There’s plenty of radio production software on the market ranging in price and quality. You can get free radio production software that can record and perform a few basic tricks up to a fully fledged studio suite with hardware included. Here’s a look at some of the most popular radio production packages out there.
Read on for some reviews…
Free Radio Production Software
Audacity
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
It’s simple, easy to use and what more would you like for free? As the software is open source a team of code junkies are always endeavouring to improve it. The display is clear and very straight forward to understand especially for radio production beginners. It is also uses a low amount of memory allowing you to record a long piece of audio in the background while working away on another project. There are some good basic effects in Audacity, you can cut, copy and paste your audio and the major audio standards (WAV, MP3, AIFF, OGG) are supported. The only factor about this software that loses a star is the fact that it is geared towards beginners with the simple layout and professional radio producers would soon get frustrated at the things it can’t do.
Budget Radio Production Software
FL Studio
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
This is a good piece of kit if you like mixing beats and producing music and it’s come a long way since the original Fruity Loops. The display looks just like a studio on your screen so radio studio purists should love this software for that. It could be quite confusing to the beginner and I would recommend FL Studio for a more advanced producer as there are so many little icons all over the place and it can take some getting used to. A great feature in FL Studio is the selection of instruments included so you can create all manor of radio sound effects and clever vocal tricks.
Mid-High End Radio Production Software
Adobe Audition
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Adobe Audition wins the crown for best radio production software out there (tied with Pro Tools). It’s easy to learn and use with one of the best looking displays of all the radio production software available. You can view your wave in many different ways, send it to multitrack, mix it, cut it, loop it and more. The set of effects included are mind blowing. What’s even better is that there is now the opportunity to add new effects along with the fact you could always make tweaks to create your own custom effects. You’ll find Adobe Audition in most radio production studios around the world and I believe that tells you plenty about how radio producers rate this software.
Sound Forge
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
This is certainly one of the most stable packages I’ve ever used. However, that comes at a price, the memory usage is pretty heavy. Sound Forge is geared heavily towards editing audio for video which is why it gets a lower rating with radio production being the main focus of this review. There are many good features and you can cut, copy, edit and mix but there is nothing outstanding that places Sound Forge above the rest. I like to use Acid Pro (also from Sony) on occasion and find it easy to use and found getting to grips with Sound Forge a similar straight forward experience.
Professional Radio Production Software
Pro Tools
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Any radio producer worth their salt will have used Pro Tools at some point in their career. This is understandable as the speed and quality of sound output is superior to anything else on the market. How you get there is another question and I personally find it easier to apply the effects I want in Adobe Audition. Although you can have much more fun and make much better and cleaner effects with Pro Tools if you have the time. Pro Tools comes with its own hardware which can be seen as a pro or a con. The pros are that the hardware is fast and reliable. The cons are you can’t use the hardware with anything else and you can’t use your own sound card with Pro Tools. If you want to go all out and set up the radio studio a professional producer deserves then Pro Tools is the way.
Radio Packages
Looking for ways in which you can improve your radio station? Check out our radio jingles, voiceovers, presets for Adobe Audition, Audacity and more!
