What is the best audio recording software for Mac users to record audio on Mac computer? How to determine which audio recording software is the best Mac audio recording software? It's up to personal preferrences. Some Mac users might prefer recording to editing, while others might require a piece of best audio recording software for Mac to edit as well as record. No matter what you need, this post would provide you several best audio recording software for Mac computer. You could freely select the best audio recording app for Mac that meets your needs.
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This is considered to be quite popular audio editing software. The team at Adobe is. However, this trend has changed in recent years. Mac computers are becoming more and more popular among a variety of users. In particular, broadcasters, in particular, are quickly adopting the Mac OS. For earlier reviews of Windows-compatible video broadcast software, check out our previous blog post. Live Streaming Software Options for Mac OS.
Part 1: 6 Best Audio Recording Software for Mac
The best audio recording software for Mac computers could of course include the ability to recording audio files from multiple sources like computer audio, streaming audio, microphone voice, online radio, etc. The second condition to weigh a Mac audio recorder as the best audio recording app for Mac is the output recording quality.
No.1: Leawo Music Recorder for Mac
As the No.1 best audio recording software for Mac, Leawo Music Recorder for Mac could easily record audio of any source and get music for free on Mac. It supports multiple audio sources and audio output formats. This best audio recording app for Mac could record audio from computer including computer audio, streaming audio, online music, radio, etc. and audio input through microphone on Mac. You could use this best audio recording app for Mac to record and save audio on Mac into M4A, MP3 and WAV audios, with output audio Bit Rate and Sample Rate adjustable. What's more, this best Mac audio recording software could automatically download and add music tags like song artist, album, album artwork, song name, etc. to complete music info. The embedded music tag editor allows people to manually edit music tags. This feature is especially useful for music recording and downloading. If you like, you could directly apply recorded music files to iTunes within this best audio recording software for Mac.
No.2: Audio Recorder Pro
As the best audio recording program for Mac, Audio Recorder Pro acts far more than audio recording. As the best audio recording for Mac, it could record music from YouTube, Napster, Rhapsody, Skype, iChat, microphone audio, etc. and edit recordings afterwards. Like Leawo Music Recorder for Mac, it also provides Mac users with splitter function to split recordings upon time gap.
No.3: Audio Hijack Pro
Soft For Mac Audio Editor
Audio Hijack Pro is also the best audio recording program for Mac users that prides itself on being able to record audio from any input whatsoever. If you can hear audio, you can record audio Mac OS X. You can even record audio from multiple applications at once – good for recording interviews on Skype, for instance.
Multiple formats are supported, and recording is even crash-protected, so you won't lose audio if the app crashes whilst recording. Why is mac better for video editing. A few effects are included, and the interface is impressive.
No.4: Audacity
The open-source program gives users a wide range of options for recording and editing audio, all tied together with a simple interface. And it is the best free audio recording software for Mac users. Everything Audacity offers is free of charge. Compared to other notable DAWs such as ProTools and Sound Forge, Audacity's layout is very minimalist. There are toolbars for navigating a track, editing it, and mixing. When tracks are loaded, they will appear as waveforms, and users can edit specific sections of a track by highlighting the appropriate section of the waveform. Navigating the interface is easy, although it may take time for new users to figure out what every specific tool does. As far as editing goes, Audacity offers a surprisingly robust set of tools for a free program. Users can adjust pitch, bass, and treble, or normalize noise and add effects like reverb and phasing.
No.5: Ardour
As another best audio recording app for Mac, Ardour lets you record, edit and mix tracks, using an interface that can be professional-enough as well as easy-to-get-used-to at the same time. Ardour can be useful for professionals such as audio engineers, musicians, sound track editors and composers. While Ardour lets audio engineers mix their MIDI projects with ease, the enhanced recording options would do well for musicians and composers. When we consider the features aspect, Ardour has a lot to talk about: support for editing hardware makes everything easier while multi track recording makes sense too. There are advanced options in the editing and mixing section too. For instance, you have Routing, Inline Plugin Control, etc in mixing section. It is to be noted that productivity of Ardour can be made to fit your requirement using certain plug-ins.
No.6: Garageband
Bundled with Apple's iLife suite of apps, Garageband is best free audio recording software for Mac users to record audio on Mac computer. Everything Audacity has to offer is free of charge. It is a stylish and comprehensive audio recording tool. Although it can't record from the same versatile array of sources, it has powerful editing features and is well on the way to being a professional tool.
Garageband is particularly good for creating podcasts and ringtones for your iPhone, with advanced support for both included.
Part 2: How to Record Audio on Mac with Leawo Music Recorder for Mac
To help you easily record audio on Mac, we would like to show you how to record audio files on Mac with the best audio recording software for Mac - Leawo Music Recorder for Mac. You could choose to record audio from Mac computer like audio files on local drive, music from video sharing sites or online radio stations, streaming audio, or input audio from your Mac's microphone.
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Leawo Music Recorder
☉ Record any music file from computer stream audio and built-in input audio.
☉ Record music from 1000+ music sites like YouTube, Facebook, Veoh, VEVO, etc.
☉ Schedule music recording via the internal recording task scheduler.
☉ Automatically/manually add and complete music tags like artist, album, cover, genre, etc.
Download and install this Mac audio recording software on your Mac computer and then launch it. Follow the below steps to learn how to record audio on Mac with this best Mac audio recording software.
Step 1: Set Audio Source
Click the little microphone icon on the interface to enter the 'Audio Source' window, where you need to choose either 'Record Built-in Audio' option or 'Record Computer Audio' according to your needs. For audio from computer, choose the latter one. For audio recording from microphone, choose the former one. It could perform as the best voice recording software for Mac to record vocie and sound from microphone on Mac.
Step 2. Set output
Go to 'Leawo Music Recorder > Preferences > Format' to set the output format from MP3 Audio, WAV Audio and W4A Audio. If you need, you could change the audio parameters like bit rate and sample rate. After that, go to 'Preferences > General' to set output directory.
Step 3. Start to record audio on Mac
With all settings done, return to the main interface. Get source audio files ready. Then click the red 'Start' button to start recording audio before you play back audio file or input voice/sound through microphone. If you only need to record a clip of the source audio file, play the audio file first and then click the red button at the point you want to record. Stop at any point you want by clicking the red button again.
Step 4. Edit audio tags
As mentioned above, Leawo Music Recorder for Mac is able to automatically download and add music tags if you're recording music on Mac computer. But you could still adjust audio tags by entering 'Library > All Recordings' to choose the audio recording and right click it to select 'Edit Music Tags' option. You could change audio tags like recording title, artist, and genre.
For Windows computer, please turn to Leawo Music Recorder to record audio on Windows computer with ease.
In our previous article, we showed you, how you can automatically transcribe YouTube videos using Google Docs. And in recent years, we have seen a rise in transcription software that uses artificial intelligence to speed up the process. I tested quite a few of them and while only a few of them also support automated transcription, but all of them are meant to make the transcription process easier for you.
Just to make things sure, a transcription software is way different from a dictation software. It’s designed to help you in the process of medical, legal transcription. Be it interviews or medical appointments, accuracy is something you cannot compromise. So, you need a transcription software for Mac that doesn’t let you down at any point. Let’s check out a few of them. Shall we?
Quick Tip: Upload video on YouTube, set as private, and use the auto-transcribe feature to download a text transcription. This is not only cheap and unlimited but also quite accurate for native English speaker.
Best Transcription Software for Mac
1. Express Scribe
Express Scribe is one of the most popular choices when it comes to transcription in Mac. You can name it an awesome audio player software too. Express Scribe helps you play audio and video content so that you can optimize the transcription process. Compared to a normal media player, you have more control over not just the speed but also how the transcribed content is made.
There are a few professional features one might love. For instance, Express Scribe offers extensive support for foot-pedals. You can purchase one of these pedals and use it for controlling audio playback. Similarly, it allows you to load audio content from a variety of sources, including portable voice recorders out there. The wonderful collection of hotkeys also makes it easy to manage voice/video.
Express Scribe also offers a bunch of customization options. For instance, you can easily control the sources and destinations of the audio. In addition to this, an in-built task manager and syncing options make it really easy for users to deal with multiple transcription projects. However, we’re not sure of the feature for sending transcribed audios automatically.
Pros
- Professional interface
- Customizable features
- Extensive support
- Hotkey support
Cons
- Not suitable for Beginners
Who Is It For
Express Scribe is the best macOS transcription software for intermediates and professionals. It offers enough control and customization over the transcription process. You can also connect external accessories to grab the best results. Considering the features in the offer, the price-tag of $29 doesn’t seem that high, either. You’d also be able to use the limited free version.
2. Transcriva
Transcriva is one of the transcription software that prioritizes User Interface. It has been designed in a way that the transcription process is put first. Of course, there are professional features like food-pedal support, but Transcriva focuses on how easily you can transcribe. It’s a popular choice when it comes to transcribing interviews and related content.
If you ask us, we’d say Transcriva is one of the simplest ways to transcribe video or audio. In both cases, you have easy ways to track your progress and customize the process. For instance, Transcriva has a mini-player for video playback. On the other hand, you can control the sound and speed when you are using an audio player as the source.
In addition to the standard fulfilling, Transcriva offers some cool features. Follow-Along, for instance, allows you to check the transcribed content for accuracy. Similarly, support for multiple audio sources and complete support for keyboard shortcut make the transcription process a lot smoother. Compared to Express Scribe, Transcriva offers better transcript management as well.
Pros
- An intuitive UI
- Professional features
- Extra features like Follow-Along
Cons
- Audio playback could be better
Who Is It For
Transcriva is suitable for all types of transcribers — casual, hobbyists and professionals. If you’re looking for a professional tool with a simple interface, Transcriva is the best choice out there. It offers the best compatibility as well as recording options as well. You can try Transcriva free of cost for a limited amount of time, but the license costs $29.99.
3. Descript
Compared to the other transcription software we’ve covered, Descript is a bit different. First of all, it has one of the most modern UIs we’ve ever seen. Descript is at the same time a professional transcription software as well as an intelligent audio editor. You can also use this program to automatically transcribe audio content and use some smart features.
Talking about features, Descript has many to offer. Drag-and-drop functionality helps you get the transcription done in a few minutes. Powered by Google Speech, this tool offers an impressive level of accuracy when it comes to automated transcription. Leave that aside, Descript still can be used as a great way to deal with a different variety of manual transcription.
We love it how arranged Descript is when it comes to content. You have complete control over how an audio file is played and synced with the transcribed data. This would be useful in the long run, when you have to make edits. Descript also features some of the best collaboration and feedback options we’ve seen. When you work with a team, these features make sense.
Pros
- An Impressive UI
- Collaboration & Feedback options
- Support for Automatic Transcription
- Audio editing support & compatibility
Cons
- Lacks playback control
- Doesn’t support Foot-pedals
Who Is It For
Descript is the best option if you need a combination of manual and automated transcription on Mac. While the tool offers better options for transcription and audio editing, the pricing isn’t that great. You would have to spend 7 Cents per minute to get the full features — every second counts. But, that aside, Descript works great when it comes to transcript creation and management.
4. InqScribe
Soft For Mac Audio Editing
InqScribe actually brings the best of both worlds when it comes to transcription in Mac. It doesn’t have such a big, professional interface like Express Scribe, but it does not go as minimal as Descript either. The point is that you can do transcription in a seamless environment, without worrying about additional customization needs.
Easy controls are one of the best things we found in InqScribe, at any point of time. You can add a source of the audio and start the playback. On the right side of the window, there is an option for doing transcription as well. As said earlier, InqScribe does not boast any fancy features in here. On the other hand, it offers an environment for peaceful transcription.
Expert transcribers use InqScribe for transcribing movies. It allows you to add timestamps during the play-back so that you can reverse-navigate thereafter. It’s really easy to control the transcription process using custom-made keyboards. And, when you are done, InqScribe lets you export the transcription to a properly usable format as well.
Pros
- Simple UI
- Easy Playback and Control
Cons
- None
Who Is It For
We believe InqScribe is the best option for beginners and regulars alike. It works best when you want to get a distraction-free environment for transcription. Similarly, if you are looking for a simple transcription tool that doesn’t scare you with fancy features, InqScribe stays as a potential choice. You can download the free version but the full license costs $99.
5. Transcribe
Transcribe is not a dedicated transcription software for Mac. It’s rather an online transcription tool that does work with Mac very well. You can use the tool for transcribing audio as well as video, but it also supports an excellent feature of automated transcription and dictation. If you are too lazy to type, you can just say and Transcribe does its job very well.
It also lets you control the audio like – start, stop, slow down, fast forward etc, using the keyboard while you are typing.
Coming to manual transcription, however, Transcribe is perfect. The audio player and the text fields are so integrated that you will find maximum productivity. On the other hand, automated transcription ensures an impressive amount of accuracy in different languages as well. You can even connect your foot pedal to take control of the audio playback.
This would be the best choice if you don’t want to install anything on your computer. That having said, you will have to upload the video or audio that you have to transcribe. We would not recommend this if you’re someone who prefers working locally. On the bright side, though, Transcribe lets you load a YouTube video and get the job done.
Pros
- Simple Interface
- Manual and Automated Transcription methods
- Intuitive editor
Cons
- You have to upload the content every time
Who Is It For
We believe, Transcribe is the best option for the on-the-go transcribers. Once you purchase the license, you can do the transcription at any point in time. It offers all the features we’ve seen in dedicated tools out there and we’d recommend it for almost anyone. The only downside is that you need to be connected to the Internet. The self-subscribe license of Transcribe costs $20.
Which is the Best Transcription Software for Mac?
Well, these are some of the best transcription software for Mac. As you have seen, all of these tools are paid; we tried some of the free tools but most of them were not effective per se. Now, coming to the options, we would recommend InqScribe or Descript if you are just getting started. On the other hand, for professional transcribers, it makes sense to spend some money and purchase something like Express Scribe or Transcribe. We would say Transcribe is the option if you need better mobility and on-the-go support. So, which do you think is the best one out on the list?