Best Free Sound Recording App For Mac
Screen Recording Software for Mac is designed to capture all screen activities while you work on the Mac display. The best screen recording software should be able to capture videos in HD quality that is critical for coding tutorial and game demonstration videos. There are several paid and free Mac screen recording software available in the market, and the basic features can be found on free screen recorder apps.
Here we listed some basic Mac screen recorder software for free and a couple of paid recorder apps that has some extended features best for professional use.
It allows you to record voice memos and on-site sounds at unlimited length with configurable quality. Recorded voices are in standard AAC/MP4/M4A format. Voice Record Pro can record directly in MP4 (AAC), MP3 (MPEG) and WAV (PCM) formats plus convert function for all supported formats. Bundled with Apple’s iLife suite of apps, Garageband 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. How to Record Lossless Audio on Mac. Apowersoft Audio Recorder for Mac is dedicated to record all sorts of sound on your Mac. With this smart Mac OS audio recorder, you can record streaming audio, radio, local files, VoIP calls, music and other kinds of audio clips coming through your speakers and microphone. Which Audio Editor Do I Use? Audacity (Windows, Mac, Linux) This is the godfather of free audio editing software. You can multi track to an extent (have more than just one stereo track e.g. A full band recording).
When you go for Mac free screen recorder, please keep in mind, many of them will come with time-limited recording, or some features will be missing. But these apps will be a good choice for those who don’t want to spend money on these apps.
QuickTime Player
Mac users know that Quick Time Player is the default video player on Mac. QuickTime can also be used for the playing different media files present on the system and support a wide range of video formats. Despite being a video player it can also perform screen recording software easily and you can choose the entire desktop or the selected area for recording. There is an optional feature to show the mouse and add microphone audio in the recording video.
Download from Apple
Related: 10 Best Video & Photo Editing Software for Mac Professionals
Monosnap
Monosnap is a free Mac screen recording software coming with the option of turning on your webcam, mic and system’s audio all before the recording. You can your Mac’s inbuilt camera or an external camera for the recordings on the software. MonoSnap records the screen in 60fps to ensure an ultra-smooth playback to meet the need in the demanding situations. For screenshots, Monosnap can capture full or part of the screen delayed screen capture and hotkey setup to trigger the screenshot.
The video recording support to capture screencasts, blur private information from the screen and also let you highlight the important information with text, marker or arrows. This Mac Screen Recorder is ideal for students and professionals with its integration with the cloud. You can connect the cloud drives such as Dropbox, CloudApp, Yandex.Disk, Box.com, Google Drive or FTPs to upload screen recorded videos and screenshots to share with other PCs and smartphones. Monosnap is mainly good for one-off recordings that are short and can be shared quickly.
Download from Apple Store
Icecream Screen Recorder
You can easily use Icecream Screen Recorder to capture any area of the screen. Capture as well as save the area in the form of a screenshot or video file over your system. Record your games, webinars and Skype video calls in HD quality in a quick and simple manner.
Record the screen in a window as well as in full-screen mode to display the content in the best possible manner. You can easily add your own watermark while capturing the screen of your desktop or laptop. Set your video quality output and record the entire screen in that manner.
Download from Website
OBS Studio
OBS Studio is an open source and free software for video recording and live streaming for Windows, MAC & Linux. You can get high-performance real-time video/audio capturing and mixing, with unlimited scenes. The additional filters available for video sources such as image masking, color correction, chroma/color keying, and more. The built-in audio mixer is coming with filter functions such as noise gate, noise suppression, and gain.
Download from Website
Jing
Jing is an interesting free screen capture application from TechSmith, different from all other screen-capture software. The captured video can be saved in SWF format or stored in the screencast. Coming with a five-minute video recording with the option of using the mic while recording, it is a good option for narrating the steps to solve a problem.
Download from Website
Screen Recorder Robot Lite
This is one of the simplest tool presents for screencasting and edits the recorded video to perfection. Unlike many free recording tools it doesn’t include any watermark on the video and every mouse click can be detected easily with the tool. The videos recorded through the tool can be a minimum of 200 seconds and maximum of 600 seconds. You can record over and over then edit the video to make a big video.
Download from Apple Store
Recordit: Instant Screencasts
Recordit allows you to make a quick video of yourself doing something interesting on your Mac. You can easily turn the recorded video into a GIF and share them instantly without any trouble encountered. From the software, you can record the screen for 5 minutes and create a GIF from the recorded video. The screencast is uploaded to the software’s servers from where it can be shared to other platforms.
Download from Apple Store
Apowersoft Screen Recorder
Apowersoft Screen Recorder is a great professional tool for screen recording. The program is quite rich in features and gives more control to the user during the screen recording process. Create a vivid tutorial that includes your feelings along with the recording.
Record in the best possible manner with the three recording modes as well as use different audio inputs for recording. Configure the mouse style for recording the screen in the manner that you find suitable for yourself.
Download from Mac App Store
Record it
Record it is a good and professional tool that allows you to record your screen for displaying the software as well as giving video tutorials. You can capture the screen for iOS devices with the tool through Airplay / Wi-Fi. Access the custom recorder feature of the tool to capture the videos at full screen or any size.
You can easily export the screen video to other online sharing platforms and also export it as a GIF. The one-click feature of the tool makes the screen recording process quite simple for the beginners. The interface is smooth allowing the people to have more control over the screen recording process.
Download from Mac App Store
As you know, the paid Mac screen recorder apps are good for customer support and packed with a lot of features as well as no restriction for maximum recording time.
Snagit
Another great Mac screen recording software from TechSmith, Snagit is premium screen recorder software which can download at a one-time cost of $49.95. Combining some of the best editing features; it is an easy to use software to record desktop.
The recorded video is saved in MP4 format and comes with a large 1 GB file limit. After doing the recording, you can send the video to any suitable application service offering a great level of reliability.
Download from Website
Camtasia
Camtasia 2 is one of the most famous and professional screen recording software for Mac OS and is offered for a price of $99. With the extensive layout, the user can make smooth editing and mix on the recorded video.
Add titles, annotations, transitions and panning animations on the recorded movie to increase the effect of the video. The tools of the software are huge time savers for the people who record screen regularly.
Download from Apple Store
Screen Record Studio HD
It is a professional screen recording software that can be purchased for $4.99. Screen Record Studio supplies some good text and image logos along with screen recording feature. The people can mix two audio sources and add mouse click animation along with the click count. You can record for a particular time by setting a timer for recording. The software can only record for only 120 seconds.
Download from Apple Store
AV Recorder & Screen Capture
AV Recorder & Screen Capture allows you to capture everything and anything on your screen. It offers a max resolution of 2800 by 1800 for recording video. Make gameplay tutorial with its perfect FPS option and auto stop recording at a fixed time. If you want to shorten the recording then you can trim the video easily from the software. The recording software is offered to people at a cost of $9.99. The sharing of videos can be done online with ease.
Download from Apple Store
Capto Screen Capture
Bring out the creativity present in you by capturing informative and compelling videos with Capto Screen Capture. Record your entire screen or selected portions in Full HD at 60 FPS with clear audio. You can also record your emotions during the screen recording process with system’s camera or through an external recording device.
The powerful video editing suite of the tool gives you all the features to make the recorded video better. The file manager of the tool offers easy storage as well as retrieval of the projects. Just sort the recorded videos in efficiently labeled folders that are customizable in every manner.
Download from Mac App Store
Screen Recorder Movavi
Get the unique possibility for capturing the screen in high quality with Movavi Screen Recorder. You can easily capture the gameplay, video as well as audio streams through the tool available for the purpose. Capture the movement of the mouse along with the keyboard actions for recording a tutorial or how to do video in a better way.
Coming with automatic monitor area, the recorder can be adjusted into any specific manner preferred by you. You can add system alerts, keyboard types, cursors types as well as custom sounds on clicks. The tool also comes with a timer allowing you to add a timer and relax on your chair, while recording is going on its own.
Download from Mac App Store
Screen Recorder Pro
Record the screen of your Mac at 30 frames to 60 frames per second with optimum performance result through Screen Recorder Pro. Choose to record the computer audio or record it from the internet, app or any game. With custom scaling, you can easily scale down the recorded video to get the necessary result in the video.
Compress the video after the recording process to make it small for uploading on social networking sites. Record the screen with no time limit and save the file in MOV or MP4 format. With the tool, you can add mouse click animation with your logo as well as your signature to the recorded video.
Download from Mac App Store
Related: Best Wireless Headphones for iPhone 7 to Replace Apple Airpods
Perhaps the most prominent use of Mac Screen Recording Software is for showing off the solution to a system problem and upload on Youtube. When you use the screen recorder software for Mac, rather than just recording the screen, you may have a bunch of features that will improve the productivity.
These features include audio recording, selected window recording etc. The screen recorder software available in different names ‘screen capturing’ or ‘screen recording’ or ‘desktop recording,’ they all are doing the same job with some additional features like point zooming, area highlighting, video subtitle, etc.
With these top pick Mac Screen Recorder software, you can easily make screencast videos, make tutorials more explanative and clear. You can choose the best screen recorder from the paid or free ones in order to have the features as well as the characteristics needed to make a great tutorial video.
It was a lonely quiet night. I hadn’t slept for 20 hours. My coffee was depleted and my energy even more so.
Despite this, I had just spent the last 3 hours of my life searching for an audio editor that would do what I needed.
I had over twenty different pieces of software that had audio editing capabilities. Yet none of them could perform the simple task that I wanted to carry out.
Eventually I found an application that did exactly what I wanted with minimal effort. To be frank, I was ecstatic.
That event inspired me to try out every free audio editor out there and compile this list.
If you are thinking about setting up your own home studio, and you want to start looking at the available free audio editing software out there, you are in the right place.
But before we continue, I’m guessing you’re here because you want to make music that sounds professional in your home studio.
Finding the right audio editor is important, but it’s just one piece of the puzzle.
That’s why I created this new free training for people who want the entire framework for pro mixes.
Inside, I share the single most important recording and mixing discovery of my life.
This ONE thing that I discovered gave me the ability to walk into my home studio and finish a track that sounded radio-ready in a matter of hours.
So, if you just want a shortcut to pro-quality mixes, watch this on-demand training now:
But if you just want to learn all about audio editors specifically, keep reading.
Contents
- Does your editor really matter?
1Audacity (Windows, Mac, Linux)
This is the godfather of free audio editing software. You can multi track to an extent (have more than just one stereo track e.g. a full band recording). There are a range of effects and plugins, and it’s easy to use once you get used to it. It’s by far the most popular free audio editing software. Volume automation is easy using the envelope. Deleting and muting sections of audio is also a breeze. Recording is easy too. Tip: Reset all the gain sliders if you want to do a gain staging/ track balancing. You might also like our post on how to eq vocals.
It does have its drawbacks though. The user interface is not particularly appealing, and there a lot of features that you’ll rarely use that clutter the tool bar.
It looks a bit ancient, but it gets the job done. This is an awesome starting point for anyone wanting a free editor.
Link: Audacity
ocenaudio (Windows, Mac, Linux)
This new simple audio editor has a clean and colourful user interface. It’s so easy to use! It’s fast and it’s lightweight compared to Audacity.
It’s bundled with loads of effects (including compression, EQ and reverb) that you can apply and tweak in real-time.
This is a huge benefit as most free editors are destructive (they record effects straight to the audio) so you have to rely on a ‘preview’ button. This is how Audactiy works, for example. But in ocenaudio you can play with the parameters of the effect and hear the changes instantly.
The editor has VST support so you can use your own plugins. It’s easy to record audio straight in to the software as well. There are lots of useful tools (such as a spectogram) for the more advanced user.
One downside of this software is that it only supports single stereo/mono files. You can’t have a multi-track session and record several instruments in your home studio and mix them. More on recording voice and mixing vocals here.
But for editing stereo music files, or mono audio files (such as a voice recording) this is awesome. It’s also relatively simple in terms of features compared to Audacity, although they aren’t trying to compete on that front.
Link: ocenaudio
Hya-Wave (Chrome)
This is a member of the new wave of online audio editors that run in your internet browser. And it’s my favourite of that bunch.
Released in January 2015, I only discovered this a few months ago. The interface is clean and user friendly and the learning curve is pretty much non-existent. Three cheers for simplicity!
It doesn’t support multi-tracking but you can copy, paste, cut, clear and crop your audio. You can load and save in the cloud, apply live effects and share to social media or via URL (take a listen to a song I applied some compression and a high-pass filter to here: )
Browser based DAWs could be the future of audio editing. There are several out there for music composition already and now more audio editors are appearing too. Click here to see how to master a song at home.
This is ideal if you are recording or editing on the fly and don’t want to install large programme on to your laptop.
Link: Hya-Wave
WavePad (Windows, Mac, iPad, Android)
A slightly older DAW, but still highly useful. The interface may not be as sleek as some of the editors listed here, but it makes up for this in features.
It’s easy to install and easy to use. There are lots of bundled effects including noise removal, compression and reverb. There are also some great analysis tools for more advanced users. Reverse reverb: here’s how to create this cool trick.
Pitch and speed changes are possible. So is audio scrubbing, which can be very handy. It doesn’t support multi-tracking so you can only edit stereo or mono audio files.
My absolute favourite feature of this software is the batch processing (which I discussed in the introduction). You can apply compression, reverb, EQ or any effect to a number of audio files at once. This can save you HOURS in the right situation.
Link: WavePad
TwistedWave (web app, Mac, iPhone)
Another awesome online web application for editing sound. Again, it can’t multi-track, but it makes up for this with usability and features.
It’s easy to normnalize your audio and the effects are easy to apply.
Quick tip: like a lot of audio editing software, if you delete a section of audio the rest will ‘shuffle’ back so that there aren’t any gaps. If you want to remove noise without shuffling the audio, you need to ‘mute’ or ‘silence’ the section with noise.
In TwistedWave you can do this easily by highlighting the section of audio that you want to mute and hitting ‘s’ on your keyboard!
Link: TwistedWave
Wavosaur (Windows)
This one is a bit ancient. Dinosaur… Wavosaur… get it?!
It’s looks like the missing link in the evolutionary chain between tape cutting (prime apes) and modern best DAWs (humans).
Joking aside, this application may be basic, but it works. The download is only 1.3MB. Now that is small!
And it’s not that old. The latest version was released in 2013. It’s a good piece of classic Windows music production software. No frilly bits, no messing about. Straight to the point.
It supports VSTs but doesn’t come with any. If you want to apply effects you’ll need your own. There are loads of great analysis tools and volume automation is easy.
It’s very basic and doesn’t look great. But if you just want to get the job done without downloading a huge application, it’s perfect.
Link: Wavosaur
Soundation (web app)
This is a great online application that also functions as a multi-track DAW. This means you can have several audio tracks playing at once.
The interface is attractive. It’s easy to record. Volume and pan automation are easy to perform. You can change the color of the tracks to keep them more organised. Time stretching is also supported and there are a range of effects and plugins.
There is an awesome looping feature reminiscent of Logic Pro. This application is geared just as much to music composition and arrangement as audio editing.
Yet this may be it’s downfall when considered an audio editor – it’s features and workflow are perhaps better suited to arranging music.
Link: Soundation
Acoustica Basic (Windows)
Easy to set up a project and start recording. It has a scrub tool which can be extremely useful! Unfortunately the basic edition does not support multi-tracking but there are some great analysis tools.
This is also the only free audio editor that I have come across that comes with a convolution reverb (a special type of digital reverb you can use to semi-accurately model any room). You have to use your own impulse files though.
Link: Acoustica Audio Editor
Audio Cutter Pro (web app)
If you just need to crop some tracks and add some fades, this tool is perfect. It’s simple, the interface is great and the keyboard controls are intuitive.
You can also import files from Dropbox or Google Drive so it fit’s in perfectly with cloud based storage.
Link: Audio Cutter Pro
Nero Wave Editor (Windows)
Another simple and free audio editor. There’s nothing particularly special about this one, but it will meet basic audio editing needs.
You can apply effects non-destructively which is pretty useful. You can also create your own presets.
Best Free Sound Recording Program
Link: Nero Wave Editor
WaveShop (Windows)
WaveShop supports multi-channel audio (up to 18 outputs) which could be useful in the right situation. It also claims to be ‘bit-perfect’, so samples aren’t changed needlessly.
I can’t think of any more reasons why you would want to use this over any of the other editors listed here. But it’s worth taking a look if you want a simple Windows application for basic audio editing.
Link: WaveShop
Qtractor (Linux)
A colourful and sleek UI, multi-track support and even a mixer! This one is perfect for Linux users.
Unfortunately I don’t have anything running Linux so I can’t give this a try myself. It has some great reviews though.
Link: Qtractor
Audio MP3 Cutter Mix Converter (Android)
If you need to make edits on the move, check out this Android app.
It has over 1 million downloads, 55,000 ratings and a range of features.
Link: Audio MP3 Cutter Mix Converter
Does your editor really matter?
So, now you know what software is available.
But this is just one small part of the process. You can find the perfect editor for you and still end up with mixes that sound like bedroom demos if you’re missing this one crucial aspect (it took me 10 years to learn this).
There is SO MUCH that goes into a good mix. It’s actually pretty overwhelming.
Once you’ve found a good piece of software, there’s a lot of other stuff you need to get right if you want your music to sound professional.
But what if I told you that you don’t have to be an expert (with years of experience) to make radio-ready music at home?
Well…
That’s the truth.
It’s likely that you’ve already wasted time, money and effort on the wrong things. I know I did. I wasted years focusing on the wrong things.
So, what should you focus on if you want fast results?
Inside this new on-demand training, I share the secret to making radio-ready music at home.
After I stumbled upon this new approach, I knew exactly where to spend my time and energy. I was no longer confused and overwhelmed by the recording and mixing process.
Honestly, I was annoyed I didn’t learn this stuff sooner. It would have saved me at least 7 years.
This new approach hasn’t just worked for me either…
One of my students – his name is Patrick – was pretty new to home recording when he came to me for help. I shared this idea with him and he went from his first ever home recording to high-quality, professional mixes in just 2 and a half months.
This same approach has worked for hundreds of other musicians too.
Now it’s your turn.
If you want to learn the *exact* steps that will take your mixes to a professional standard in under a year…
Watch the on-demand training now:
It’s only playing for a limited time – we’re always updating the site and this could get removed soon. So go and check it out now.
What did you think of this post? Please give it a rating below.
Audio professional, musician and founder of Musician on a Mission.
