I'm looking for a piece of simple software that'll allow me to easily :

  • Record Audio
  • Perform basic editing (cut out a section, increase the volume)
  • Save to MP3.

People talk about Audacity, but I find it a bit too complicated. Can any one recommend a lightweight and cheap Audio Recorder / Editor for OSX?

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25% accept rate
How important is the MP3? Would you accept an answer that included an extra step of encoding with lame or iTunes? – Richard Hoskins Sep 4 '09 at 16:35
It's important. I wanted to be able to create MP3 files immediately. – seanyboy Sep 7 '09 at 10:17
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5 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

I find Amadeus Pro easy to use. It costs US$40.

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Why to pay when you have already inbuilt GarageBand? – Spark Jan 30 '10 at 19:41
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GarageBand is another option. It's fairly easy to use and will let you do more sophisticated things as your needs increase.

Podcasts in Garageband

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Does it export to MP3? – Richard Hoskins Sep 4 '09 at 21:19
Yes, select "Export Song to Disk..." from the "Share" menu. – David Smith Sep 8 '09 at 14:23
+1 for GarageBand, works like a charm. – ymasood Oct 1 '09 at 10:14
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EDIT: I now recommend officially Quicktime X if you got 10.6. It's blazing fast - Volume boost can't be done though.

OLD : Fission by Rogue Amoeba Software - BIG BIG ICONS. :)

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Does Fission record audio? – Richard Hoskins Sep 4 '09 at 16:30
No it doesn't. :| Quicktime X to take care of that part mayhaps? Wait wait... I just tried with Quicktime X... IT RECORDS AND TRIMS. :) Volume boost no though... – caliban Sep 4 '09 at 16:48
Quicktime Pro on Leopard records and allows edits, but does not do MP3. – Richard Hoskins Sep 4 '09 at 17:08
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Not an answer, but Quicktime for recording and editing, the Levelator for automatic leveling, and iTunes for conversion to MP3 is a very easy podcast workflow for Mac. – Richard Hoskins Sep 4 '09 at 17:11
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I don't use them, but try Podcast Maker or Podcaster for audio podcast or Boinx TV for video podcast.

Some people use Wire Tap Studio.

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podcast maker doesn't allow you to record, but it looks like it has a great interface for publishing podcasts. – seanyboy Sep 7 '09 at 10:19
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I'd highly recommend Sound Studio by Freeverse. It's a good all-around audio editor, with the standard bread-and-butter audio editing tools and also support for AU plugins if you need something special. Also, it comes with a few automation tools to make publishing podcasting easier, such as adding intro/outro files, mastering for voice, etc.

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