If you’re looking to buy Adobe Audition, you might want to know if it makes a “sound” investment or not. Audition is a powerful audio tool for a wide range of situations. You might want to use it for editing and producing a podcast. Or your video might need some ear-catching sound effects. You can even use it as a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). But there are better DAWs around for musicians.
Among Audition’s strengths is its integration with Adobe’s own Premier Pro video editor. If you’re editing in Premiere Pro, it will automatically prompt you to edit the audio in Audition. It is also very customizable, and your edits are non-destructive—that’s essential in an audio editor.
Like all of Adobe’s Creative Cloud apps, Audition is only available as a subscription and not a one-time purchase.
| Annual Subscription |
Annual Subscription
$239.88
|
| Annual Subscription Paid Monthly |
Annual Subscription Paid Monthly
$20.99
|
| Monthly Subscription |
Monthly Subscription
$31.49
|
| Best For |
Best For
Podcasters and video sound editing
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If you are sure you want Adobe Audition, then an annual subscription is the cheapest route. If you want to spread that cost over a year, then you can, with an additional $1 premium per month. Or you can pay month-by-month. But that’s not a wise move for long-term use. Eight months of use will be cheaper with an annual plan.
If you use three or more Adobe Creative Cloud apps, then you will save money by taking out an Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps subscription.
Good news if you’re a student or a teacher! You can get all 21 apps in the Adobe Creative Cloud for less than the regular monthly cost of an Audition subscription. But if you don’t fall into that category, then the price is much steeper. Say you’re a video editor and you want to have Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Audition, then the All Apps subscription is a money saver.
This has the added benefit that you also get all the other apps. So if you want to do a bit of Photoshop, you’ve got the class-leading app ready to go. Or maybe you want to create your own unique font. Illustrator is the perfect tool for that, and you’ve already paid, so why not? Although the cost is a challenge to many freelancers, the savings do help. And they are well worth taking advantage of.
| Annual Subscription |
Annual Subscription
$599.98
|
| Annual Subscription Paid Monthly |
Annual Subscription Paid Monthly
$54.99
|
| Monthly Subscription |
Monthly Subscription
$82.49
|
| Education Monthly Subscription |
Education Monthly Subscription
$19.99
|
| Best For |
Best For
Saving money on three or more apps
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It’s true that Audition is a little light on tools for musicians looking for a DAW. But for many others, it’s a great choice. Podcasters will love its easy, non-destructive editing features and the ability to record directly into the app.
You get a range of clean-up tools to help you fix mistakes in the recorded sound. For instance, the 60 Hz hum that can bedevil recording made on electrical outlet-powered gear. Adobe Audition has a simple one-click fix for that.
The Remix function makes trimming the length of an audio clip simple, customizable, and automatic. This is especially useful when used with Premiere Pro. The video editor sends the audio to Audition and links to the video as well. So you see the video in Audition. Then it will shorten the audio by seamlessly cutting and merging together somewhere in the middle of the track.
This is just one of the many features of Audition that make it a popular choice. Another popular feature is the royalty-free sound effects you can easily add to your podcast or video. There are more than 12,000 of them.
You also get access to Adobe Fonts, and there are more than 20,000 of them. But the added benefits are slightly less than with other Adobe apps. There are quite a lot of competitors out there for DAWs. And Adobe Audition probably only makes sense if you are already using (or going to use) Premiere Pro for your video editing. Its seamless integration with that app is certainly a strong selling point.
If you’re already using Premiere Pro, then Audition makes a lot of sense as a very capable audio editor. If you already have a Creative Cloud subscription, Audition is a lovely bonus for when you need to do some audio editing. The case for Adobe Audition is less clear as a standalone audio editor.
