7 Free Audio Editors for Your E-Learning Courses

Posted: 19 Jan 2015 11:43 PM PST

Articulate Rapid E-learning Blog - 7 free audio editors

Even though many elearning applications have their own audio tools, I usually don't use them. I may for quick projects, but generally, I like to keep my audio production separate from my elearning course production. It provides more control over the audio files and dedicated audio editing software tends to have more features.

Here's a list of some free audio editors that are more than sufficient for what you may need for most of your elearning course production. And the price is right.

Of course, working with audio isn't necessarily as easy as plugging in a microphone and recording narration. So I included links to the free software's learning community to help you if you have detailed questions.

Audacity

Audacity is probably the most popular of the free audio editors. It's open source with lots of users so that means there's a lot of help available online. You can do quick basic recording or use the more advanced features for better audio editing.

Articulate Rapid E-learning Blog - free audio editor recording audacity

Ocenaudio

The interface for this is familiar and pretty easy to use to get started. As they say, it's "easy to use, fast and functional audio editor. It is the ideal software for people who need to edit and analyze audio files without complications."

Articulate Rapid E-learning Blog - free audio editor recording ocenaudio

Presonus Studio One (free).

There's a free and pro version. This is a nice application and probably a bit more sophisticated than what most of us are used to using. However, once you learn to use it you'll have a lot you can do.

Articulate Rapid E-learning Blog - free audio editor recording presonus

TwistedWave (beta)

This is an online tool. The start page is a bit different than you might expect. To create a recording you click "new document." This opens up an easy to use recording window. It is online and you can save to Google Drive.

I do like the ability to download and edit audio from Soundcloud.

Articulate Rapid E-learning Blog - free audio editor recording twisted wave

Wavosaur

I just took a quick look at the free audio editor so I can't speak to how easy it is to use. However, I know that there are a few blog readers who use it. Here's how Wavosaur describes the tool: "a cool free sound editor, audio editor, wav editor software for editing, processing and recording sounds, wav and mp3 files. The program has no installer and doesn’t write in the registry. Use it as a free mp3 editor, for mastering, sound design."

Articulate Rapid E-learning Blog - free audio editor recording wavosaur

WaveShop

This is another application I haven't used yet, but was told about at a recent conference. It does bit perfect editing which apparently is important if you don't want a corrupted dither; and who wants that?

Articulate Rapid E-learning Blog - free audio editor recording waveshop

There are a lot more free audio editors out there, but these are the ones I've personally used hear the most about from blog readers. And they're not tied to non-commercial or freemium business models. That means you're free to use them for the courses you produce at work.

Do you use a different free audio editor than the ones listed above? Feel free to share in the comments below.

*image via commons.wikimedia.org

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