Best Audio Editing Software For Mac in 2024

It won’t surprise you to find out that poor podcast audio turns off more than half of potential listeners. Ensuring your podcast features high-quality audio is essential to success, and, along with good recording equipment, finding the right audio editing tool is key to this.

At Cleanvoice, we understand the value of producing a high-quality podcast in post-production. In today’s guide, we’ll specifically review the best audio editing software for Mac. Along with exploring the features, pricing, and more of the best Mac-compatible tools on the market, we’ll discuss further why these tools are so important. Let’s go!

What Is Audio Editing Software?

Audio editing software is designed to allow complex editing of audio files or/and the generation and exporting of audio data. These tools can offer a wide array of features ranging from the essential editing controls to more complex capabilities like batch processing and audio restoration.

As a podcaster, you might use this software to mix, delete, and edit your podcasts to ensure a high-quality listening experience for your viewership. Also, some audio editing software comes with automation capabilities that can greatly speed up the post-production process (e.g., automatic background noise remover and AI-powered silence remover).

Why Are These Tools Important?

Improve The Quality of Audio Content

Of course, the initial recording of your podcast will be chock-full of imperfections (e.g., background noise, mouth sounds, filler words). Good audio editing software will give you the chance to clean up the file through a range of editing techniques and/or automations to produce a polished and crisp end result.

Eliminates Manual Audio Adjustments

As touched on, good audio editing software can clean up your audio thanks to the use of sound-mastering tools and various automated features.

Can Free Up Plenty of Time

Naturally, using good audio editing software can make the post-production process more time-efficient. This is more a matter of using the right sort of tool and one that offers plenty of automation and (as touched on above) can eliminate or at least limit manual audio adjustments.

By using the right audio editing software, you can swiftly finalize your next podcast episode for launch and free up time to focus on other aspects sooner (e.g., working on a new script or securing a future guest).

Best Audio Editing Software Mac

Key takeaways

Here are the best audio editing tools for Mac:

  • Cleanvoice - Perfect for automating the essentials and some more.
  • Audacity - Best free audio editing software.
  • Pro Tools - Great for those seeking a high-end workflow.
  • Fission Audio - Good middle-ground option.
  • Adobe Audition - Top-of-the-market audio editing software.

#1: Cleanvoice

Cleanvoice is an AI audio editing tool that can remove unwanted sounds (e.g, background noise and stuttering). You can also use Cleanvoice to help with other aspects of the podcast process such as those relating to the development and pre-production stages.

This tool is a SaaS and thus you can use it on your Mac PC without the need to download any software.

Relevant Features

  • Silence remover

One of several AI-powered features provided by Cleanvoice, this feature automatically removes unwanted pauses/silences from entire podcast episodes. This feature even offers context-based editing, in that, the silence remover can keep pauses short when speakers pause to think, but longer between topic changes!

  • Podcast mixing

Cleanvoice’s podcast mixing can automatically deal with audio editing aspects like level balancing and loudness normalization.

  • AI-powered podcast audit

Another helpful feature of Cleanvoice that separates it from much of the competition is its AI-powered podcast audit. Cleanvoice’s algorithm can evaluate your podcast on a range of metrics before providing actionable tips.

Pricing

Cleanvoice is available on a subscription or pay-as-you-go basis. We also offer a free trial, giving you the chance to try out our service for free before committing to a paid edition.

As a podcast professional seeking an editing tool to use on an ongoing basis, a subscription payment will probably make more sense than pay-as-you-go.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • User-friendly
  • No need to download any software
  • May help you with your podcast’s SEO

Cons:

  • May not have all the specific audio editing features you’re looking for
  • Internet connectivity always required since its an SaaS
  • May prove expensive on an ongoing basis

 #2: Audacity

Audacity is a free, cross-platform audio editing tool that covers all of the basics and a bit more to help perfect your podcast audio. It is, however, not quite as automated as tools like Cleanvoice.

Relevant Features

  • Editing essentials

Audacity covers all of the basics when it comes to editing audio files. You can cut, copy, paste, and delete sections of audio and utilize multiple tracks to enhance your listener’s podcast experience.

  • Recording

You can record audio directly into Audacity by connecting a high-quality microphone to your Mac.

  • Audio effects

Audacity comes with over three dozen audio effects including echo, crossfade tracks, and normalize. You may not need these effects at all but they can come in handy for creating cool intros and outros or for taking a more creative approach to your podcast edits.

Pricing

Once again, Audacity is completely free, perfect, if you want to keep costs to a minimum.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • 100% free
  • Interface is user-friendly
  • Covers the essentials plus some more

Cons:

  • May not be sufficient for some podcasters depending on expectations/requirements
  • Probably not the best tool for noise separation
  • Arguably needs some better standardized support avenues

#3: Pro Tools

For a more high-end experience, you may want to consider Avid’s Pro Tools. While used by a wide range of audio and music professionals, Pro Tools can work wonders for podcast editing. Along with the essentials, Pro Tools comes with many advanced features including GRAMMY® winning DAW toolset and plugins.

Relevant Features

  • Edit and position sound

Edit and position sound with ease. Trim clips and utilize clip effects to create a high-quality experience. You can even use Pro Tools to create 3D audio for a cinematic, outside-the-box podcasting experience to make your show really stand out!

  • Streamline your editorial workflow

Use track automation, markers, clip gain, and more to streamline your editorial workflow.

  • DAW integration

Benefit from Pro Tools’ award-winning digital audio workspace. With top-of-the-market DAW integration, you can access plugins, tracks, and sends, and more to edit and mix with ease and efficiency.

Pricing

While there is a free intro to Pro Tools, to utilize this software properly, you’ll need to spend at least $99 per year. This isn’t too bad for a full year, although the Studio and Ultimate editions are expensive.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • High level of customizability
  • Compatible with a wide range of audio
  • Superb user interface

Cons:

  • Add-ons can be expensive
  • Especially steep learning curve - may not be ideal for entry-level podcasters
  • Bit on the pricey side, especially for the more advanced packages

 #4: Fission Audio

Fission Audio is a lesser-known but highly-rated audio editing tool that covers the basics enabling fast podcast editing. With a single lifetime license fee, Fission Audio is another well-suited audio editing software for those on a budget.

Relevant Features

  • Smart split

Fission Audio can split files based on silence automatically.

  • Quick audio removal

Remove audio with ease by simply selecting the relevant section and clicking cut.

  • Fade away

Another handy feature of this tool is the ability to fade audio in and out for smooth transitions.

Pricing

As touched on, you can purchase a Fission Audio lifetime license for just $35 per month.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • Easy to use
  • Reliable software
  • Batch converter

Cons:

  • May not have all that you need
  • Prone to crashing

Reviews

4 stars out of 53 reviews.

#5: Adobe Audition

Adobe Audition is a prominent audio recording and editing software that can enable podcasters to edit, mix, record, and restore audio. This software comes with a whole host of additional features, which is unsurprising given its high-end and professional quality.

Relevant Features

  • Audio mixing and mastering

This feature allows you to mix and master your podcast episodes. Some of the benefits of this feature include audio control, white noise elimination, and the capacity to streamline your audio editing.

  • Record podcasts

Adobe Audition is also a great tool for recording top-notch podcasts. Benefit from this tool's many features such as levels adjustment and even multitrack recording, with the latter being perfect if you want to create a more creative podcast (e.g., immersive storytelling experience).

  • Repair and restore

You can also use Adobe Audition to repair and restore audio files; perfect if something went awry with your recording that you believe you can fix in the editorial phase.

Pricing

Adobe Audition is available in many packages. Most podcasters will find the $20.99 per month edition satisfactory, however, podcast companies will find the Business edition more helpful.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • Can help you create a top-notch studio-quality podcast
  • Great automations and plugins
  • Many helpful features like noise reduction and EQ

Cons:

  • Steep learning curve
  • Might fail to scrub the timeline to the level you expect

Conclusion

In today’s guide, we looked at the five best audition editing tools for Mac, exploring a range of options with different levels of suitability depending on your needs and expectations. We also explored what audio editing software is and why using one of these tools matters.

If you’re ready to make the audio editing experience more efficient so you can spend more time focusing on the creative and fun parts, Cleanvoice is the solution for you! Use our AI-powered features to remove silence, filler words, background noise, and much more. Take a look at our pricing, and find a plan that works for you today!