool serves a specific purpose and combined they can fulfill all your post-production audio editing needs.
Starting with the RX 7 Advanced, it brings a powerful repair assistant that can automatically recognize noise, clippings, clicks, hums, and more and remove them with a click. Dialogue Match automatically learns and match the sonic character of dialogue recording. Neutron 3 is a professional tool for building great mixes. It brings a “Mix Assistance” which can listen to all the tracks in your mix and gives you a balanced starting point. Similarly, the rest of the tools in the suite bring features to tackle a specific part of audio post-production.
But only the power of tools is not what iZotope known for, it’s also known for the way it presents the tools. All the tools work in a highly visual way, giving you a good look at the problems and what you can do to solve them. Just look at the screenshots above, and see how audio is represented in a detailed way. That said, all this power comes at a cost as if there’s one thing more that iZotope is known for, it’s for its pro pricing. If your work revolves around fixing audio and audio post-production, these tools can save you so much time while delivering a better product that you can justify the price. However, if you are someone who is just looking to get into audio editing, it will be hard to swallow the bill.
Pros:
- Best audio production tools on the market
- Best noise removal
- Available as plugin for your favorite audio editing software
- Repair and salvage lost audio
- Automatic audio processing tools make it easy to use
Cons:
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- Cost is too high
Supported Platforms: Windows and macOS
Install:$1844
7. Fission: Best Audio Editing Software for Fast and Lossless Audio Editing
If you find all of the above audio editing software to be too complex then check out Fission. It’s a simple audio editing software that focuses on providing a fast and lossless audio editing environment. You get quick access to all the audio editing tools. You can join, cut, and trim audio, edit audio metadata, use the batch converter to convert multiple audio files at once, and more. I love that it supports multiple file formats and you can easily edit and convert files to MP3, AAC, Apple Lossless, FLAC, AIFF, or WAV.
For quick edits, you can also use Fission’s smart split feature which automatically cuts audio files based on silence. Other features include gain adjustment, cue sheet support, volume normalization, and more. Fission is made by Rogue Ameba, a company that is well known in the Mac community for making splendid audio products, and Fission is no different. If you don’t want to invest time in learning audio editing and want a quick and easy-to-use tool, this is the one to get.
Pros:
- Best for quick editing jobs
- Supports lossless editing
- Supports multiple file formats
- Batch processing
Cons:
- No pro editing features presence
Supported Platforms: Windows, macOS, and Linux
Best Audio Editing Software: Final Thoughts
There are many other pro-level DAW software on the market which have not made the list as I have no experience in music production. The article is for audio editing software and I have tried to keep my list to reflect that. The only reason I have mentioned Logic Pro X is that I know some users will be looking for a DAW software here and for them it’s going to be useful. If you are just working with spoken audio and want a free editing app, very few apps can beat Audacity and hence it's on the list.
But I love the user interface and speediness of ocenaudio and hence it made the list too. I guess what I am trying to say is that every person has their own specific requirements and the software you choose will depend on that. I have chosen the seven apps that will meet the needs of 90% of users reading this article. If you want something more specific and don’t know where to look, drop requirements in the comments section below and at the least, I will guide you in the right direction.
I listen to podcasts. I watch videos. I watch podcasts of different languages. But more than anything I read and write. I practice languages. That’s just how I roll. And sometimes, my ramblings bring me as far as understanding English meaning of some specific kikuyu translation texts.
Frequently I want to save an audio snippet or video clip for future reference. Sure I could save the source media file, if I had unlimited disk space. But what I usually do is keep a link to the original source and text synopsis of the snippet. That both saves on storage and makes future searches for that particular item simpler.
If you’re like me, you really want the original text more than a synopsis. It take s a bit of extra effort, but I have a nice solution that uses only a Mac and open source software. Read below for instructions on converting an MP3 audio file to a text document.
The Basics of Configuring Your Mac to Transcribe .MP3 Audio
Here’s what you need:
- The original media (.mp3 file, for example)
- Soundflower. Soundflower is an application that creates a virtual audio channel and directs audio input and output to physical or virtual devices.
- Audacity. Audacity is a free application for recording and editing sounds.
- TextEdit.app. TextEdit is the default text editor/word processor that is included in Mac OS X.
Follow the instructions on the developer websites to get all of the software installed and working on your system. Once you have the software installed, the next step is to configure your Mac to use Soundflower for dictation.
- Open System Preferences and click on “Dictation & Speech”
- Select the Dictation tab
- Select “Soundflower (2ch)” as the dictation input source
- Click Dictation to “On”
- Tick the “Use Enhanced Dictation” box
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Your Mac is ready for dictation. When dictation is turned on in TextEdit (or a another word processing app), your Mac will transcribe sound from the Soundflower input source.
Getting Your Audio and Text Files Ready
Next, you need to queue up the audio file in Audacity and direct output to Soundflower. For those who are new to Audacity, this will be the trickiest step. But relax, you don’t need to learn much about Audacity beyond deciding what section of sound to play and how to select the audio output from the default speakers to Soundflower.
- Launch Audacity
- Import your audio file into audacity (File–> Import, or simply drag the file into the center of the Audacity screen.)
- Click the play button to give it a listen, then click stop once your confident you have the right sound clip/transcription area.
- Choose Audacity –> Preferences –> Devices. Under playback, choose “Soundflower (2ch)” to switch the output from the onboard speakers to Soundflower. Click “OK”
With Audacity and your sound file queued up, its time to turn your attention to TextEdit.
- Launch TextEdit
- Create a “New Document”
- You may want to add some meta data to the document, such as the podcast name, episode #, publish date and URL, to go along with the key transcript.
- Position the cursor in the file where you want the transcript to appear.
And … Action!
It’s time to start audio playback and dictation transcription. Here both sequence and timing are important:
- In Audacity, move the scrubber start location 10-15 seconds before the key transcription area.
- Press “Play.” The scrubber and meters will start moving, though you won’t hear any sound. The audio signal is going to Soundflower instead of to the speakers.
- Put focus on Text edit and position the cursor where you want the transcription to begin.
- Select Edit –> Start Dictation. (or use the hot key combination, Fn Fn). A microphone icon with a “Done” button will appear to the left of your document.
- Text will start appearing in the document. It will likely lag by about 3-5 seconds.
- After approximately 30 seconds press the “done” button. Transcription will continue until complete.
This is the fun part: watch as transcription happens in real time right in the document window. Look Ma, no hands!
And now you have the original text (and most likely a few errors) as text to save. In the future you can easily search and retrieve the information.
An Excellent Alternative: Google Docs Voice Typing
While the solution above works great for offline work, one alternative with a lot of promise is Google Docs. The Voice Typing feature work much like the dictation service in Mac OS. It has the crowdsourcing advantages and privacy disadvantages of other Google products. If you’re OK with that, I found Voice Typing to do an very good job with accuracy and it can go longer that Mac OS dictation.
To use Google Voice Typing, follow all of the steps above with Soundflower, Dictation preferences and configuring Audacity. Instead of using TextEdit, you’ll want to start the Chrome browser and create a Google Doc. Once you are in document, Select Tools –> Voice typing
The user interface and process of starting and stopping transcription is the same as with TextEdit.
Free Audio Software For Mac
Dictation and Transcription Limitations
This process sets you well on you way to the goal of a high fidelity audio transcription. But it will be short of perfect. Here’s what you can do to go from good to perfect:
- Understand that Mac OS dictation transcription works for a maximum of 30 seconds at a time. If you need longer, you may want to use an alternate technology such as Dragon.
- Audio playback needs to start before dictation/transcription begins in TextEdit. TextEdit needs to be in focus for dictation to work. If you set the Audacity scrubber a few seconds ahead of target snippet, you’ll be fine.
- Transcription cannot intuit punctuation. You’ll need to add that after the fact.
- If you have multiple speakers or a noisy background, you may need to complete one additional step of creating a pristine audio file to work from. This can be done by listening to the sound through headphones and speaking the text into an audio recorder. Use the recording of your voice to drive the transcription.