I'm just curious what king of software all of you guys use to edit your audio. I personally haven't had too much experience with audio editing, so I've just stuck to Soundtrack Pro, and although it's been a little buggy and crashes on occasion, it's worked out for me. I know that a lot of people like pro tools, but from what I've heard it's also extremely expensive.

So I'm wondering, what kind of audio editing software do you use?

That solely depends on what the purpose of your audio is and what exactly you are trying to do. Assuming you are doing something for interviews, or weddings etc...you are probably ok with Soundtrack because you will only need simple compression and a little boosting. Personally I edit my audio right in the NLE. Also the device you are recording on will determine what needs to be done to the audio.

-JS

Pro tools LE with Dv toolkit 2 for me, I used to use AMS Neve Audiofile but it is now too clunky for the new tapeless world.

peak pro
ableton live

Wavearts restoration suite
iZotope RX

For most things I do, I don't do any post production work on them. I hand them a DVD with a sound report and that's usually the last time I see it. However, when I record music (like I did last night with a steel drum band), I will end up doing the post production work on it too. For these types of projects, I use:

Digital Performer, Wave Editor along with a host of plug-ins (including Waves Gold suite ad iZotope's Ozone and RX plug-ins).

Of course you only asked half the question. Having the right software is only part of the post production question. The other half is the playback/monitoring system. For that I use:

Mark of the Unicorn's 2408 MK3, Earthworks Sigma 6.2 monitors, and QSC's RMX2450 power amplifier.

Wayne

Logic Audio Pro 8
Adobe Audition 2.0

Protools HD Accel, Protools le on my laptop and at my daytime gig Sonar and Audition...
For voiceovers, Audition is my favorite. I love the spectrum view editing - you can just cut out clicks and pops visually.
But for multitracking, Protools is great.

Steinberg Wavelab with Waves plug-ins - I pretty much always refine the original sound with:

- compression
- EQ

and lastly when I render the audio I put the Waves L2 Ultramaximiser to increase loudness without distorting the peaks. I render a 24 bit wav file which I bring back into Vegas.

Where possible I record the audio in the 1st place to a digital recorder - significantly better quality than recording to HDV in the camera.

Sherif

Sony Soundforge, but Adobe Audition is good for some things. The free Audacity is actually rather good - but I just like Sound Forge.

Protools LE DVtoolkit 2, Mix51, and Waves plugins. Rock solid App. Industry standard. Such a good editing interface it's hard to see me using anything else.

What about editing sound for a short film, let's say.

I'd need to preview the video in sync in the audio as I edit.
Right?

I'm not sure how audio for film is edited, what is done or what is needed.

I've seen that Adobe Soundbooth opens a video window if you throw a video in there, so you edit in sycn. But Soundbooth is far from what a pro would use.

So anyone with prior experience, enlight me.

Are you using a PC or a Mac?

Exactly what are you editing? Just the recorded dialog? Or are you adding music, sound effects, live music through midi, etc.?

How many audio sources will you be using at once?

What video editor are you using?

Sorry for the basic questions, but answers will help pinpoint more specifically what might be good to use.

Most modern apps can give you a video preview to work with.

It also makes a difference if you have used audio apps before or the whole territory is new to you.

I prefer Pro Tools LE 7.4 for multi-tracking & editing, and Ableton Live for sound design, and MIDI sequencing (though Pro Tools has gotten a lot better at this).

I sweeten almost every track with Izotope's Ozone plugin. I love the 4 Band Master - Widening and Excitation preset (tweaked each time, of course).

Also, I've been playing with Audioease' Speakerphone plugin as well. It's amazing for creating realistic environments, telephone conversations, and creative sound design.

-Dmitry

I sweeten almost every track with Izotope's Ozone plugin. I love the 4 Band Master - Widening and Excitation preset (tweaked each time, of course).
-Dmitry
Do you use Ozone as a track plug-in/effect? I had thought it was primarily a mastering plug-in.

Are you using a PC or a Mac?

Exactly what are you editing? Just the recorded dialog? Or are you adding music, sound effects, live music through midi, etc.?

How many audio sources will you be using at once?

What video editor are you using?

Sorry for the basic questions, but answers will help pinpoint more specifically what might be good to use.

Most modern apps can give you a video preview to work with.

It also makes a difference if you have used audio apps before or the whole territory is new to you.

I've used Cool Edit a lot before.

I'm not so familiar with some tech stuff (how to properly EQ, use of filters etc.), but basic editing is fine.

I use PC. Adobe CS3 programs, Premiere, After Effects and I'm thinking about starting to use Audition.

Will audition give me that?

Goldwave.

http://goldwave.com/

I've used Cool Edit a lot before.

I'm not so familiar with some tech stuff (how to properly EQ, use of filters etc.), but basic editing is fine.

I use PC. Adobe CS3 programs, Premiere, After Effects and I'm thinking about starting to use Audition.

Will audition give me that?

Audition is Cool Edit, renamed when Adobe bought it from Syntrillium. It does permit you to import video clips and edit their audio while previewing picture. It only supports one video clip at a time however so you would use it in conjunction with your video editor, most likely Premiere I'd imagine, for your complete edit.

There are a lot of good DAWs out there. Protools is the standard but not necessarily the best. I would recommend downloading demos of the major apps and trying them out. It really comes down to which DAW gives you the best work flow as they pretty much do the same things.

I use Sonar 7 with a RME Fireface 800 and love it. I also have an 002r with PT LE but never bought the DV toolkit. I have debated on getting a full TDM system but it’s hard for me to justify the cost. So I mostly use Sonar and it does almost everything I need it to do. Plus I really like cakewalk as a company as they really seem to listen to and care about their customers. I also like that I can use the hardware I want.

I import all of my audio tracks into Steinberg Nuendo, and go from there. It's a fantastic program and has gotten easier and more powerfull in the last few years. Once I'm done splitting tracks, eq'ing , compressing and everything else, I do a stereo mixdown, and do my final tweaking and mastering in Wavelab.
We do a lot of weddings, and typically end up with several mic tracks (usually one needs splitting the lav and gun). I add music tracks and sometimes compose my own aditional sweeteners. I originally started with cubase, then Nuendo, for song peoduction and recording, and then found it great for video. I know that the industry standard is Pro tools, but I've been using cubase and nuendo for 10 years....
Bruce S. Yarock
www.yarock.com

Sound track pro and audacity