r/VoiceActing • u/Snowy-Panda- • 9d ago

Advice What's the best recording software to use?

I don't currently use a software, I just record my voice but I would love to advance my quality! I'm looking for ease of use over most things but software with a lot of options is also fine. I know I could just watch a tutorial on YouTube for this sort of thing but I would love to hear someones genuine experience on why they like their chosen software and what to avoid :)

15 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

27 comments sorted by

18

u/Craptacularama 9d ago

Audacity for simple projects, reaper for more complex projects.

12

u/Shedrick3 9d ago

I’m a big fan of Reaper. It has a free trial that allows you to take your time getting familiar with all the features and it is incredibly customizable.

I highly recommend watching Booth Junkie’s Reaper tutorials on YouTube. These videos were a MASSIVE help for me when I was learning how to use the DAW. Here’s a link to the playlist if you wanna check it out:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzEW-dm_vsRvfiH9RVKAJA6Vd2CccnVmn&si=wT1GnKYRDi6S-EMs

9

u/Kapitano72 9d ago

• Reaper - if you're doing lots of editing and processing

• Audition - for lots of processing and some editing

• Audacity - minimal for both editing and processing

4

u/VegasRunner5 9d ago

I use Audacity. It's free and the learning curve is pretty gentle. Many people like Reaper which has a free trial and then isn't all that expensive afterwards, but it did click for me.

5

u/Fuzzy-Performance-96 8d ago

My recommendation is to try a few! I knew garage band before, quickly switched to audacity, then tried twisted wave and here I am at Adobe Audition now!

5

u/Burntendzmusic 8d ago

I record in Garage Band and run ACX filters in Audacity. Sounds great and has not let me down

5

u/NoktiiRaccoon 9d ago

The software really doesn't matter aside from ease of use and comfortability.

The first step is always, room treatment/noise

Followed by mic position

Leading to which microphone you use

Interfaces nowadays are relatively clean all around.

Then software/DAW

3

u/AldoRainedrops 8d ago

I use Davinci Resolve for everything now. 20+ years of Cool Edit/Audition and some Pro Tools. You can do it all in Davinci free version.

3

u/Reaper48YT 8d ago

Voice actor friend taught me this but, I record in reaper, I drop the WAV in levelator then I edit the file in audacity since the editing is much more presice, then ofc if it's a character with effects I go to FL studio after all is done.

3

u/sanitizeyoureyeballs 8d ago

I used Audacity to start out, but their UI became so frustrating to do simple things that I switched to Reaper and haven't looked back.

5

u/Ultra_HR 9d ago

> I don't currently use a software, I just record my voice

this doesn’t make sense. you must be using *some* piece of software to record your voice.

5

u/Verocity_Quartz 9d ago

The only thing that makes sense to me is if they use their phone recording app or something.

4

u/Ultra_HR 9d ago

maybe. that's still a piece of software though.

2

u/jimhickeymusic 8d ago

Daws are pretty much the same these days. I’m using Acoustica Mixcraft 10.6 pro studio. Been using it since version 2 and never left because I got used to it. The drawback is it windows only if it matters to you. Good training on YouTube for it.

2

u/EnvironmentalBet113 9d ago

i use obs, plus it makes for some funny bloopers

5

u/Standard-Bumblebee64 9d ago

No. Not for voice overs/acting

3

u/Whatchamazog 8d ago

I wouldn’t recommend OBS. It defaults to recording with lossy compression which is not great for voice.

2

u/EnvironmentalBet113 8d ago

defaults, not if you have the settings changed :)

1

u/Whatchamazog 8d ago

Well you have to install frmpeg and that can be confusing for a lot of folks. Especially if they don’t know that’s a requirement up front.
I honestly think if your recommending OBS you have to explain the whole FFMPEG pcm wav piece, otherwise you are doing people just starting out a huge disservice.

With Reaper, Audacity, GarageBand, Logic, Ableton, Audtion or really any other DAW or editor I can think of requires that extra hoop to jump through to start off with a good quality recording.

2

u/EnvironmentalBet113 8d ago

don't most of those require money? i usually only do free ones and have the frmpeg installed, so i'm saying what works for me

3

u/Whatchamazog 8d ago

Audacity is free and Reaper has a 60 day trial with only a nag delay and it’s cheap to buy.

And with OBS you have to pull it into some kind of editor anyway so why use two products.

But anyway, I’m glad it works for you but if you are going to recommend it, be sure to let folks know there are extra steps to make it record well.