Audio Software - Video Editing - Improving Audio

With the technology in software today you can make magic with poor quality audio by increasing audio volume on certain parts of your clip and by magically removing unwanted noises that often linger in the background.

See examples of basic audio editing on a free software

Which Audio Editing Software Should I get?

In free and lower end video editing software changing audio is limited but in higher end software you can sample some noise and remove it from your entire waveform or make it sound louder in some parts and quieter in others.

Basically after you record your video and audio to your computer you can easily separate it and extract the audio so you can clean it in a separate audio editing software.

Many times good video editing software will allow you change your originally recorded audio and improve it but many times you will need to do more. For low end stuff you can probably live with the audio from your digital video camera but for better pictures you need to get good recording equipment ad make subtle changes to your recorded audio once it has been successfully recorded.

"Add an extra layer of music to your home videos to make them even better.
Begin adding some other sound effects and you'll be making great movies."

Once you start cleaning and changing an audio clip you loose some of the original quality. The more you change a clip the more un-natural it sounds. Try to have good audio input from the beginning.

For home movies a little noise and poor quality voice input is acceptable. If your just a home video editor who likes to make the family holidays less painful to watch more than once there is not too much need to worry about. Your camera mic is probably fine.

For Higher quality movies good mic input is essential. Especially with the home theaters and entertainment systems out there. Poor quality audio can ruin your picture.

"Audio usually needs to be amplified or boosted before
reaching the computer. Good audio equipment will amplify the signal
without causing unwanted hissing or humming in your recorded audio."

Many audio amplifies (called pre-amp for their subtle effects) will cause unwanted noises to be recorded. This can be hard to remove and really effects the quality of a clip making it hard to work with.

There are many recording software's out there so here are some of our recommendations starting with free basic recorders.

Free audio editing software:
Audacity is a great free audio software, it's easy-to-use audio editor will record for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. Some of the best things this audio editing software gives is an ability to adjust volumes with Compressor, Amplify, and Normalize effects. Remove static, hiss, hum, or other constant background noises which you will find you have to do regularly. It also makes opening and converting audio easier. Something you have to do regularly as well. Lets say you want to put a song on your video. SOmetimes the song is in a format that your video editing software cannot use. So you have to convert it then import it. Rating 4/5

High end software that allows you to do more with your audio:

Adobe Audition - audio-editing software which integrates into the Adobe video-editing software's is an excellent choice for editing your video clips and cleaning unwanted noise.

Pro Tools - used by professionals every day to compose, record, edit, mix, and master award-winning albums and film sound. You get if free when you purchase a Mbox 2 Mini audio workstation. An ideal solution for beginners recording music on their computers and seasoned studio vets looking for a mobile Pro Tools system.