With recording software, not only can you add in music, sound effects and the crisp editing that’s required to keep your audience listening and your message alive.

Most of the best recording apps offer intuitive editing tools that let you quickly edit your recordings, removing background noise and adjusting audio as appropriate.

Audacity

Audacity has been among the most popular free audio-editing software suites for a long time; not only is it open source, but it has a broad set of features for newbies to both recording and editing. It also has an easy-to-use interface and a generous selection of clip-tweaking and effects features to make it a solid contender as an easy-to-use music-production studio. It also makes for a fine playground for kids who want to learn more about sound exploration.

It also works with numerous plugins. Its simple all-in-one plugin manager allows you to search for and install third-party plug-ins right upon startup, as well as choose which plugins will be visible in the effect menu.

Its greatest strength is its ability to import/export audio files. Your project can be saved as a WAV or AIFF file, and imported into another user’s project. Files can even be moved, renamed and copied using the same file manager! That wonderful new beats and measures grid helps to line up clips to musical tempo/rhythm.

Reaper

Reaper is a single program, an all-in-one digital audio workstation (DAW), capable of being the only tool you will need to create, record, edit and mix professional quality music. Reaper might be the most flexible, efficient, and powerful piece of software for digital audio ever created. And while it was originally designed for ‘power users’ looking for an efficient workflow for their tasks, it also works well for beginners to advanced professionals.

Reaper, in turn, can open almost any file format you can throw at it – audio, MIDI, plug-ins and on, down to the mixer window’s faders and panners, effects (available from Reaper’s very own suite of plugins, or from a wide range of third-party versions) and real-time sample rate conversion of media items to that magic 48 kHz. Reaper supports most file formats, and accommodates real-time sample rate conversion of media items.

Reaper is a free open-source application. There are countless resources available online to work with it. The application offers a 60-day trial period for the full version; you can test it for free before buying it. Cockos has a two-licencing structure – discounted licence for an individual or a small company with annual gross income below $20,000; a commercial licence which is for a larger company with above $20,000 annual gross income. Both licences are for using the features and the updates for two years.

Studio One Prime

Record, edit, arrange and mix multiple audio and instrument tracks, add step sequences and orchestrations, create complex beats or basic podcasts with Studio One Prime – all in just one intuitive window interface.

Studio One easily enables import and export of MIDI, AAF, OpenTL, Cubase Track Archives. An incredible selection of included Native Effects and Native Virtual Instruments – Impact XT, Presence XT Editor, Sample One XT – are all at your fingertips for your production needs.

Studio One helps you create and produce music with valuable workflows and customisable keyboard layouts, as well as creating actions on-the-fly. Add any of the 40 effects that come included with Studio One to your favourite keyboard layout, and you have a creative and fun configuration that is completely customisable. The intuitive use of Studio One’s Auto-Save feature saves your work seamlessly in the background with the press of a button, as well as saving any recent changes you make – such as muting a track on a previous section, to name but one example – without break in playback on a song you are writing or recording on.

Record and mix without multitrack session or plug-in inserts limitations; add virtual instruments and preset effects to your heart’s content. Add in nine PreSonus Native Effects that have your sound covered, from real-time time stretching and resampling to multitrack comping and advanced Control Link controller mapping.

Pro Tools – Intro

So today Avid has announced that their DAW recording software Pro Tools finally has a free version, appropriately named Intro, aimed at beginners to DAW recording. Unlike the old Pro Tools First, which came with a limited feature set and DAW that I don’t recommend, Intro has the same code base as the Pro Tools program. This gives it the following advantages over Pro Tools First: All third party AAX plugins work in it, not just first or third party tools All the company’s stock plugin suite is included, in fact it offers an excellent Xpand! rompler centre and surround capability.Vocal removal toolsRemote collaboration tools to help new users learn their way around Intro.

Pro Tools Intro, meanwhile, comes with all the essential tools for creating, editing and mixing an audio project – including effects plugins, plus templates and presets to get you up and running quickly and easily. And, if any of the other full versions of Pro Tools run out, Pro Tools Intro will switch you over automagically. This is a great feature for subscribers who don’t keep up with their iLok cloud or physical iLok expiring each month.