Top 5 Best Music Recording Software You Won't Miss 2023

Last Updated on 2023-11-03 Starry
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Recording music will be a rare pleasure to count your thumbs. How can I record music at home? What software do I use to record a song? If you have no idea, it’s imperative to read through this review for it gives a full picture of the top 5 best music recording software to meet your demand.

It’s the digital age right now, and people are shifting all their work to PCs. The same goes for music. Previously we used so much costly equipment, and it would take us weeks to produce a piece of music. But now, there are lots of music recording software free or paid available in the market, and it only takes a few hours to compose professional quality music using just a computer. They are extremely easy to use, and the output can be as good as conventional music recording equipment.

You might be looking for some of the best music recording software, also known as DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) recording software. Here are some of our recommendations that you can give a try.

1. Ableton Live 10

This can be undoubtedly the best music recording software you will ever find. It gives you tons of features at a reasonable price. The number of features is far more than you’ll ever need for a simple music project and has enough tools for doing a professional music project. There are over 5000 sound samples and 57 different sound effects to choose from in a 70 GB package. Its user-friendly UI makes it great for beginners, although it can be too much for small and simple recordings.

You get a 90-day free trial for this software, which gives you a lot of time to try out its vast array of features. After that, you can pay a one-time fee that starts from $99 to get full access to this music recording software.

The latest versions of Ableton live comes with Wavetable. It is a dual-oscillator, dual-filter synthesizer. It has a modulation matrix and tons of new sounds, which will help you find new ideas for your music.

However, it comes with a few drawbacks. You will not get audio/beat slicing at the cheapest tier. So, you may have a hard time tightening or eliminating parts of the audio that you don’t want in the final product, like noise, breaths, etc. This is an extremely important feature but is locked behind a higher paywall of $449. This is a major loss for people who are tight on budget. They may have to rely on some other free music recording software to cut out the unnecessary parts later.

music recording software: ableton-live-10

Pros:

  • The interface is simple and user-friendly
  • A great choice for beginners
  • Long trial period with reasonable prices
  • Handy software for professionals
  • The suite versions have a lot of sample audios to work with
  • The latest Wavetable synth sounds great
  • Powerful automation

Cons:

  • Audio slicing is not available in the starter pack
  • The starter pack contains only 16 audio tracks
  • There are too many tools for tiny projects
  • Lacks a pitch correction tool
  • There is no notation view

2. Image-Line FL Studio 20 Producer Edition

If you are looking for simplicity, this might be the best pick for you. It has been more than two decades, and music producers still love it due to its simple and user-friendly UI. It also comes loaded with lots of useful features. The Piano Roll feature is one of the best you can find in any other music recording software. It also comes with amazing synth sounds, so you don’t have to spend any extra money on buying synth software.

Another cool thing about Image-Line is that it comes with amazing customer support. They look after their customers. Also, you will continue receiving newer updates for free forever.

They have over two decades of experience and know what people want. The features it provides make it not only great music recording software but also an amazing audio workstation program. You can get a free version, but it comes with limited features. The paid versions start from $99 as a one-time fee.

best music recording software: Image Line FL Studio 20 Producer Edition

Pros:

  • Piano Roll is one of the best music recording software
  • Very easy to use
  • They have proven their quality for years
  • You get free updates for life
  • The synth sounds are great

Cons:

  • Requires a high learning curve
  • The trial version has limited features

3. Avid Pro Tools

If you plan on producing professional-level music on a powerful computer, then this might be the best music recording software in the world, as this software contains some of the most advanced tools you can get.

There are two versions – v. 12 and First. First edition is completely free, and it contains all the features needed for a music recording project. This version is the best for you if you have a PC with limited specs, as it will run well on a system with 4 GB of RAM. Also, this version will introduce you to the world of professional digital audio workstations while giving you access to powerful features.

If you want to kick your production up a notch and want to create professional audio tracks, we recommend that you upgrade to v. 12. Although you need to upgrade your RAM to at least 16 GB, else your computer will struggle to work properly with larger projects.

However, this is definitely not the music recording software you want to use as a beginner. It needs a lot of learning curves just to use the basic tools. Also, the tools available in both versions are way more than what you’ll need for simple audio recording. Another drawback is that you cannot save your projects locally in the First edition. The projects need to be saved directly to the cloud. We found this feature annoying as you will need a constant internet connection to save your projects. The next bad thing is that you will only get twelve months’ worth of software updates even if you own a permanent license. After that, you will need to pay a monthly fee.

best free music recording software: Avid Pro Tools

Pros:

  • One of the best available software for professionals
  • A large variety of virtual instruments
  • Reasonable prices
  • It supports fast 64-bit recording and has a mixing engine
  • The latest Factory and Plugsound packs are amazing

Cons:

  • Only 10-day money-back guarantee
  • Requires a lot of learning curve
  • V. 12 won’t work properly without good PC specs
  • There is no built-in pitch correction
  • There is no support for VST or AU plugins
  • Only twelve months of updates for free

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4. Audacity – Best Free Music Recording Software

Whether you have the budget or not, if you are looking for free music recording software that you can use for advanced recording and editing, Audacity is the best you can find. This is great free music recording software tool beginners, and you won’t need any prerequisite knowledge. You can use it to clean up small audio files efficiently. You may have a hard time managing long files, but you can split them into separate ones.

There are EQ tools that will allow you to submit audio to professional audio platforms. You can also do live audio recordings. Thanks to Audacity’s ‘Audio Monitoring’ feature, you can record live music while listening to the output using your headphones.

The program is very lightweight, small in size, and even an old computer would run it smoothly. This is invaluable software that you can use to compensate for Ableton’s lack of audio slicing features. However, Audacity can do wonders on its own and create professional-level music if you know how to operate it properly.

However, this free music recording software comes with a few drawbacks. Firstly, Audacity is not suitable for large projects. If you plan on working with multiple large audios, it is better to go for the recording software we mentioned above. Also, the UI may feel outdated.

It has the necessary effects that a sound producer needs, like reverb, delay, etc., but you will have a hard time experimenting with them while retaining the original file (destructive editing). This puts some limitations on creativity. If you apply an effect in Audacity, it will fundamentally alter the source audio. That means you cannot undo any edit or tweak it unless you go to your Undo history and get back to the previous state. And you will lose all the work that you had done after applying the effect.

best music recording software: Audacity

Pros:

  • Completely free
  • Tons of editing options, effects, and more
  • Provides support for multi-track audio and batch processing
  • Great software for beginners
  • Simple UI, but powerful

Cons:

  • The UI is slightly outdated
  • Cannot retain original audio after applying effects
  • Multi-track support is too basic
  • You cannot do any compositions

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5. Apple GarageBand

If you are looking for free music recording software that is really good and you have a Mac, then you can use Apple’s own completely free music recording software that outshines Audacity in a lot of ways.

GarageBand is best suited for professional audio recording, precise editing, and applying effects. It comes with ‘Audio Monitoring’ feature that will allow you to hear your music or yourself while you record. One thing that is absolutely incredible about GarageBand is its clean-up abilities. You can simply zoom in to the audio recording, and you will be able to see every millisecond of the audio. Then you can use it to cut out bits from the audio that you don’t want.

GarageBand shows you the exact length of your audio. You can even segment different takes and portions and move them around. The layout mimics the UI of Logic Pro X and some other multi-track software, making it a music recording software with a really good UI. Recording music is extremely simple. All you need to do is to arm a track and click on the Record button.

GarageBand outshines Audacity as it can record and mix up to 255 tracks at once. The only thing limiting you from doing so is the audio interface. However, it has a few drawbacks. Firstly, you cannot use it unless you are an Apple user. Also, this is only good for simple recording and editing. You cannot mix, master, or compose full audio as well as a dedicated audio station.

music recording software: Apple GarageBand

Pros:

  • The user interface looks professional
  • Very easy to use
  • Apple constantly updates its sound and loop library
  • You can get instrument lessons
  • GarageBand provides support for 24-bit recording and third-party plugins

Cons:

  • Only available to Mac users
  • You cannot compose music
  • Mixing console view is missing
  • You need to download the instruments separately

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Wrapping Up

These are our best picks for music recording software that you can use. You can pick any one of them (or a couple of them together) to suit your needs. We hope that this guide has helped you. By the way, are you looking for the optimal solution to record your screen for special purposes? You can turn to screen recording software.

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