If you're reading this, chances are you're looking for the best free audio editor software out there. Whether you're a musician, part of a video team, a music producer or editor, or just someone who wants to create some personalized ringtones for your phone, choosing a good audio mixing software can go a long way. There are all sorts of audio mixing software out there – some free, some paid, some with added features, some for specific operating systems, and so on.

To help you find the audio mixing software that's worth your time and effort, we've rounded up 12 of the best. Check them out and choose the one that suits you best.

8 Best Free Audio Mixing Software for Windows and Mac

If you want to mix audio, you need a good audio mixing software. Here, we'll introduce you to eight of the best music mixing software that will make your job easy.

1. Video Editor

A Video Editor is a versatile audio mixer software that can handle sound from recordings or live events, allowing you to combine audio files and provide one or more output options. This audio mixing software for PC lets you filter and enhance sounds by adjusting volume levels, boosting them with an equalizer and effects, and recording various mixes. Additionally, it doubles up as one of the best free audio converters, enabling you to convert between multiple audio formats like WAV, MP3, M4A, MID, FLAC, AAC, WMA, AU, AIFF, OGG, and more.

Advantages:

    • Packed with audio and video editing features
    • Straightforward, super-intuitive interface that's great for beginners and pros alike
    • Excels at voiceover or audio-related tasks in conjunction with video, such as extracting audio from a video
    • The free version offers full functionality with no limitations

Disadvantages:

    The only downside is that the free version comes with a watermark.

Download this free audio mixer software now and start editing your audio.

#2: Audacity

Audacity is a popular, free, and open-source audio mixing software that's an accessible choice for those starting out with audio editing. It comes with a full suite of features you'll need. There are plenty of effects to choose from, like bass, treble, distortion, noise reduction, and more, as well as analysis tools like a beat detector, silence finder, and sound detector, among others.

Audacity supports most common audio file formats, such as MP3, WAV, AIFF, PCM, OGG Vorbis, FLAC, AC3, AMR, WMA, and MP4, to name just a few.

Audio Mixer Software - Audacity

Advantages:

    • Completely free
    • Packed with features, amazing ones at that
    • Suitable for professionals and beginners alike
    • Supported by a vast online community

Disadvantages:

    • The user interface is not the best and needs improvement.
    • The app crashes randomly.

Top 3: Adobe Audition

Adobe Audition is one of the best audio mixing software options out there, perfectly suited for streaming, with an impressive array of features for professionals. Its multitrack editing and mixing capabilities alone will undoubtedly make your audio editing experience more streamlined and efficient. It also boasts powerful editing features like mirrored fades and maintaining layer stacks while moving individual parts within a stack.

With a bunch of plugins already built-in and a series of tutorials surrounding it, Audition makes it easier for users to get started. It supports most audio formats such as MP3, WAV, AC-3, AIF, AIFF, AIFC, AAC, HE-AAC, CAF, FLAC, PCM, OGG, WMA, and video formats like AVI, MP4, MOV, FLV, and more.

Advantages:

    • Elegant, thoughtfully designed interface
    • Rich features for professionals
    • Powerful app crafted by Adobe's team, known for their expertise and reliability

Drawbacks:

    • It's too specialized and difficult to use for beginners.
    • It's not suitable for those who want to create music.
    • The free version has limited features.

4th: WavePad

WavePad is a full-featured real-time audio mixer software for Windows and Mac. It enables you to record and edit music, voice, and other sounds with various features, such as cutting, copying, and pasting sections of recordings into new recordings, and adding effects like echo, amplification, and noise reduction.

It also supports MP3, WAV, VOX, GSM, WMA, AU, AIF, FLAC, Real Audio, OGG, AAC, M4A, MIDI, AMR, and more. This free audio editor never expires and has many of the features found in the deluxe version.

Audio Mixer Software - WavePad

Advantages:

    • Easy to install and use
    • Supports batch processing, allowing the editing of multiple audio files simultaneously

Disadvantages:

    • The interface might not be as smooth as other editors
    • Multitrack audio editing is not supported
    • It offers a plethora of excellent features, including stunning effects, quick editing options, and powerful tools

The Top Pick: Logic Pro X

Logic Pro X is a digital audio workstation (DAW) made by Apple for systems running macOS. This free music mixer has a ton of great features that make it a wonder to use as an audio editing app, no matter if you're a beginner or a pro. Logic Pro X comes with basic and advanced audio editing tools, like “Smart Tempo,” which automatically matches the timing of different tracks in your project.

It also lets you edit the time of individual notes within a waveform with the “Flex Time” feature, without having to cut them out of the clip itself. The audio mixing software supports almost all audio formats, such as WAV, AIFF, CAF, PCM, ALAC, AAC, MP3, REX, RCY, and more.

Audio Mixing Software - Logic Pro X

Advantages:

    • Stunning collection of built-in instruments and effects
    • Packed with features, great value for money, and user-friendly interface
    • Abundant library of pre-recorded sounds and patches

Drawbacks:

    • Available only for Mac
    • Pricier, at $199
    • The mixer could use larger dials and more flexible options

6th: Reaper

Reaper is another powerful virtual audio workstation, though often cheaper than many other options. It allows you to record directly to mono, stereo, or even multichannel audio files, and can simultaneously record to multiple disks for redundancy. It supports most popular file formats, including ACID, AIFF, AVI, BWF, CDDA, EDL, FLAC, and more.

Audio Mixing Software - Reaper

Advantages:

    • Completely customizable interface
    • Multitrack support for beginners
    • Reasonably priced compared to other audio mixing software

Disadvantages:

    • Beginners need time to learn the software
    • The user interface is not as good as other software

7th: FL Studio

FL Studio is another popular music mixing software. Like top-tier DAWs, it supports multitrack recording, time stretching, and pitch shifting. It comes with a mixer that features effect chains, automation, and delay compensation.

Designed for music artists, FL Studio supports several file formats, such as AIFF, DS, DWP, FLAC, MID, MP3, OGG, SF2, Speech, SYN, XI, and WAV.

Audio Mixing Software - FL Studio

Advantages:

    - Extensive and powerful features - Offers a wide range of instrument choices - Supports VST standards, allowing the use of almost any third-party plugin - Comes with over 80 built-in plugins, covering various categories such as sample processing, compression, synthesis, and more

Disadvantages:

    • The user interface is not as intuitive as that of other audio mixing software.
    • It can be difficult to use for beginners.

#8: Ocenaudio

Ocenaudio is a fantastic free audio mixer and editor that's available both online and as a desktop app. What sets Ocenaudio apart from other free audio mixers is its ability to let you preview changes in real-time. Most tools require you to edit files destructively, meaning they modify the original audio file you're working on. With Ocenaudio, however, you can tweak playback parameters on the fly. So when you apply an effect like reverb in Ocenaudio, you hear the difference immediately.

A screenshot of the audio mixing software - Ocenaudio. The image is 700 pixels wide and 459 pixels tall.

Advantages:

    • User-friendly interface, simpler than Audacity
    • Rich and powerful features available
    • Enables editing of online audio files

Disadvantages:

    * Some users feel that the interface is a bit simple.

2 Free Online Audio Mixing Software for Live Streaming: 1. Audacity: Audacity is a powerful open-source audio recording and editing tool that also supports online audio mixing. It offers various effects and editing features, making it suitable for use during live streaming. 2. Soundtrap: Soundtrap is a cloud-based audio production platform that provides online mixing capabilities, ideal for musicians and streamers. It features an intuitive interface and a range of presets, allowing you to easily mix and adjust audio. Please note that while these tools generally don't require downloading, you may need to create an account and have a stable internet connection for optimal usage.

Some users don't want to download any music mixer apps on their computer, so an online music mixer is the best solution. Here, we've picked out two great online sound mixers for you.

#1: HyaWave

HyaWave is an online audio mixer that runs in your web browser. It allows you to copy, paste, cut, adjust clarity, and crop audio files in formats like MP3 and WAV. It supports 18 filters and effects, such as Biquad Allpass Filter, Fixed Gain Amplifier, Biquad Bandpass Filter, Waveform Inversion, and more. You can load and save edited audio files to the cloud, apply real-time effects, and share them on social media or via URL. It's ideal if you need quick recording or editing without installing bulky programs on your laptop.

Audio Mixer Software - HyaWave

Advantages:

    • User-friendly interface
    • Customizable audio filters
    • Enables users to record live audio files using the built-in audio recorder

Disadvantages:

    It does not support multitrack recording.

#2: Audiotool

Audiotool is a fantastic, free online music mixer with great capabilities. This online audio mixer lets you create and publish your own music tracks. It offers more options than Apple's Garageband. You can record a 30-second sound clip with the online audio mixer to use as a sample, which you can then mix with the digital instruments already built into the Audiotool system.

Audio Mixing Software - Audiotool

Advantages:

    • Platform in the browser, no installation required, accessible anytime, anywhere
    • Dozens of filters, virtual instruments, and effects available
    • Supports creation of MIDI controllers

Disadvantages:

    • Works only in Chrome
    • Exports only to MP3 format

2 Audio Mixing Apps for Android and iPhone

Aside from some audio mixing programs on your computer, there are also various music mixing apps that can help you edit audio files. Here are two excellent audio mixing apps you can choose from:

1. MixPad Multitrack Mixer Free

MixPad Multitrack Mixer Free is an audio mixing app for Android devices that enables recording and mixing. It furnishes you with tools to easily blend audio and music files. With this music mixing app, you can create your own music, record podcasts, mix songs, and more. Most importantly, it brings the full functionality of professional recording and mixing equipment right to your mobile device.

Audio Mixer Software

Advantages:

    • Enables you to mix an unlimited number of music, voice, and audio tracks
    • Offers additional editing tools such as splitting, trimming, copying, and pasting
    • Supports sample rates from 6 kHz to 96 kHz

Disadvantages:

    • Sometimes takes a long time to load
    • The app occasionally freezes

Required Android version: Android 4.0.3 or higher

2. GarageBand

GarageBand is an audio mixing app designed specifically for iOS devices. It allows you to easily and quickly mix audio files. Along with this, it comes with a range of basic and advanced audio editing tools to manipulate your audio files. Furthermore, it features a collection of musical instruments that you can use to create and mix your audio tracks.

Audio Mixing App

Advantages:

    • Offers a variety of instrument sounds
    • Lets you share your songs online
    • Equipped with advanced audio editing tools

Disadvantages:

    Not applicable to Android devices.

Availability: iOS 12.1 or later

Conclusion

This tutorial will introduce you to the 12 best free audio mixer software to help you handle and edit audio files on Windows, Mac, and mobile devices. If you don't want to download and install programs, you can try online audio mixing software. However, online tools are not as powerful as desktop software. Therefore, if you have advanced audio editing needs, it's best to choose desktop audio mixing software like Video Editor, Adobe Audition, Audacity, Logic Pro X, and FL Studio. Make sure to pick the one that suits your needs the most.

Frequently Asked Questions About Audio Mixing Software

There are some questions about audio mixing software; you can continue reading to gain more useful information.

1. What is the best audio mixing software?

This page showcases the top 10 best audio mixing software options:

    • Video Editor
    • Adobe Audition
    • Audacity
    • HyaWave
    • WavePad
    • Logic Pro X
    • Reaper
    • Audiotool
    • FL Studio
    • Ocenaudio

All its features, pros, and cons are laid out. If you need a full-fledged audio mixer and editor, then the first – Video Editor tool would be a wise pick.

2. What is the best free audio editing software?

For the best free audio editing software, you might want to try out the Video Editor tool. It offers a plethora of audio processing options such as mixing, copying, pasting, converting, and extracting subtitles. It supports all popular audio formats including wav, mp3, m4a, mid, flac, aac, wma, au, aiff, ogg, and many more.

3. What audio software does streaming use?

Often, streamers use audio mixing software to enhance their broadcast. This type of software lets you filter and optimize sound by adjusting volume levels, using equalizers, applying effects, and recording multiple mixes. If you need more advanced features, try a professional audio mixing program.