Audacity: Audaciously Free Audio Editing
When I was a computer “n00b,” I was fascinated with the Microsoft Sound Recorder. It was so cool that I could actually record things like BMI and EMI Records! But as I delved into the field of audio, I slowly realized that Sound Recorder had a couple of limitations. I could go on and on about these restrictions such no multiple tracks or track displays. But basically, every fault could summed up in one complaint: Sound Recorder is too beginner. I needed something more robust. Microsoft Sound Recorder is much like Microsoft Paint as compared to Adobe Photoshop or Ulead PhotoImpact.
Audacity raises the bar of power and difficulty up a couple of notches. Since I’ve never really been exposed to professional applications for audio mastering, it is hard for me to gauge how advanced Audacity really is. But, it gets the job done pretty well for me. I’ve even made pretty good radio and TV parody commercial audio from this program.