Is Audacity good enough for professional video work?

For dialogue cleanup and simple exports, yes. For complex mixing, multi-bus routing, or loudness compliance, you will eventually want a more complete DAW.

Can I edit audio inside Premiere Pro or Resolve without another app?

Yes, both have solid built-in audio tools. Dedicated software becomes useful when you need deeper editing, restoration, or mixing flexibility.

7 min read

Best audio editing software for beginner video editors in 2026

You do not need a Pro Tools rig to edit clean sound. Here is how Audacity, Audition, Reaper, and Resolve Fairlight compare for beginner video editors.

The best audio editing software for a beginner video editor is the one that stays out of the way. You need to cut dialogue, fix levels, remove noise, and export a clean mix. Anything beyond that is optional until you outgrow it. The four strongest choices today are Audacity, Adobe Audition, Reaper, and DaVinci Resolve Fairlight.

Audacity: the free classic

Audacity is open source, cross-platform, and completely free. It handles recording, cutting, noise reduction, EQ, and basic compression. The interface is dated, but the tools work. For a beginner who only needs to clean a few clips and export WAV or MP3, Audacity is enough. It does not support video, so you will work on extracted audio files.

Adobe Audition: the Creative Cloud bridge

Audition integrates cleanly with Premiere Pro through Dynamic Link. You can send a sequence to Audition, edit the audio, and bring it back. The Essential Sound panel logic is similar between the two apps. Audition is the easiest upgrade path for Premiere editors who already pay for Creative Cloud. It is overkill for one-off fixes.

Reaper: the lightweight powerhouse

Reaper is inexpensive, highly customizable, and efficient with large projects. It supports every plugin format and can handle video as a reference. The learning curve is steeper than Audacity, but the forum community and free tutorials are excellent. If you plan to mix short films regularly, Reaper is a smart investment.

DaVinci Resolve Fairlight: the all-in-one option

Fairlight lives inside Resolve and is free in the standard version. You get a full mixer, EQ, dynamics, bussing, and ADR tools without leaving your edit. For editors who already color grade in Resolve, Fairlight removes round-tripping entirely. The audio editing tools on the Edit page are also enough for simple dialogue work.

Which one should you choose?

No budget, simple fixes: Audacity.
Premiere-based workflow, already on Creative Cloud: Adobe Audition.
Want to grow into a serious DAW: Reaper.
Already using Resolve for color and picture: DaVinci Resolve Fairlight.