Adobe Audition

Media files can be manipulated with a large variety of applications, but when it comes to creating professional grade images, videos or sound tracks, very few applications can match the capabilities of Adobe-developed programs. They may be a bit difficult to understand, but they can be used in numerous fields of expertise by programmers, designers and so on. If you are familiar with Adobe Soundbooth, then you will definitely appreciate Adobe Audition. The program is designed for post-production sound editing. It provides numerous effects and a vast range of controls for adjusting individual effects.

Unlike other applications from the Adobe suite, Audition comes in a smaller installation package. You can find it and install it without too much effort with Adobe Download Assistant. A trial version is available, which can be used for 30 days, without any kind of restrictions.

The interface is similar to its counterparts. It consists of multiple panels, which can be re-arranged and grouped. Instead of bringing up an Open dialog, you can use a media browser, located on the same interface, to find and load your files. Once loaded, you may drag and drop your files over the main editing area. Adobe Audition allows you to edit single files or mix multiple sound tracks. You may choose between waveform and multi-track view modes.

While editing a single file in the waveform view mode, you may bring up different spectral analyzers, for pitch and frequency, which you can use to remove sounds from the background and more. Audition allows you to apply up to 16 effects on individual clips, selections or on the entire sound track. You can choose from numerous effects, including reverbing, modulation, noise reduction and restoration, applying delay and echo effects and much more.

If you choose to work in the multi-track view mode, you will be able to insert multiple audio files in separate channels. Each channel includes its own options for adjusting the volume and stereo balance, recording, converting between mono, stereo and 5.1 and much more. A very useful feature that Adobe Audition CS6 provides is the possibility of importing and linking video and audio files in the same multi-track session. The video's timeline will appear in its own channel and you will be able to preview it on a different panel. This is particularly useful if you need to edit a video's soundtrack, without desynchronizing the sound.

Also, if a video recording has low quality sounds, due to poor recording conditions, you can record the sound separately, at any time, and use Audition to synchronize the studio recording with your video. The software will use the original sounds as reference, to clip and trim the studio recording, until you get a good lip sync.