Recommendations for an alternative to Audacity

[rtweed]

I'd be interested to know what software you folks would recommend for
post-production of audio field recordings (eg of ensembles, bands,
orchestras etc) - I record onto either a computer or a Zoom H4N.

I've used two products:

- Audacity which, for almost all of the things I need to do, I really
like for its simple, effective and intuitive user interface.

- Cubase LE (which has come free with a couple of devices I've
purchased) which I have found to be totally unintuitive and
frustratingly complex for even the simplest of operations.

In fact the only two areas I find Audacity lets me down are:

- its EQ which has to be done "batch mode" - ie you can't modify EQ
settings and hear the effect in real-time (apart from an all too short
and usually irrelevant preview period). Instead you have to apply the
settings to some or all of the track and then listen back to hear the
results

- it doesn't provide a decent reverb, and again you can't monitor its
settings in real-time

Cubase LE does provide a decent reverb (and many other plug in
alternative reverbs are readily available) and both these and EQ can
be monitored in real-time, which is great and exactly what I want.
However every time I try to figure out how to use Cubase I quickly get
to a state of frustration where I'm ready to throw the computer out
the window - as an IT professional, I can't believe how badly designed
it is and how poor the documentation is for the relatively simple
tasks I need it to perform.

So, if anyone has any suggestions for alternatives, I'll be very
interested: something with the wonderful ease and simplicity of
Audacity but with real-time EQ and reverb....or perhaps some Audacity
expert can tell me how to achieve my goal!

Rob

[Edmund[_2_]]

On Sun, 31 Jul 2011 17:25:53 +0000, rtweed wrote:

> I'd be interested to know what software you folks would recommend for
> post-production of audio field recordings (eg of ensembles, bands,
> orchestras etc) - I record onto either a computer or a Zoom H4N.
>
> I've used two products:
>
> - Audacity which, for almost all of the things I need to do, I really
> like for its simple, effective and intuitive user interface.
>
> - Cubase LE (which has come free with a couple of devices I've
> purchased) which I have found to be totally unintuitive and
> frustratingly complex for even the simplest of operations.
>
> In fact the only two areas I find Audacity lets me down are:
>
> - its EQ which has to be done "batch mode" - ie you can't modify EQ
> settings and hear the effect in real-time (apart from an all too short
> and usually irrelevant preview period). Instead you have to apply the
> settings to some or all of the track and then listen back to hear the
> results
>
> - it doesn't provide a decent reverb, and again you can't monitor its
> settings in real-time

Well since this group is called re.audio"high-end" I would suggest to stay
away from both reverb en EQ.
Both will destroy the high end part of what you recorded in the first place.


Edmund

> Rob

[Arny Krueger[_4_]]

"rtweed" > wrote in message
...
> I'd be interested to know what software you folks would recommend for
> post-production of audio field recordings (eg of ensembles, bands,
> orchestras etc) - I record onto either a computer or a Zoom H4N.


For many of us, the all-time classic audio editing tool is Cool Edit or Cool
Edit Pro.

Especially in the Cool Edit Pro 2.1 incarnation, it is still a highly
effective tool.

Sadly, Cool Edit was sold to Adobe who changed its name to Auditon, IMO it
hasn't exactly thrived under Adobe's stewardship. I bought the first two
pay-for release upgrades of Audition as well as the inital freebie, tried to
enjoy them, and eventually regressed to CEP 2.1.

[Audio Empire]

On Sun, 31 Jul 2011 10:25:53 -0700, rtweed wrote
(in article >):

> I'd be interested to know what software you folks would recommend for
> post-production of audio field recordings (eg of ensembles, bands,
> orchestras etc) - I record onto either a computer or a Zoom H4N.
>
> I've used two products:
>
> - Audacity which, for almost all of the things I need to do, I really
> like for its simple, effective and intuitive user interface.
>
> - Cubase LE (which has come free with a couple of devices I've
> purchased) which I have found to be totally unintuitive and
> frustratingly complex for even the simplest of operations.
>
> In fact the only two areas I find Audacity lets me down are:
>
> - its EQ which has to be done "batch mode" - ie you can't modify EQ
> settings and hear the effect in real-time (apart from an all too short
> and usually irrelevant preview period). Instead you have to apply the
> settings to some or all of the track and then listen back to hear the
> results
>
> - it doesn't provide a decent reverb, and again you can't monitor its
> settings in real-time
>
> Cubase LE does provide a decent reverb (and many other plug in
> alternative reverbs are readily available) and both these and EQ can
> be monitored in real-time, which is great and exactly what I want.
> However every time I try to figure out how to use Cubase I quickly get
> to a state of frustration where I'm ready to throw the computer out
> the window - as an IT professional, I can't believe how badly designed
> it is and how poor the documentation is for the relatively simple
> tasks I need it to perform.
>
> So, if anyone has any suggestions for alternatives, I'll be very
> interested: something with the wonderful ease and simplicity of
> Audacity but with real-time EQ and reverb....or perhaps some Audacity
> expert can tell me how to achieve my goal!
>
> Rob

Actually, you have about hit the nail on the head. 'Audacity' does most
things more than adequately, and "Cubebase LE" is good for many of the bases
that 'Audacity' doesn't cover. You might also try "Garage Band" on the Mac
for some things but the best "not free" solution is Apple's 'Logic Express
9' music editing software. Of course, you need a Mac to run this stuff, but
if you're doing recording and editing on a computer, you should be using a
Mac anyway because that's where most of the tools are.

[Jason Warren[_2_]]

In article >, says...
>
> On Sun, 31 Jul 2011 10:25:53 -0700, rtweed wrote
> (in article >):
>
> > I'd be interested to know what software you folks would recommend for
> > post-production of audio field recordings (eg of ensembles, bands,
> > orchestras etc) - I record onto either a computer or a Zoom H4N.
>
--snip--
> Actually, you have about hit the nail on the head. 'Audacity' does most
> things more than adequately, and "Cubebase LE" is good for many of the bases
> that 'Audacity' doesn't cover. You might also try "Garage Band" on the Mac
> for some things but the best "not free" solution is Apple's 'Logic Express
> 9' music editing software. Of course, you need a Mac to run this stuff, but
> if you're doing recording and editing on a computer, you should be using a

You might want to take a look at Cool Edit Pro. Adobe bought it and turned it into their
Audition product. I used CEP and now use Audition (not free) and recommend it/them..

Jason

[Juan I. Cahis]

Dear friends, for me the best is SoundForge, now from Sony.


[ Excessive quotation snipped -- dsr ]