Audacity vs. GarageBand

For just a quick down and dirty audio recording from computer source, Audacity is a no-frills solution that any user can get up and running with quickly without the intimidating functions seen in most standard DAWs. This would be a great tool to start with to record church services, or basic live performances where someone wouldn't want to use a full DAW like Ableton Live or Studio One.

Incentivized

Honestly, switching to Garage Band from Audacity for my podcast was a game-changer in the editing. I can do it so much faster with the tools that are available in editing--especially when you are dealing with more than one track to edit. I also think Garage Band could be fantastic for recording a whole album initially before sending it to be mastered elsewhere. And I think Garage Band could be perfect for sync music licensing because it's still relatively easy to use!

Incentivized

• Audacity has a wide variety of controls and capabilities for editing, making it a very robust tool for audio editing.
• Even though it's a robust tool, it is very easy to use to get many basic things done in audio editing. The learning curve is small.
• Love that audacity is free! What else could you ask for? There really is no reason not to use it.

Incentivized

• Easy and simple interface that can be used by anyone.
• The visual audio levels are great and help to clean out all the impurities in an audio.
• Comes freely built in with all Mac computers, which are widely used.
• Very user-friendly and intuitive at the same time.
• GarageBand can be self-taught with no experience.

Incentivized

• Although the UI is very simple, it's not great to look at. Making the program more exciting visually would be a great plus.
• The functionality has never been lacking for what it is, but has also not seen major additions in a long time.
• The support base of the community is truly impressive, but is also very intimidating to wade through. Having better standardized help avenues would be a benefit to new users.

• Can't save the preferences for the tracks such as turning off reverb etc.
• Project files are large, a 30-minute podcast episode with only 4 tracks is typically around 1 GB
• Auto feature to silence guest not talking
• Optimize for podcasters (I use the old version 6 as new versions hasn't had podcast options)

Incentivized

With no subscription fees unlike other products on the market, I am very confident I will continue using Audacity for my simple audio editing needs. I'm not an expert in audio editing, I'm sure what works for me as a more general user in a public institution would not suit someone more experienced, but I'm very happy with the quality of work I'm able to produce.

Incentivized

Audacity is decently user friendly, while any questions generally have to be answered by externally searching for tutorials or other users encountering the same issue, it is still straightforward, simple, and easily resolved. It's installable on any type of computer, compact, and easy to install. Beginners may have a harder time, but once you know what you're doing, it's very easy to use.

Incentivized

Audacity is great for this, it doesn't require a network connection once downloaded, and previous versions of the software are still functional in my experience. I have never experienced the program crashing, lost work, corrupted files, anything of the sort.

Incentivized

I have never had issues with speed in Audacity, I don't integrate it with other software but the program runs smoothly even with larger jobs. I haven't measured the CPU while using Audacity, but I imagine it's not high compared to other, more professional or specialized programs in the same category.

Incentivized

We have not used direct support for Audacity, other than using the information available on their website, which resolved the issues we were experiencing so we had a good experience in that regard. As this is Open Source FREE software, I don't believe there is direct support available. In saying that, it has the following great support options:

• Online documentation and FAQ
• Online tutorials covering all functions
• Online user forums where questions are asked and answered by other users
• Online wiki with more information

With these options most issues should be able to be resolved to get full use from Audacity.

Incentivized

I have never tried it. It's just simple, and you should be able to navigate most of it via self-exploration and Apple Help.

Incentivized

Again I found it helpful to write up a step-by-step tutorial for coworkers based on our institution's standard practices. This combined with support from coworkers to answer questions is very effective for simple everyday use of Audacity. The support in-program is minimal but troubleshooting in the internet age is straightforward.

Incentivized

All of the DAW's listed above are great for scoring to picture, which is something Audacity doesn't do. But it's an excellent standalone audio editor, which is a vital tool in any studio. It's very easy to transfer the clip, make the changes, and import it back into your session.

Incentivized

I have used Adobe Audition before but found it to be hard to learn. Some of the features were very nice but too much for what I needed to justify the price. GarageBand is perfect for my needs and it came free with my Mac laptop. That is the best deal in town!

Incentivized

I feel that Audacity is useful, simple, and suited both to casual users and more advanced use cases. There are options for expanding functionality in complex situations, but the option to not mess with it as a beginner is perfectly fine and suited to most everyday uses in my institution.

Incentivized

• Audacity is completely free, so it has helped us to eliminate the expense of paying for recording software.
• It is fast and efficient, which helps us save time and generate a great workflow.
• Even though we have what we need there are some features that cannot be found on Audacity, this affects the quality of our audio in a way.

Incentivized

• Amazing value
• Very easy to get started
• For novices and professionals alike
• Loops library is simply awesome
• Export capabilities very effective to share tracks

Incentivized