Beginner’s Journey Into Podcasting: Making Sounds Count Using Audacity

Free audio recording & editing software audacity for podcasts is available for Windows, Linux, & macOS. Even though it’s not expressly built for podcasts, it is a popular option for recording podcasts. If you don’t mind a steep learning curve, you can easily record, edit, & export a high-quality podcast with this software.

How to Record a Podcast using Audacity

Despite its complexity, audacity for podcasts doesn’t need a detailed understanding of the software’s internals to begin using it. As a beginner, we explain all of the initial settings and basic editing choices you’ll need to know and how to output in a format that can be used for podcasting.

Here’s how to get started recording your podcast using Audacity for Podcasts:

• By selecting the box to the left of your microphone, you may choose your audio host. Select MME for Windows and Core Audio for Mac OS X.

• Select the audio interface or microphone from the menu to the right of the microphone icon. In order to record your Audacity for Podcasts, Audacity utilizes the device that you pick from this menu.

• Select your headphones by checking the box to the right of a speaker symbol. To playback, the audio files, Audacity for Podcasts utilizes the device you specify from this option.

What you need to know about Audacity’s Input Tester

Test your input before you begin recording your podcast. This helps you to make totally clear that everything is set up properly and that your podcast is recorded.

• The monitor meter may be found on the menu bar at the very top, at the very center. “Click to begin monitoring” is what it says.

• Speak normally into the microphone you’ve placed on your computer.

• Ensure that the Microphone Volume meter doesn’t go over -12dB by adjusting the volume controls.

Audacity for Podcasts Recording Tutorial

Audacity recording is simple after you’ve set up all of the settings you need. Make sure to pick just one (Mono) Recording Channel while you’re recording with a single microphone.

Each microphone is assigned a separate audio channel if you have numerous microphones connected to an audio interface or mixer. There must be a separate microphone and channel for each participant on your podcast so that you can edit them separately and make sure they all sound well together.

Each of these mono channels will be blended into stereo when you export your podcast later.

There is nothing complicated about the actual recording procedure.

• To begin recording your podcast, press the red Record button.

• When you’ve finished recording your podcast, press the black Stop button.

• Once you’ve finished recording, use Ctrl+S to save the project. If Audacity crashes or you shut it by mistake, you won’t be able to recover your edited audio file.

Using Audacity to Edit Your Podcast

Audacity for Podcasts not only allows you to record your podcast, but it also allows you to edit it afterward. It is possible to send your raw podcast to the internet as soon as you complete the recording, but editing may add a degree of polish that makes it more pleasurable for the listener.

You may use Audacity to re-arrange your podcast’s flow by cutting and relocating portions, reducing clipping, and even deleting background noise if one of your mics was too near or someone was talking too loudly. Audacity can even alter the levels of individual recordings.

Some of these editing chores are more difficult than others, but if you just have high-quality equipment & have your settings ideal, the podcast may not need a lot of effort. Check over a few different portions of your podcast to get a sense of how much work has to be done on it before publishing.

In Audacity, you may add music, clips, & sound effects to your podcast intro and outro.

In Audacity, add music, clips, & sound effects for the podcast intro and outro

In Audacity, you may add & move sound clips, such as intro music.

• Click File > Import > Audio or press Ctrl+Shift+I to import your podcast audio into Audacity.

• Make your choice of music for the opening, outro, or anything else you’d want to include.

• It is possible to go back and forth between the past and future by clicking on the top toolbar’s time shift function.

• When your opening music stops, click and drag the main podcast audio track so that it begins when the music ends.

• Add an outro or other sound effects & music that play throughout your podcast by following these similar instructions. There should be a separate channel for each sound file so that they may be easily moved across devices.
• Using the time shift tool, you may relocate an outro to the conclusion of your podcast if necessary. If you wish to add sound effects or music to your podcast, use the time shift tool to move them around.
• To test whether your audio tracks are positioned appropriately, just click the green Play button at any moment. The cursor icon in the toolbar may be used to start listening to a podcast at a different place in the track.

In Audacity, here’s how to export your podcast

After you’ve finished editing your podcast, listen to it one more time to ensure you’re satisfied with the outcome, then save it to ensure you don’t lose your work if anything goes wrong during the export process. When you export your podcast, you’re creating an audio file that you can publish to your podcast host and share with others.

Here’s how to export the Audacity podcast:

• Select File > Export > Export as… from the File menu.
• After giving your podcast a name, click Save.
• If you wish to add metadata, you may do so now, or just hit OK to begin the exporting process.
• This procedure may take a long time if the podcast is lengthy or your machine is sluggish. During this procedure, keep your computer turned on & prevent it from sleeping and hibernating.
• You’re ready to publish your podcast to the podcast host once it’s finished exporting.

Conclusions

For recording, editing, & mixing your own podcast, an Audacity is a great option. And, like many podcasters, you could discover it meets your long-term requirements. With regard to voice effects, we talk about how people may use Filmora to modify and improve their voices. Filmora has the ability to re-speak video and audio, as well as previously recorded voiceovers. Video, audio, and voiceover files may all benefit from the Timeline’s Pitch feature. Change the tonality of a video or recording to give it a unique sound. It’s easy to replace the voices in the videos using Filmora. A video or narrative should accompany your viral in order for it to be effective. Changing Pitch allows you to alter the pitch of your voice. You may modify the pace of the video to alter the voice (Optional). Make a backup copy of the altered media.

Try It Free

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

• Select the audio interface or microphone from the menu to the right of the microphone icon. In order to record your Audacity for Podcasts, Audacity utilizes the device that you pick from this menu.

• Select your headphones by checking the box to the right of a speaker symbol. To playback, the audio files, Audacity for Podcasts utilizes the device you specify from this option.

What you need to know about Audacity’s Input Tester

Test your input before you begin recording your podcast. This helps you to make totally clear that everything is set up properly and that your podcast is recorded.

• The monitor meter may be found on the menu bar at the very top, at the very center. “Click to begin monitoring” is what it says.

• Speak normally into the microphone you’ve placed on your computer.

• Ensure that the Microphone Volume meter doesn’t go over -12dB by adjusting the volume controls.

Audacity for Podcasts Recording Tutorial

Audacity recording is simple after you’ve set up all of the settings you need. Make sure to pick just one (Mono) Recording Channel while you’re recording with a single microphone.

Each microphone is assigned a separate audio channel if you have numerous microphones connected to an audio interface or mixer. There must be a separate microphone and channel for each participant on your podcast so that you can edit them separately and make sure they all sound well together.

Each of these mono channels will be blended into stereo when you export your podcast later.

There is nothing complicated about the actual recording procedure.

• To begin recording your podcast, press the red Record button.

• When you’ve finished recording your podcast, press the black Stop button.

• Once you’ve finished recording, use Ctrl+S to save the project. If Audacity crashes or you shut it by mistake, you won’t be able to recover your edited audio file.

Using Audacity to Edit Your Podcast

Audacity for Podcasts not only allows you to record your podcast, but it also allows you to edit it afterward. It is possible to send your raw podcast to the internet as soon as you complete the recording, but editing may add a degree of polish that makes it more pleasurable for the listener.

You may use Audacity to re-arrange your podcast’s flow by cutting and relocating portions, reducing clipping, and even deleting background noise if one of your mics was too near or someone was talking too loudly. Audacity can even alter the levels of individual recordings.

Some of these editing chores are more difficult than others, but if you just have high-quality equipment & have your settings ideal, the podcast may not need a lot of effort. Check over a few different portions of your podcast to get a sense of how much work has to be done on it before publishing.

In Audacity, you may add music, clips, & sound effects to your podcast intro and outro.

In Audacity, add music, clips, & sound effects for the podcast intro and outro

In Audacity, you may add & move sound clips, such as intro music.

• Click File > Import > Audio or press Ctrl+Shift+I to import your podcast audio into Audacity.

• Make your choice of music for the opening, outro, or anything else you’d want to include.

• It is possible to go back and forth between the past and future by clicking on the top toolbar’s time shift function.

• When your opening music stops, click and drag the main podcast audio track so that it begins when the music ends.

• Add an outro or other sound effects & music that play throughout your podcast by following these similar instructions. There should be a separate channel for each sound file so that they may be easily moved across devices.
• Using the time shift tool, you may relocate an outro to the conclusion of your podcast if necessary. If you wish to add sound effects or music to your podcast, use the time shift tool to move them around.
• To test whether your audio tracks are positioned appropriately, just click the green Play button at any moment. The cursor icon in the toolbar may be used to start listening to a podcast at a different place in the track.

In Audacity, here’s how to export your podcast

After you’ve finished editing your podcast, listen to it one more time to ensure you’re satisfied with the outcome, then save it to ensure you don’t lose your work if anything goes wrong during the export process. When you export your podcast, you’re creating an audio file that you can publish to your podcast host and share with others.

Here’s how to export the Audacity podcast:

• Select File > Export > Export as… from the File menu.
• After giving your podcast a name, click Save.
• If you wish to add metadata, you may do so now, or just hit OK to begin the exporting process.
• This procedure may take a long time if the podcast is lengthy or your machine is sluggish. During this procedure, keep your computer turned on & prevent it from sleeping and hibernating.
• You’re ready to publish your podcast to the podcast host once it’s finished exporting.

Conclusions

For recording, editing, & mixing your own podcast, an Audacity is a great option. And, like many podcasters, you could discover it meets your long-term requirements. With regard to voice effects, we talk about how people may use Filmora to modify and improve their voices. Filmora has the ability to re-speak video and audio, as well as previously recorded voiceovers. Video, audio, and voiceover files may all benefit from the Timeline’s Pitch feature. Change the tonality of a video or recording to give it a unique sound. It’s easy to replace the voices in the videos using Filmora. A video or narrative should accompany your viral in order for it to be effective. Changing Pitch allows you to alter the pitch of your voice. You may modify the pace of the video to alter the voice (Optional). Make a backup copy of the altered media.

Try It Free

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

• Select the audio interface or microphone from the menu to the right of the microphone icon. In order to record your Audacity for Podcasts, Audacity utilizes the device that you pick from this menu.

• Select your headphones by checking the box to the right of a speaker symbol. To playback, the audio files, Audacity for Podcasts utilizes the device you specify from this option.

What you need to know about Audacity’s Input Tester

Test your input before you begin recording your podcast. This helps you to make totally clear that everything is set up properly and that your podcast is recorded.

• The monitor meter may be found on the menu bar at the very top, at the very center. “Click to begin monitoring” is what it says.

• Speak normally into the microphone you’ve placed on your computer.

• Ensure that the Microphone Volume meter doesn’t go over -12dB by adjusting the volume controls.

Audacity for Podcasts Recording Tutorial

Audacity recording is simple after you’ve set up all of the settings you need. Make sure to pick just one (Mono) Recording Channel while you’re recording with a single microphone.

Each microphone is assigned a separate audio channel if you have numerous microphones connected to an audio interface or mixer. There must be a separate microphone and channel for each participant on your podcast so that you can edit them separately and make sure they all sound well together.

Each of these mono channels will be blended into stereo when you export your podcast later.

There is nothing complicated about the actual recording procedure.

• To begin recording your podcast, press the red Record button.

• When you’ve finished recording your podcast, press the black Stop button.

• Once you’ve finished recording, use Ctrl+S to save the project. If Audacity crashes or you shut it by mistake, you won’t be able to recover your edited audio file.

Using Audacity to Edit Your Podcast

Audacity for Podcasts not only allows you to record your podcast, but it also allows you to edit it afterward. It is possible to send your raw podcast to the internet as soon as you complete the recording, but editing may add a degree of polish that makes it more pleasurable for the listener.

You may use Audacity to re-arrange your podcast’s flow by cutting and relocating portions, reducing clipping, and even deleting background noise if one of your mics was too near or someone was talking too loudly. Audacity can even alter the levels of individual recordings.

Some of these editing chores are more difficult than others, but if you just have high-quality equipment & have your settings ideal, the podcast may not need a lot of effort. Check over a few different portions of your podcast to get a sense of how much work has to be done on it before publishing.

In Audacity, you may add music, clips, & sound effects to your podcast intro and outro.

In Audacity, add music, clips, & sound effects for the podcast intro and outro

In Audacity, you may add & move sound clips, such as intro music.

• Click File > Import > Audio or press Ctrl+Shift+I to import your podcast audio into Audacity.

• Make your choice of music for the opening, outro, or anything else you’d want to include.

• It is possible to go back and forth between the past and future by clicking on the top toolbar’s time shift function.

• When your opening music stops, click and drag the main podcast audio track so that it begins when the music ends.

• Add an outro or other sound effects & music that play throughout your podcast by following these similar instructions. There should be a separate channel for each sound file so that they may be easily moved across devices.
• Using the time shift tool, you may relocate an outro to the conclusion of your podcast if necessary. If you wish to add sound effects or music to your podcast, use the time shift tool to move them around.
• To test whether your audio tracks are positioned appropriately, just click the green Play button at any moment. The cursor icon in the toolbar may be used to start listening to a podcast at a different place in the track.

In Audacity, here’s how to export your podcast

After you’ve finished editing your podcast, listen to it one more time to ensure you’re satisfied with the outcome, then save it to ensure you don’t lose your work if anything goes wrong during the export process. When you export your podcast, you’re creating an audio file that you can publish to your podcast host and share with others.

Here’s how to export the Audacity podcast:

• Select File > Export > Export as… from the File menu.
• After giving your podcast a name, click Save.
• If you wish to add metadata, you may do so now, or just hit OK to begin the exporting process.
• This procedure may take a long time if the podcast is lengthy or your machine is sluggish. During this procedure, keep your computer turned on & prevent it from sleeping and hibernating.
• You’re ready to publish your podcast to the podcast host once it’s finished exporting.

Conclusions

For recording, editing, & mixing your own podcast, an Audacity is a great option. And, like many podcasters, you could discover it meets your long-term requirements. With regard to voice effects, we talk about how people may use Filmora to modify and improve their voices. Filmora has the ability to re-speak video and audio, as well as previously recorded voiceovers. Video, audio, and voiceover files may all benefit from the Timeline’s Pitch feature. Change the tonality of a video or recording to give it a unique sound. It’s easy to replace the voices in the videos using Filmora. A video or narrative should accompany your viral in order for it to be effective. Changing Pitch allows you to alter the pitch of your voice. You may modify the pace of the video to alter the voice (Optional). Make a backup copy of the altered media.

Try It Free

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

• Select the audio interface or microphone from the menu to the right of the microphone icon. In order to record your Audacity for Podcasts, Audacity utilizes the device that you pick from this menu.

• Select your headphones by checking the box to the right of a speaker symbol. To playback, the audio files, Audacity for Podcasts utilizes the device you specify from this option.

What you need to know about Audacity’s Input Tester

Test your input before you begin recording your podcast. This helps you to make totally clear that everything is set up properly and that your podcast is recorded.

• The monitor meter may be found on the menu bar at the very top, at the very center. “Click to begin monitoring” is what it says.

• Speak normally into the microphone you’ve placed on your computer.

• Ensure that the Microphone Volume meter doesn’t go over -12dB by adjusting the volume controls.

Audacity for Podcasts Recording Tutorial

Audacity recording is simple after you’ve set up all of the settings you need. Make sure to pick just one (Mono) Recording Channel while you’re recording with a single microphone.

Each microphone is assigned a separate audio channel if you have numerous microphones connected to an audio interface or mixer. There must be a separate microphone and channel for each participant on your podcast so that you can edit them separately and make sure they all sound well together.

Each of these mono channels will be blended into stereo when you export your podcast later.

There is nothing complicated about the actual recording procedure.

• To begin recording your podcast, press the red Record button.

• When you’ve finished recording your podcast, press the black Stop button.

• Once you’ve finished recording, use Ctrl+S to save the project. If Audacity crashes or you shut it by mistake, you won’t be able to recover your edited audio file.

Using Audacity to Edit Your Podcast

Audacity for Podcasts not only allows you to record your podcast, but it also allows you to edit it afterward. It is possible to send your raw podcast to the internet as soon as you complete the recording, but editing may add a degree of polish that makes it more pleasurable for the listener.

You may use Audacity to re-arrange your podcast’s flow by cutting and relocating portions, reducing clipping, and even deleting background noise if one of your mics was too near or someone was talking too loudly. Audacity can even alter the levels of individual recordings.

Some of these editing chores are more difficult than others, but if you just have high-quality equipment & have your settings ideal, the podcast may not need a lot of effort. Check over a few different portions of your podcast to get a sense of how much work has to be done on it before publishing.

In Audacity, you may add music, clips, & sound effects to your podcast intro and outro.

In Audacity, add music, clips, & sound effects for the podcast intro and outro

In Audacity, you may add & move sound clips, such as intro music.

• Click File > Import > Audio or press Ctrl+Shift+I to import your podcast audio into Audacity.

• Make your choice of music for the opening, outro, or anything else you’d want to include.

• It is possible to go back and forth between the past and future by clicking on the top toolbar’s time shift function.

• When your opening music stops, click and drag the main podcast audio track so that it begins when the music ends.

• Add an outro or other sound effects & music that play throughout your podcast by following these similar instructions. There should be a separate channel for each sound file so that they may be easily moved across devices.
• Using the time shift tool, you may relocate an outro to the conclusion of your podcast if necessary. If you wish to add sound effects or music to your podcast, use the time shift tool to move them around.
• To test whether your audio tracks are positioned appropriately, just click the green Play button at any moment. The cursor icon in the toolbar may be used to start listening to a podcast at a different place in the track.

In Audacity, here’s how to export your podcast

After you’ve finished editing your podcast, listen to it one more time to ensure you’re satisfied with the outcome, then save it to ensure you don’t lose your work if anything goes wrong during the export process. When you export your podcast, you’re creating an audio file that you can publish to your podcast host and share with others.

Here’s how to export the Audacity podcast:

• Select File > Export > Export as… from the File menu.
• After giving your podcast a name, click Save.
• If you wish to add metadata, you may do so now, or just hit OK to begin the exporting process.
• This procedure may take a long time if the podcast is lengthy or your machine is sluggish. During this procedure, keep your computer turned on & prevent it from sleeping and hibernating.
• You’re ready to publish your podcast to the podcast host once it’s finished exporting.

Conclusions

For recording, editing, & mixing your own podcast, an Audacity is a great option. And, like many podcasters, you could discover it meets your long-term requirements. With regard to voice effects, we talk about how people may use Filmora to modify and improve their voices. Filmora has the ability to re-speak video and audio, as well as previously recorded voiceovers. Video, audio, and voiceover files may all benefit from the Timeline’s Pitch feature. Change the tonality of a video or recording to give it a unique sound. It’s easy to replace the voices in the videos using Filmora. A video or narrative should accompany your viral in order for it to be effective. Changing Pitch allows you to alter the pitch of your voice. You may modify the pace of the video to alter the voice (Optional). Make a backup copy of the altered media.

Try It Free

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

The Ultimate Guide to Real-Time Audio Leveling with Final Cut Pro X’s AutoDuck Feature

How to Do Automatic Audio Ducking in Final Cut Pro X

Benjamin Arango

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

If you are working in post-production, then you might be familiar with the concept of audio ducking. In nutshell, it is a process in which the background sound of a clip is reduced and the voiceover is amplified. Therefore, with the help of sound ducking, we can focus on the dialogues without a noisy background track.

Lately, a lot of people have asked us about the process to do automatic audio ducking in Final Cut Pro X. Since it is a clip-based editing tool, it lacks a dedicated mixer to help us do FCPX audio ducking. Thankfully, there are third-party plugins and tools (like the FCPX AutoDuck) that can help us do the same. In this post, I will let you know how to do audio ducking in Final Cut Pro and its best alternative.

If you don’t want to use any plugins, see this article: How to sync in FCPX.

Part 1: How to Perform Audio Ducking in Final Cut Pro X?

If you have a video in which you have background music and a voiceover, then you can perform sound ducking in it. This will automatically enhance the quality of the voiceover and would mellow down the background music selectively. Sadly, the feature of audio ducking in Final Cut Pro has to be done manually as there are no instant automatic options in the tool presently.

Therefore, you can use any reliable third-party FCPX tool like Audified or AutoDuck to meet your requirements. For instance, let’s consider the example of FCPX AutoDuck, which is a paid macOS application. To perform FCPX audio ducking, you first have to export the music and voiceover as two dedicated files. Later, you can import them to FCPX AutoDuck to perform auto-ducking of the music.

Step 1: Export the Music Files

To perform audio ducking in Final Cut Pro, you can first launch the application on Mac and open your project. Since there is no FCPX audio ducking option, you first have to export the music files.

For this, you can just go to the main menu on Final Cut Pro and select File > Share > Master File. This will help you explore and save all the media files from Final Cut Pro.

Now, once the Master File window would be opened, you can go to the “Role” tab and select “Audio Only” as the output role. This will display a list of the background music and the voiceover file.

You can now select the files of your choice and click on the “Next” button to save them to any desired location on your Mac.

Step 2: Use FCPX AutoDuck to Do Automatic Sound Ducking

Great! Now, you can just open the FCPX AutoDuck application on your Mac via its Application or Spotlight. You can just give it a project name and drag-and-drop the speaker (voiceover) and the music files here. If you want, you can also import a filler file of your choice.

FCPX will also let you select the level of music ducking from its dedication option. There are also different options to set up things like setting up the window or pre-roll for the audio.

In the end, you can click on the “Duck” button and let FCPX AutoDuck perform automatic audio ducking on the files.

Step 3: Insert the Modified File to your Project

Once the FCPX audio ducking process is completed, it will generate an XML file. You can now just drag the XML file and drop it to your project in Final Cut Pro. Here, you can choose to select the XML file in the same project.

You can now copy the modified music clip, go to the timeline, and paste it at the starting of the video. Here, you can just mute the previous music clip and let the auto-duck audio play instead.

Part 2: The Best FCPX Alternative for Mac to Perform Automatic Audio Ducking

As you can see, it is pretty tough to do audio ducking in Final Cut Pro as there is no automatic feature in the tool. Therefore, you can consider using Wondershare Filmora for Mac to perform automatic sound ducking and save your time. It is an inbuilt feature in Filmora that would perform auto-ducking instantly, and you can also mark the level of ducking in the video.

Ideally, you can perform audio ducking on voiceover or another soundtrack in Wondershare Filmora. To perform music ducking via Wondershare Filmora on Mac, you can follow these steps:

Step 1: Import the Video Clip or Record Your Audio

To begin with, just launch Wondershare Filmora on your Mac and just drag-and-drop your media files to the application. You can also go to its menu and choose to import media files.

Once your video is imported, you can drag it to the timeline at the bottom to work on it. If you want, you can click on the voiceover icon (adjacent to the preview section) to record dialogues right away.

Apart from that, you can also import music files to your video or use the extensive range of royalty-free audio files that are available in Filmora.

Step 2: Perform Automatic Audio Ducking

Great! Now, on the timeline of Filmora, you can see your video and the music track. From here, you need to select the track that you want to amplify (like the voiceover).

Afterward, right-click the audio track and select the “Adjust Audio” option from the context menu.

This will open a dedicated Audio Mixer window on the screen. Just go to the Audio tab and enable the “Ducking” option to lower the volume of other audio tracks. You can also select the desired level for music ducking to implement.

Step 3: Export the Edited Video

That’s it! After performing audio ducking on Filmora, you can preview the results and further make the needed changes. In the end, you can click on the “Export” button and save the file in the format and resolution of your choice.

There you go! After following this guide, you can easily learn how to do audio ducking in Final Cut Pro X easily. Since there is no inbuilt FCPX audio ducking option, you can use a third-party tool like FCPX AutoDuck. Apart from that, if you are looking for a better alternative to do sound ducking, then simply use Wondershare Filmora. It is a user-friendly and resourceful application that would let you perform automatic music ducking like a pro.

Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

If you are working in post-production, then you might be familiar with the concept of audio ducking. In nutshell, it is a process in which the background sound of a clip is reduced and the voiceover is amplified. Therefore, with the help of sound ducking, we can focus on the dialogues without a noisy background track.

Lately, a lot of people have asked us about the process to do automatic audio ducking in Final Cut Pro X. Since it is a clip-based editing tool, it lacks a dedicated mixer to help us do FCPX audio ducking. Thankfully, there are third-party plugins and tools (like the FCPX AutoDuck) that can help us do the same. In this post, I will let you know how to do audio ducking in Final Cut Pro and its best alternative.

If you don’t want to use any plugins, see this article: How to sync in FCPX.

Part 1: How to Perform Audio Ducking in Final Cut Pro X?

If you have a video in which you have background music and a voiceover, then you can perform sound ducking in it. This will automatically enhance the quality of the voiceover and would mellow down the background music selectively. Sadly, the feature of audio ducking in Final Cut Pro has to be done manually as there are no instant automatic options in the tool presently.

Therefore, you can use any reliable third-party FCPX tool like Audified or AutoDuck to meet your requirements. For instance, let’s consider the example of FCPX AutoDuck, which is a paid macOS application. To perform FCPX audio ducking, you first have to export the music and voiceover as two dedicated files. Later, you can import them to FCPX AutoDuck to perform auto-ducking of the music.

Step 1: Export the Music Files

To perform audio ducking in Final Cut Pro, you can first launch the application on Mac and open your project. Since there is no FCPX audio ducking option, you first have to export the music files.

For this, you can just go to the main menu on Final Cut Pro and select File > Share > Master File. This will help you explore and save all the media files from Final Cut Pro.

Now, once the Master File window would be opened, you can go to the “Role” tab and select “Audio Only” as the output role. This will display a list of the background music and the voiceover file.

You can now select the files of your choice and click on the “Next” button to save them to any desired location on your Mac.

Step 2: Use FCPX AutoDuck to Do Automatic Sound Ducking

Great! Now, you can just open the FCPX AutoDuck application on your Mac via its Application or Spotlight. You can just give it a project name and drag-and-drop the speaker (voiceover) and the music files here. If you want, you can also import a filler file of your choice.

FCPX will also let you select the level of music ducking from its dedication option. There are also different options to set up things like setting up the window or pre-roll for the audio.

In the end, you can click on the “Duck” button and let FCPX AutoDuck perform automatic audio ducking on the files.

Step 3: Insert the Modified File to your Project

Once the FCPX audio ducking process is completed, it will generate an XML file. You can now just drag the XML file and drop it to your project in Final Cut Pro. Here, you can choose to select the XML file in the same project.

You can now copy the modified music clip, go to the timeline, and paste it at the starting of the video. Here, you can just mute the previous music clip and let the auto-duck audio play instead.

Part 2: The Best FCPX Alternative for Mac to Perform Automatic Audio Ducking

As you can see, it is pretty tough to do audio ducking in Final Cut Pro as there is no automatic feature in the tool. Therefore, you can consider using Wondershare Filmora for Mac to perform automatic sound ducking and save your time. It is an inbuilt feature in Filmora that would perform auto-ducking instantly, and you can also mark the level of ducking in the video.

Ideally, you can perform audio ducking on voiceover or another soundtrack in Wondershare Filmora. To perform music ducking via Wondershare Filmora on Mac, you can follow these steps:

Step 1: Import the Video Clip or Record Your Audio

To begin with, just launch Wondershare Filmora on your Mac and just drag-and-drop your media files to the application. You can also go to its menu and choose to import media files.

Once your video is imported, you can drag it to the timeline at the bottom to work on it. If you want, you can click on the voiceover icon (adjacent to the preview section) to record dialogues right away.

Apart from that, you can also import music files to your video or use the extensive range of royalty-free audio files that are available in Filmora.

Step 2: Perform Automatic Audio Ducking

Great! Now, on the timeline of Filmora, you can see your video and the music track. From here, you need to select the track that you want to amplify (like the voiceover).

Afterward, right-click the audio track and select the “Adjust Audio” option from the context menu.

This will open a dedicated Audio Mixer window on the screen. Just go to the Audio tab and enable the “Ducking” option to lower the volume of other audio tracks. You can also select the desired level for music ducking to implement.

Step 3: Export the Edited Video

That’s it! After performing audio ducking on Filmora, you can preview the results and further make the needed changes. In the end, you can click on the “Export” button and save the file in the format and resolution of your choice.

There you go! After following this guide, you can easily learn how to do audio ducking in Final Cut Pro X easily. Since there is no inbuilt FCPX audio ducking option, you can use a third-party tool like FCPX AutoDuck. Apart from that, if you are looking for a better alternative to do sound ducking, then simply use Wondershare Filmora. It is a user-friendly and resourceful application that would let you perform automatic music ducking like a pro.

Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

If you are working in post-production, then you might be familiar with the concept of audio ducking. In nutshell, it is a process in which the background sound of a clip is reduced and the voiceover is amplified. Therefore, with the help of sound ducking, we can focus on the dialogues without a noisy background track.

Lately, a lot of people have asked us about the process to do automatic audio ducking in Final Cut Pro X. Since it is a clip-based editing tool, it lacks a dedicated mixer to help us do FCPX audio ducking. Thankfully, there are third-party plugins and tools (like the FCPX AutoDuck) that can help us do the same. In this post, I will let you know how to do audio ducking in Final Cut Pro and its best alternative.

If you don’t want to use any plugins, see this article: How to sync in FCPX.

Part 1: How to Perform Audio Ducking in Final Cut Pro X?

If you have a video in which you have background music and a voiceover, then you can perform sound ducking in it. This will automatically enhance the quality of the voiceover and would mellow down the background music selectively. Sadly, the feature of audio ducking in Final Cut Pro has to be done manually as there are no instant automatic options in the tool presently.

Therefore, you can use any reliable third-party FCPX tool like Audified or AutoDuck to meet your requirements. For instance, let’s consider the example of FCPX AutoDuck, which is a paid macOS application. To perform FCPX audio ducking, you first have to export the music and voiceover as two dedicated files. Later, you can import them to FCPX AutoDuck to perform auto-ducking of the music.

Step 1: Export the Music Files

To perform audio ducking in Final Cut Pro, you can first launch the application on Mac and open your project. Since there is no FCPX audio ducking option, you first have to export the music files.

For this, you can just go to the main menu on Final Cut Pro and select File > Share > Master File. This will help you explore and save all the media files from Final Cut Pro.

Now, once the Master File window would be opened, you can go to the “Role” tab and select “Audio Only” as the output role. This will display a list of the background music and the voiceover file.

You can now select the files of your choice and click on the “Next” button to save them to any desired location on your Mac.

Step 2: Use FCPX AutoDuck to Do Automatic Sound Ducking

Great! Now, you can just open the FCPX AutoDuck application on your Mac via its Application or Spotlight. You can just give it a project name and drag-and-drop the speaker (voiceover) and the music files here. If you want, you can also import a filler file of your choice.

FCPX will also let you select the level of music ducking from its dedication option. There are also different options to set up things like setting up the window or pre-roll for the audio.

In the end, you can click on the “Duck” button and let FCPX AutoDuck perform automatic audio ducking on the files.

Step 3: Insert the Modified File to your Project

Once the FCPX audio ducking process is completed, it will generate an XML file. You can now just drag the XML file and drop it to your project in Final Cut Pro. Here, you can choose to select the XML file in the same project.

You can now copy the modified music clip, go to the timeline, and paste it at the starting of the video. Here, you can just mute the previous music clip and let the auto-duck audio play instead.

Part 2: The Best FCPX Alternative for Mac to Perform Automatic Audio Ducking

As you can see, it is pretty tough to do audio ducking in Final Cut Pro as there is no automatic feature in the tool. Therefore, you can consider using Wondershare Filmora for Mac to perform automatic sound ducking and save your time. It is an inbuilt feature in Filmora that would perform auto-ducking instantly, and you can also mark the level of ducking in the video.

Ideally, you can perform audio ducking on voiceover or another soundtrack in Wondershare Filmora. To perform music ducking via Wondershare Filmora on Mac, you can follow these steps:

Step 1: Import the Video Clip or Record Your Audio

To begin with, just launch Wondershare Filmora on your Mac and just drag-and-drop your media files to the application. You can also go to its menu and choose to import media files.

Once your video is imported, you can drag it to the timeline at the bottom to work on it. If you want, you can click on the voiceover icon (adjacent to the preview section) to record dialogues right away.

Apart from that, you can also import music files to your video or use the extensive range of royalty-free audio files that are available in Filmora.

Step 2: Perform Automatic Audio Ducking

Great! Now, on the timeline of Filmora, you can see your video and the music track. From here, you need to select the track that you want to amplify (like the voiceover).

Afterward, right-click the audio track and select the “Adjust Audio” option from the context menu.

This will open a dedicated Audio Mixer window on the screen. Just go to the Audio tab and enable the “Ducking” option to lower the volume of other audio tracks. You can also select the desired level for music ducking to implement.

Step 3: Export the Edited Video

That’s it! After performing audio ducking on Filmora, you can preview the results and further make the needed changes. In the end, you can click on the “Export” button and save the file in the format and resolution of your choice.

There you go! After following this guide, you can easily learn how to do audio ducking in Final Cut Pro X easily. Since there is no inbuilt FCPX audio ducking option, you can use a third-party tool like FCPX AutoDuck. Apart from that, if you are looking for a better alternative to do sound ducking, then simply use Wondershare Filmora. It is a user-friendly and resourceful application that would let you perform automatic music ducking like a pro.

Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

If you are working in post-production, then you might be familiar with the concept of audio ducking. In nutshell, it is a process in which the background sound of a clip is reduced and the voiceover is amplified. Therefore, with the help of sound ducking, we can focus on the dialogues without a noisy background track.

Lately, a lot of people have asked us about the process to do automatic audio ducking in Final Cut Pro X. Since it is a clip-based editing tool, it lacks a dedicated mixer to help us do FCPX audio ducking. Thankfully, there are third-party plugins and tools (like the FCPX AutoDuck) that can help us do the same. In this post, I will let you know how to do audio ducking in Final Cut Pro and its best alternative.

If you don’t want to use any plugins, see this article: How to sync in FCPX.

Part 1: How to Perform Audio Ducking in Final Cut Pro X?

If you have a video in which you have background music and a voiceover, then you can perform sound ducking in it. This will automatically enhance the quality of the voiceover and would mellow down the background music selectively. Sadly, the feature of audio ducking in Final Cut Pro has to be done manually as there are no instant automatic options in the tool presently.

Therefore, you can use any reliable third-party FCPX tool like Audified or AutoDuck to meet your requirements. For instance, let’s consider the example of FCPX AutoDuck, which is a paid macOS application. To perform FCPX audio ducking, you first have to export the music and voiceover as two dedicated files. Later, you can import them to FCPX AutoDuck to perform auto-ducking of the music.

Step 1: Export the Music Files

To perform audio ducking in Final Cut Pro, you can first launch the application on Mac and open your project. Since there is no FCPX audio ducking option, you first have to export the music files.

For this, you can just go to the main menu on Final Cut Pro and select File > Share > Master File. This will help you explore and save all the media files from Final Cut Pro.

Now, once the Master File window would be opened, you can go to the “Role” tab and select “Audio Only” as the output role. This will display a list of the background music and the voiceover file.

You can now select the files of your choice and click on the “Next” button to save them to any desired location on your Mac.

Step 2: Use FCPX AutoDuck to Do Automatic Sound Ducking

Great! Now, you can just open the FCPX AutoDuck application on your Mac via its Application or Spotlight. You can just give it a project name and drag-and-drop the speaker (voiceover) and the music files here. If you want, you can also import a filler file of your choice.

FCPX will also let you select the level of music ducking from its dedication option. There are also different options to set up things like setting up the window or pre-roll for the audio.

In the end, you can click on the “Duck” button and let FCPX AutoDuck perform automatic audio ducking on the files.

Step 3: Insert the Modified File to your Project

Once the FCPX audio ducking process is completed, it will generate an XML file. You can now just drag the XML file and drop it to your project in Final Cut Pro. Here, you can choose to select the XML file in the same project.

You can now copy the modified music clip, go to the timeline, and paste it at the starting of the video. Here, you can just mute the previous music clip and let the auto-duck audio play instead.

Part 2: The Best FCPX Alternative for Mac to Perform Automatic Audio Ducking

As you can see, it is pretty tough to do audio ducking in Final Cut Pro as there is no automatic feature in the tool. Therefore, you can consider using Wondershare Filmora for Mac to perform automatic sound ducking and save your time. It is an inbuilt feature in Filmora that would perform auto-ducking instantly, and you can also mark the level of ducking in the video.

Ideally, you can perform audio ducking on voiceover or another soundtrack in Wondershare Filmora. To perform music ducking via Wondershare Filmora on Mac, you can follow these steps:

Step 1: Import the Video Clip or Record Your Audio

To begin with, just launch Wondershare Filmora on your Mac and just drag-and-drop your media files to the application. You can also go to its menu and choose to import media files.

Once your video is imported, you can drag it to the timeline at the bottom to work on it. If you want, you can click on the voiceover icon (adjacent to the preview section) to record dialogues right away.

Apart from that, you can also import music files to your video or use the extensive range of royalty-free audio files that are available in Filmora.

Step 2: Perform Automatic Audio Ducking

Great! Now, on the timeline of Filmora, you can see your video and the music track. From here, you need to select the track that you want to amplify (like the voiceover).

Afterward, right-click the audio track and select the “Adjust Audio” option from the context menu.

This will open a dedicated Audio Mixer window on the screen. Just go to the Audio tab and enable the “Ducking” option to lower the volume of other audio tracks. You can also select the desired level for music ducking to implement.

Step 3: Export the Edited Video

That’s it! After performing audio ducking on Filmora, you can preview the results and further make the needed changes. In the end, you can click on the “Export” button and save the file in the format and resolution of your choice.

There you go! After following this guide, you can easily learn how to do audio ducking in Final Cut Pro X easily. Since there is no inbuilt FCPX audio ducking option, you can use a third-party tool like FCPX AutoDuck. Apart from that, if you are looking for a better alternative to do sound ducking, then simply use Wondershare Filmora. It is a user-friendly and resourceful application that would let you perform automatic music ducking like a pro.

Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Benjamin Arango

Next-Gen Audio Transcription Technologies and Their Applications

Top 7 Converting Audio to Text Tools in 2024

Benjamin Arango

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

The process of making a video has always been painstakingly long, and even though digital cameras and video editing apps that emerged in the last couple of decades have made this process somewhat easier, creating captions for videos you share online is still a time-consuming endeavor. Accessibility and better retrievability by search engines are among the most common reasons why video content producers choose to add captions to the videos they share on social media and video hosting platforms. If you are looking for a way to save some time on creating subtitles for your videos you’ve come to the right place because in this article we are going to take you through some of the best speech to text platforms that enable you to generate captions in just a few minutes.

Converting Audio to Text

Before we proceed any further we would like to note that the platforms and apps we featured in this article can only help you generate a subtitle file and that you are going to have to use a video editing software or an online subtitling platform to add that file to a video. Here are some of the best options for converting audio to text in 2024.

1. IBM Watson Speech to Text

Price: Free trial, different subscription plans available

Watson was initially created to answer questions on a popular quiz show called Jeopardy, and over time IBM developed a cloud-based version of the software that turns audio into text. The speech to text functionality is just one out of many IBM’s Watson offers as you can also use it for machine learning or data analysis among numerous other things. You can create an account on IBM cloud for free, but if you decide to use this platform on a constant basis, then you will have to choose one of the available subscription plans.

Turning speech into text with Watson is easy, as you just have to pick a voice model, upload the audio file you saved in MP3, MPEG, wav, flac or opus file format and choose the keywords you’d like Watson to spot. Alternatively, you can use this platform to record audio files you’d like to convert to text, but you should keep in mind that Watson only supports French, German, Arabic, English, Korean, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Mandarin, French and Japanese languages.

2. Sonix

Price: Free trial, subscription plans start from $17.25 per month

This feature-rich platform is designed to help storytellers tell their stories. You can either upload audio or a video file and Sonix will generate a transcript of it in a remarkably short period of time, so you can transcribe a 30-minute audio file in less than five minutes. Transcriptions Sonix generates are not always a hundred percent accurate, but you can edit each word that this speech to text platform has generated in its Audio-Text editor.

Moreover, the platform is equipped with a video player so you can see your videos next to the transcript, which can be quite useful if you are trying to correct the misspellings and other mistakes. The best part is that Sonix has Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Audition integration, so you can add markers, metadata, captions or make rough cuts on both audio and video files you use in your projects.

3. Amber Script

Price: Free trial available, subscription plans start at $6 per hour of uploaded audio

Regardless of the pricing plan you choose, Amber Script lets you create text from audio files in 29 different languages. In addition, some pricing plans allow you to create text from both audio and video files, so you can easily make subtitles for your videos. Simply upload the file to Amber Script and the platform will generate the text for you. The text may not be entirely accurate, but you can easily make all corrections from the Amber Script’s text editor that offers speaker distinction and timestamp features. In case you don’t want to edit the text by yourself, you can choose a subscription plan that guarantees a 100% accuracy, as well as other advanced options. You can export the text in a variety of file formats, including commonly used text file formats such as SRT, json or docx, and use it for a wide array of purposes just minutes after you’ve transformed an audio file into text.

4. 360Converter

Price: Free

This free online converter lets you turn YouTube or any other type of video or audio file to text for free. You can upload a file directly from your computer, use a video’s URL if it is stored online or import it from personal cloud storage services like Dropbox or Google Drive. Currently, you can only transcribe video and audio files that are in English, French, Hindi and Chinese languages which can limit your options if the text you’d like to generate is in another language. Keep in mind that you are going to have to specify the start and end points of the transcription which allows you to create text from only a portion of the video or audio file. Once the conversion is completed, you will have to wait for your request to be processed before you can download the text the platform generated for you.

5. Sobolsoft MP3 Speech to Text Converter Software

Price: $19.99

Compatibility: Windows

If you are looking for a reliable speech to text software you can use on your PC, then Sobolsoft’s MP3 Speech to Text Converter software is probably one of the best options you can find on the market. The software is easy to use, as you just have to select the audio files you’d like to transcribe and hit the Start Converting button. All the text the software generates will be displayed in the Results window where you can edit it, copy it to clipboard or save it as a text file. However, this software doesn’t provide support for video files, which means that you can’t use it to transcribe files that are saved in MP4, AVI, MOV or any other of the popular video file formats. You can try the Sobolsoft’s MP3 Speech to Text Converter for free and decide if you want to purchase the license to use the software without any restrictions.

6. InqScribe

Price: $99 for an individual license

Compatibility: Windows, macOS

Even though you can’t generate text automatically with InqScribe, this app for PC and Mac computers is still one of the best ways to create subtitles for your videos or transcripts of audio files. The software offers support for a large number of languages so you can use several different languages in the same document. Simply add a video or an audio file to the software’s media window and start typing your transcript. You can also add timecodes wherever you want in the text, which makes InqScribe perfectly suited for the production of subtitle files you can easily add to the videos you share online. The software lets you export the workflow and use it Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro to add subtitles to your projects before you export them as video files.

7. GoSubtitle

Price: Free trial available, subscription plans start at $0,05 per minute

You can create a subtitle file in just four easy steps with the GoSubtitle online platform. In case you opt to use the free version of GoSubtitle you won’t be able to upload files that are larger than 500 MB, but if you decide to purchase one of the available subscription plans you will be able to upload files that have up to 5GB. Once you upload the video to the platform, you can proceed to select the source and destination languages and subtitle formats. GoSubtitle offers support for more than 90 languages and it lets you choose from four different subtitle formats including srt or vtt. You can also use the subtitle editor, if you would like to adjust the subtitles the platform created automatically and sync them perfectly with your video. The accuracy of the text GoSubtitle platform generates depends on a number of factors, and you should check the subtitles before you add them to your video.

Converting Audio to Text With a Smartphone

Speech to text apps for Androids and iPhones can help you generate transcriptions of your audio and video files. Open an app like Speechnotes on your Android device and play the file you’d like to transcribe on your computer to start converting speech into text. Just keep in mind that the text files you create in this way can’t be easily linked to their sources, so if you are looking for a quick way to generate subtitles for your videos, then some of the software products and online platforms we featured in this article are a much better option.

Conclusion

The process of converting speech into text doesn’t necessarily have to be complicated. The online and computer-based speech to text apps can help you create transcriptions quickly, even though the results you will get may not be always entirely accurate. What is your favorite method of converting speech to text? Leave a comment, and let us know.

Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

The process of making a video has always been painstakingly long, and even though digital cameras and video editing apps that emerged in the last couple of decades have made this process somewhat easier, creating captions for videos you share online is still a time-consuming endeavor. Accessibility and better retrievability by search engines are among the most common reasons why video content producers choose to add captions to the videos they share on social media and video hosting platforms. If you are looking for a way to save some time on creating subtitles for your videos you’ve come to the right place because in this article we are going to take you through some of the best speech to text platforms that enable you to generate captions in just a few minutes.

Converting Audio to Text

Before we proceed any further we would like to note that the platforms and apps we featured in this article can only help you generate a subtitle file and that you are going to have to use a video editing software or an online subtitling platform to add that file to a video. Here are some of the best options for converting audio to text in 2024.

1. IBM Watson Speech to Text

Price: Free trial, different subscription plans available

Watson was initially created to answer questions on a popular quiz show called Jeopardy, and over time IBM developed a cloud-based version of the software that turns audio into text. The speech to text functionality is just one out of many IBM’s Watson offers as you can also use it for machine learning or data analysis among numerous other things. You can create an account on IBM cloud for free, but if you decide to use this platform on a constant basis, then you will have to choose one of the available subscription plans.

Turning speech into text with Watson is easy, as you just have to pick a voice model, upload the audio file you saved in MP3, MPEG, wav, flac or opus file format and choose the keywords you’d like Watson to spot. Alternatively, you can use this platform to record audio files you’d like to convert to text, but you should keep in mind that Watson only supports French, German, Arabic, English, Korean, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Mandarin, French and Japanese languages.

2. Sonix

Price: Free trial, subscription plans start from $17.25 per month

This feature-rich platform is designed to help storytellers tell their stories. You can either upload audio or a video file and Sonix will generate a transcript of it in a remarkably short period of time, so you can transcribe a 30-minute audio file in less than five minutes. Transcriptions Sonix generates are not always a hundred percent accurate, but you can edit each word that this speech to text platform has generated in its Audio-Text editor.

Moreover, the platform is equipped with a video player so you can see your videos next to the transcript, which can be quite useful if you are trying to correct the misspellings and other mistakes. The best part is that Sonix has Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Audition integration, so you can add markers, metadata, captions or make rough cuts on both audio and video files you use in your projects.

3. Amber Script

Price: Free trial available, subscription plans start at $6 per hour of uploaded audio

Regardless of the pricing plan you choose, Amber Script lets you create text from audio files in 29 different languages. In addition, some pricing plans allow you to create text from both audio and video files, so you can easily make subtitles for your videos. Simply upload the file to Amber Script and the platform will generate the text for you. The text may not be entirely accurate, but you can easily make all corrections from the Amber Script’s text editor that offers speaker distinction and timestamp features. In case you don’t want to edit the text by yourself, you can choose a subscription plan that guarantees a 100% accuracy, as well as other advanced options. You can export the text in a variety of file formats, including commonly used text file formats such as SRT, json or docx, and use it for a wide array of purposes just minutes after you’ve transformed an audio file into text.

4. 360Converter

Price: Free

This free online converter lets you turn YouTube or any other type of video or audio file to text for free. You can upload a file directly from your computer, use a video’s URL if it is stored online or import it from personal cloud storage services like Dropbox or Google Drive. Currently, you can only transcribe video and audio files that are in English, French, Hindi and Chinese languages which can limit your options if the text you’d like to generate is in another language. Keep in mind that you are going to have to specify the start and end points of the transcription which allows you to create text from only a portion of the video or audio file. Once the conversion is completed, you will have to wait for your request to be processed before you can download the text the platform generated for you.

5. Sobolsoft MP3 Speech to Text Converter Software

Price: $19.99

Compatibility: Windows

If you are looking for a reliable speech to text software you can use on your PC, then Sobolsoft’s MP3 Speech to Text Converter software is probably one of the best options you can find on the market. The software is easy to use, as you just have to select the audio files you’d like to transcribe and hit the Start Converting button. All the text the software generates will be displayed in the Results window where you can edit it, copy it to clipboard or save it as a text file. However, this software doesn’t provide support for video files, which means that you can’t use it to transcribe files that are saved in MP4, AVI, MOV or any other of the popular video file formats. You can try the Sobolsoft’s MP3 Speech to Text Converter for free and decide if you want to purchase the license to use the software without any restrictions.

6. InqScribe

Price: $99 for an individual license

Compatibility: Windows, macOS

Even though you can’t generate text automatically with InqScribe, this app for PC and Mac computers is still one of the best ways to create subtitles for your videos or transcripts of audio files. The software offers support for a large number of languages so you can use several different languages in the same document. Simply add a video or an audio file to the software’s media window and start typing your transcript. You can also add timecodes wherever you want in the text, which makes InqScribe perfectly suited for the production of subtitle files you can easily add to the videos you share online. The software lets you export the workflow and use it Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro to add subtitles to your projects before you export them as video files.

7. GoSubtitle

Price: Free trial available, subscription plans start at $0,05 per minute

You can create a subtitle file in just four easy steps with the GoSubtitle online platform. In case you opt to use the free version of GoSubtitle you won’t be able to upload files that are larger than 500 MB, but if you decide to purchase one of the available subscription plans you will be able to upload files that have up to 5GB. Once you upload the video to the platform, you can proceed to select the source and destination languages and subtitle formats. GoSubtitle offers support for more than 90 languages and it lets you choose from four different subtitle formats including srt or vtt. You can also use the subtitle editor, if you would like to adjust the subtitles the platform created automatically and sync them perfectly with your video. The accuracy of the text GoSubtitle platform generates depends on a number of factors, and you should check the subtitles before you add them to your video.

Converting Audio to Text With a Smartphone

Speech to text apps for Androids and iPhones can help you generate transcriptions of your audio and video files. Open an app like Speechnotes on your Android device and play the file you’d like to transcribe on your computer to start converting speech into text. Just keep in mind that the text files you create in this way can’t be easily linked to their sources, so if you are looking for a quick way to generate subtitles for your videos, then some of the software products and online platforms we featured in this article are a much better option.

Conclusion

The process of converting speech into text doesn’t necessarily have to be complicated. The online and computer-based speech to text apps can help you create transcriptions quickly, even though the results you will get may not be always entirely accurate. What is your favorite method of converting speech to text? Leave a comment, and let us know.

Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

The process of making a video has always been painstakingly long, and even though digital cameras and video editing apps that emerged in the last couple of decades have made this process somewhat easier, creating captions for videos you share online is still a time-consuming endeavor. Accessibility and better retrievability by search engines are among the most common reasons why video content producers choose to add captions to the videos they share on social media and video hosting platforms. If you are looking for a way to save some time on creating subtitles for your videos you’ve come to the right place because in this article we are going to take you through some of the best speech to text platforms that enable you to generate captions in just a few minutes.

Converting Audio to Text

Before we proceed any further we would like to note that the platforms and apps we featured in this article can only help you generate a subtitle file and that you are going to have to use a video editing software or an online subtitling platform to add that file to a video. Here are some of the best options for converting audio to text in 2024.

1. IBM Watson Speech to Text

Price: Free trial, different subscription plans available

Watson was initially created to answer questions on a popular quiz show called Jeopardy, and over time IBM developed a cloud-based version of the software that turns audio into text. The speech to text functionality is just one out of many IBM’s Watson offers as you can also use it for machine learning or data analysis among numerous other things. You can create an account on IBM cloud for free, but if you decide to use this platform on a constant basis, then you will have to choose one of the available subscription plans.

Turning speech into text with Watson is easy, as you just have to pick a voice model, upload the audio file you saved in MP3, MPEG, wav, flac or opus file format and choose the keywords you’d like Watson to spot. Alternatively, you can use this platform to record audio files you’d like to convert to text, but you should keep in mind that Watson only supports French, German, Arabic, English, Korean, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Mandarin, French and Japanese languages.

2. Sonix

Price: Free trial, subscription plans start from $17.25 per month

This feature-rich platform is designed to help storytellers tell their stories. You can either upload audio or a video file and Sonix will generate a transcript of it in a remarkably short period of time, so you can transcribe a 30-minute audio file in less than five minutes. Transcriptions Sonix generates are not always a hundred percent accurate, but you can edit each word that this speech to text platform has generated in its Audio-Text editor.

Moreover, the platform is equipped with a video player so you can see your videos next to the transcript, which can be quite useful if you are trying to correct the misspellings and other mistakes. The best part is that Sonix has Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Audition integration, so you can add markers, metadata, captions or make rough cuts on both audio and video files you use in your projects.

3. Amber Script

Price: Free trial available, subscription plans start at $6 per hour of uploaded audio

Regardless of the pricing plan you choose, Amber Script lets you create text from audio files in 29 different languages. In addition, some pricing plans allow you to create text from both audio and video files, so you can easily make subtitles for your videos. Simply upload the file to Amber Script and the platform will generate the text for you. The text may not be entirely accurate, but you can easily make all corrections from the Amber Script’s text editor that offers speaker distinction and timestamp features. In case you don’t want to edit the text by yourself, you can choose a subscription plan that guarantees a 100% accuracy, as well as other advanced options. You can export the text in a variety of file formats, including commonly used text file formats such as SRT, json or docx, and use it for a wide array of purposes just minutes after you’ve transformed an audio file into text.

4. 360Converter

Price: Free

This free online converter lets you turn YouTube or any other type of video or audio file to text for free. You can upload a file directly from your computer, use a video’s URL if it is stored online or import it from personal cloud storage services like Dropbox or Google Drive. Currently, you can only transcribe video and audio files that are in English, French, Hindi and Chinese languages which can limit your options if the text you’d like to generate is in another language. Keep in mind that you are going to have to specify the start and end points of the transcription which allows you to create text from only a portion of the video or audio file. Once the conversion is completed, you will have to wait for your request to be processed before you can download the text the platform generated for you.

5. Sobolsoft MP3 Speech to Text Converter Software

Price: $19.99

Compatibility: Windows

If you are looking for a reliable speech to text software you can use on your PC, then Sobolsoft’s MP3 Speech to Text Converter software is probably one of the best options you can find on the market. The software is easy to use, as you just have to select the audio files you’d like to transcribe and hit the Start Converting button. All the text the software generates will be displayed in the Results window where you can edit it, copy it to clipboard or save it as a text file. However, this software doesn’t provide support for video files, which means that you can’t use it to transcribe files that are saved in MP4, AVI, MOV or any other of the popular video file formats. You can try the Sobolsoft’s MP3 Speech to Text Converter for free and decide if you want to purchase the license to use the software without any restrictions.

6. InqScribe

Price: $99 for an individual license

Compatibility: Windows, macOS

Even though you can’t generate text automatically with InqScribe, this app for PC and Mac computers is still one of the best ways to create subtitles for your videos or transcripts of audio files. The software offers support for a large number of languages so you can use several different languages in the same document. Simply add a video or an audio file to the software’s media window and start typing your transcript. You can also add timecodes wherever you want in the text, which makes InqScribe perfectly suited for the production of subtitle files you can easily add to the videos you share online. The software lets you export the workflow and use it Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro to add subtitles to your projects before you export them as video files.

7. GoSubtitle

Price: Free trial available, subscription plans start at $0,05 per minute

You can create a subtitle file in just four easy steps with the GoSubtitle online platform. In case you opt to use the free version of GoSubtitle you won’t be able to upload files that are larger than 500 MB, but if you decide to purchase one of the available subscription plans you will be able to upload files that have up to 5GB. Once you upload the video to the platform, you can proceed to select the source and destination languages and subtitle formats. GoSubtitle offers support for more than 90 languages and it lets you choose from four different subtitle formats including srt or vtt. You can also use the subtitle editor, if you would like to adjust the subtitles the platform created automatically and sync them perfectly with your video. The accuracy of the text GoSubtitle platform generates depends on a number of factors, and you should check the subtitles before you add them to your video.

Converting Audio to Text With a Smartphone

Speech to text apps for Androids and iPhones can help you generate transcriptions of your audio and video files. Open an app like Speechnotes on your Android device and play the file you’d like to transcribe on your computer to start converting speech into text. Just keep in mind that the text files you create in this way can’t be easily linked to their sources, so if you are looking for a quick way to generate subtitles for your videos, then some of the software products and online platforms we featured in this article are a much better option.

Conclusion

The process of converting speech into text doesn’t necessarily have to be complicated. The online and computer-based speech to text apps can help you create transcriptions quickly, even though the results you will get may not be always entirely accurate. What is your favorite method of converting speech to text? Leave a comment, and let us know.

Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

The process of making a video has always been painstakingly long, and even though digital cameras and video editing apps that emerged in the last couple of decades have made this process somewhat easier, creating captions for videos you share online is still a time-consuming endeavor. Accessibility and better retrievability by search engines are among the most common reasons why video content producers choose to add captions to the videos they share on social media and video hosting platforms. If you are looking for a way to save some time on creating subtitles for your videos you’ve come to the right place because in this article we are going to take you through some of the best speech to text platforms that enable you to generate captions in just a few minutes.

Converting Audio to Text

Before we proceed any further we would like to note that the platforms and apps we featured in this article can only help you generate a subtitle file and that you are going to have to use a video editing software or an online subtitling platform to add that file to a video. Here are some of the best options for converting audio to text in 2024.

1. IBM Watson Speech to Text

Price: Free trial, different subscription plans available

Watson was initially created to answer questions on a popular quiz show called Jeopardy, and over time IBM developed a cloud-based version of the software that turns audio into text. The speech to text functionality is just one out of many IBM’s Watson offers as you can also use it for machine learning or data analysis among numerous other things. You can create an account on IBM cloud for free, but if you decide to use this platform on a constant basis, then you will have to choose one of the available subscription plans.

Turning speech into text with Watson is easy, as you just have to pick a voice model, upload the audio file you saved in MP3, MPEG, wav, flac or opus file format and choose the keywords you’d like Watson to spot. Alternatively, you can use this platform to record audio files you’d like to convert to text, but you should keep in mind that Watson only supports French, German, Arabic, English, Korean, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Mandarin, French and Japanese languages.

2. Sonix

Price: Free trial, subscription plans start from $17.25 per month

This feature-rich platform is designed to help storytellers tell their stories. You can either upload audio or a video file and Sonix will generate a transcript of it in a remarkably short period of time, so you can transcribe a 30-minute audio file in less than five minutes. Transcriptions Sonix generates are not always a hundred percent accurate, but you can edit each word that this speech to text platform has generated in its Audio-Text editor.

Moreover, the platform is equipped with a video player so you can see your videos next to the transcript, which can be quite useful if you are trying to correct the misspellings and other mistakes. The best part is that Sonix has Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Audition integration, so you can add markers, metadata, captions or make rough cuts on both audio and video files you use in your projects.

3. Amber Script

Price: Free trial available, subscription plans start at $6 per hour of uploaded audio

Regardless of the pricing plan you choose, Amber Script lets you create text from audio files in 29 different languages. In addition, some pricing plans allow you to create text from both audio and video files, so you can easily make subtitles for your videos. Simply upload the file to Amber Script and the platform will generate the text for you. The text may not be entirely accurate, but you can easily make all corrections from the Amber Script’s text editor that offers speaker distinction and timestamp features. In case you don’t want to edit the text by yourself, you can choose a subscription plan that guarantees a 100% accuracy, as well as other advanced options. You can export the text in a variety of file formats, including commonly used text file formats such as SRT, json or docx, and use it for a wide array of purposes just minutes after you’ve transformed an audio file into text.

4. 360Converter

Price: Free

This free online converter lets you turn YouTube or any other type of video or audio file to text for free. You can upload a file directly from your computer, use a video’s URL if it is stored online or import it from personal cloud storage services like Dropbox or Google Drive. Currently, you can only transcribe video and audio files that are in English, French, Hindi and Chinese languages which can limit your options if the text you’d like to generate is in another language. Keep in mind that you are going to have to specify the start and end points of the transcription which allows you to create text from only a portion of the video or audio file. Once the conversion is completed, you will have to wait for your request to be processed before you can download the text the platform generated for you.

5. Sobolsoft MP3 Speech to Text Converter Software

Price: $19.99

Compatibility: Windows

If you are looking for a reliable speech to text software you can use on your PC, then Sobolsoft’s MP3 Speech to Text Converter software is probably one of the best options you can find on the market. The software is easy to use, as you just have to select the audio files you’d like to transcribe and hit the Start Converting button. All the text the software generates will be displayed in the Results window where you can edit it, copy it to clipboard or save it as a text file. However, this software doesn’t provide support for video files, which means that you can’t use it to transcribe files that are saved in MP4, AVI, MOV or any other of the popular video file formats. You can try the Sobolsoft’s MP3 Speech to Text Converter for free and decide if you want to purchase the license to use the software without any restrictions.

6. InqScribe

Price: $99 for an individual license

Compatibility: Windows, macOS

Even though you can’t generate text automatically with InqScribe, this app for PC and Mac computers is still one of the best ways to create subtitles for your videos or transcripts of audio files. The software offers support for a large number of languages so you can use several different languages in the same document. Simply add a video or an audio file to the software’s media window and start typing your transcript. You can also add timecodes wherever you want in the text, which makes InqScribe perfectly suited for the production of subtitle files you can easily add to the videos you share online. The software lets you export the workflow and use it Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro to add subtitles to your projects before you export them as video files.

7. GoSubtitle

Price: Free trial available, subscription plans start at $0,05 per minute

You can create a subtitle file in just four easy steps with the GoSubtitle online platform. In case you opt to use the free version of GoSubtitle you won’t be able to upload files that are larger than 500 MB, but if you decide to purchase one of the available subscription plans you will be able to upload files that have up to 5GB. Once you upload the video to the platform, you can proceed to select the source and destination languages and subtitle formats. GoSubtitle offers support for more than 90 languages and it lets you choose from four different subtitle formats including srt or vtt. You can also use the subtitle editor, if you would like to adjust the subtitles the platform created automatically and sync them perfectly with your video. The accuracy of the text GoSubtitle platform generates depends on a number of factors, and you should check the subtitles before you add them to your video.

Converting Audio to Text With a Smartphone

Speech to text apps for Androids and iPhones can help you generate transcriptions of your audio and video files. Open an app like Speechnotes on your Android device and play the file you’d like to transcribe on your computer to start converting speech into text. Just keep in mind that the text files you create in this way can’t be easily linked to their sources, so if you are looking for a quick way to generate subtitles for your videos, then some of the software products and online platforms we featured in this article are a much better option.

Conclusion

The process of converting speech into text doesn’t necessarily have to be complicated. The online and computer-based speech to text apps can help you create transcriptions quickly, even though the results you will get may not be always entirely accurate. What is your favorite method of converting speech to text? Leave a comment, and let us know.

Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Benjamin Arango

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