Both Audacity and Garageband are awesome tools to get your podcast editing started for free. In this post we go over the similarities and differences between Audacity vs Garageband.
By Niall Mackay
Are you looking into editing your podcast episodes for free? Chances are that you encountered both Audacity and Garageband as your free audio editing options. Both can handle multiple audio tracks, and in a very simple way layer and mix them.
Although both softwares are great to trim and edit your audio there is a major difference between Audacity vs Garageband. While you can modify audio on both softwares, Audacity does this in a one-shot method where you have to wait until the program finishes your audio changes and change your original track completely. On the other hand, Garageband lets you modify it as you listen.
Which is easier: GarageBand or Audacity?
You’ve been wondering which free music and sound editing software is easier? It really depends. If you are a podcaster, obviously you want to go for a regular trimming, sound removing mantra, however, these tools are a lot more powerful than that.
You can use Audacity or Garageband to create your own creative podcast intro too. As a rule of thumb, I would suggest considering your current device and experience level with sound editing.
Complete Comparison Table of Audacity vs Garageband for podcast editing
Audacity
Audacity is the most popular free sound editing software on the internet. It’s been around for 20 years and it is compatible with macOS, Windows, and Linux. If you are editing a podcast episode, chances are high that you will try Audacity at some point. It can record, post-process, normalize sounds, trim, fade in and out sounds, making you feel like an absolute professional sound editor.
For podcasters, though, Audacity offers great features of noise reduction and isolation that improves the sound quality. Plus, you can record your audio directly with your microphone on Audacity and play back sounds.
On Audacity there is an option to do video editing as well! Although it might not be the easiest platform to edit your videos, Audacity offers unlimited undos, cutting and copying of a video file.
In case you wonder what audio file formats are compatible with Audacity, you can import and export popular audio files such as WAV and MP3.
Basically, you can do anything with Audacity, however, the interface still fails to appeal for complete beginners. Even though there are countless advanced features to choose from, Audacity is challenging software for newbies who never used any sound editing software. So, if you happen to look for a beginner friendly interface keep on reading.
Garageband
Mac owners, listen! Garageband has been sitting and waiting for you to use it. It’s been there, eyeing you.
Garageband is a completely free audio workstation for Apple users. You can easily create music and edit your podcast episodes. Similarly to Audacity, on Garageband you can record and playback audio files, however, the interface is so much more intuitive for newbies to start editing.
Garageband is also great for sound manipulation where you can reverb, echo and distort the audio as you wish. Since it is an audio workstation, Garageband includes virtual instruments and pre-recorded music lessons for musicians too .
For beginner podcasters, I would recommend starting with Garageband as you can learn the basics of audio editing and the structure of any audio editing software.
Do professionals use GarageBand?
Do you think professionals would not use Garageband? You’re wrong. Garageband offers a wide range of sound editing features, even Rihanna’s Umbrella was edited on Garageband. You can confidently say that Garageband is a great option for both beginners and professionals. As for podcasters, I recommend this software over Audacity due to the intuitive interface and smaller learning curve. However, it is heavily dependent if you have an Apple device or not.
Final Verdict on Audacity vs Garageband
In summary, I would suggest Garageband for beginner podcasters who are currently using an Apple device. Even though Garageband is heavily dependent on Apple, I’ve got to say that the beginner-friendly interface and pre recorded sounds are HUGE help for newbies.
On the other hand, Audacity is also an awesome tool to get your podcast editing started for free. Again, if you don’t have an Apple device and still want to edit your episodes with a free tool, Audacity is still the best option!
