How and what to use to edit music

Your mac should have come with Garageband. That'll sort you for simple cutting / splicing. Above that you have Logic express /pro (at a cost)

Audacity is free and pretty good...

Since it sounds like you have little experience editing audio, I would start with GB or Audacity before trying out Logic.

RE: How and what to use to edit music

RE:
"I am looking to edit some music from a church. As in like cut out bad parts and simple tone tweaks. I guess it would be splicing bits together to make the song sound better or make it shorter. Some i need to make shorter b/c they can be 8 min. or more. Im just wondering if a osx program already can do it, or if there is a free program that does simple editing."

See if someone you know has an audio interface that came with Cubase LE4. ("LE4" stands for "lite edition", version 4).

This is a modestly stripped-down but still very functional version of Cubase Studio 4 that comes bundled with numerous audio interfaces out there.

Or, if you don't mind spending $99, you can buy "Cubase Essentials" which falls between the "full studio" and the "LE4" versions.

For editing, I've yet to see anything that surpasses Cubase in terms of ease-of-use, particularly for copying/cutting/moving audio clips, adjusting gain levels, etc.

I've played a bit with Logic, and could not find any _easy_ way to accomplish otherwise mundane tasks that are easily handled in Cubase. YMMV.

- John

I've never used Cubase, but you might also take a good look at Ableton live. (It also comes with a LE version with most audio interfaces, as well as midi devices). Version 8 is out right now, and it's got the same sound engine and sound quality as do Logic and all the other top of the line digital audio workstations. The reason I think it would be good for you, though, is that it is probably one of the top, if not the best, softwares out there to mix and match different pieces of music. In a nutshell, you can take a recording (or you can make your own piece inside ableton with virtual instruments) and fix its' timing by simply putting a mark on the first beat, and then when it gets out of time (say by the 3rd beat of the 2nd bar), put another mark there and it plays in time again. Then you can drag that to the library and reuse it anytime you want to without having to fix the timing again. And it will automatically adjust at different tempos. SO you could techinically take the drums from a song for example, and add them to a different song in 2 or 3 easy steps.

mikes70mustang said:

Ive been seeing cubase around the forums. Im gonna have to check it out. Ive messed with audacity, its simple. Thanks for the help. $99 isnt bad, im guessing unless im going to be full time music edit big shot i probably dont need logic, at least not now

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Why spend even $99 when you already have Garage Band on the Mac?

What you dan't say is if the music is already recored or if you will be using this software to record. If you have existing stereo tracks then all you can do is cut and splice. But if you will be making more recordings then the sky is the liit and you will want to make these as multi-track recordings. GB can do multi-track

What to use really depends on if you plan to record or if you just need to splice together existing stereo tracks

When I switched to Mac 2 years ago for all our businesses creative, I was coming from Adobe's world of Audition, or Syntrillium's Cool Edit Pro (originally before purchased from Adobe). I used it exclusively for audio editing for over 10 years. The ONLY reason I have Windows on a partition still is to use Audition.

However, since then, I have purchased Logic Pro and the Apogee Duet and Ensemble. Overwhelming to learn by looking, especially with my Aud/CE experience...Then I found Lynda.com I know it's been talked about, but what a gem on the net. Doesn't matter what software you want to learn....I have found that especially the FCP and Logic classes are compelling, quick, and easy to learn. $25 a month is a bargain...take as many courses as you want and learn to use Logic and Soundtrack Pro like a true Pro.

I still use Audition in some cases, but Logic is Incredible. No experience with ProTools, but I've heard great stuff. Garage Band is also a fairly easy learning curve and Lynda will teach ya

Seriously, I don't know if I have ever found such a great learning tool on the net. My wife and I have learned MUCH more about even simple programs like Excel and Powerpoint or Numbers, Keynote and Pages (again, brand new when I switched to Mac).

Avoid the frustration and the 18 pounds in paperback instructions Apple provides with Logic LOL (Still some great stuff in their extensive library). Subscribe to a month of classes at Lynda and learn the right way right away!

J

If Audacity suits your needs, stick with it. But seeing as you have GB on your Mac I recommend trying it out. If you're concerned about a steep learning curve then Cubase or Logic will involve a steeper learning curve.

Many famous artists use GB. Another benefit if you decide you need a better DAW is to upgrade to Logic Express or Studio and you can then open your Garageband projects directly in Logic.

For any Logic or garageband Training I would not recommend Lynda. They are ok, but for audio and video apps then definitely http://www.macprovideo.com is the place to visit. They have the best range and quality of Logic tutorials & Logic trainers available hands down.

The point is you may do just fine with GB. If it fills your needs then you can use the money you saved to get decent audio interface and microphones.

deej

ChrisA wrote:
"Why spend even $99 when you already have Garage Band on the Mac?"

Because the original poster was looking for software that could be used to "cut out bad parts and simple tone tweaks. I guess it would be splicing bits together to make the song sound better or make it shorter".

Granted, GarageBand can do some relatively simple editing tasks, but try adjusting gain by the decibel within it, or normalizing to a pre-determined level. Try copying and pasting and moving short clips of sound around in GB. It can be done, but GB really isn't designed for such tasks.

A more robust DAW program like Cubase is. In fact, Cubase beats Logic in making such mundane tasks easy.

- John

Thanks for the link deeJ (albeit not for me directly). Online, video tutorials are for me a God-Send! So much easier to learn the software when you can play with it at the same time. Lookin forward to checking it out.

...still think Lynda is pretty good though

J