Descript is the company behind some smart audio transcription software, or should we say very smart. In a very short space of time they’ve created a platform that can record video, screen capture, audio, transcribe it and do lots of clever stuff, often with just the click of the button.

What Descript are aiming to do is help podcasters, video tutors and a whole host of other people who record video and audio make the best possible content.

We’ve been using Descript for some time as a transcription tool but when they emailed us yesterday to announce Studio Sound and made comparisons to software like iZotope RX we had to check it out.

Here’s an explanation from the team at Descript about how Studio Sound works.

We’re huge fans of iZotope RX, as a professional suite of tools for audio restoration and other audio repair tasks, so we’d need a lot of convincing that something could come close, you could say we’re biased.

For our test we decided to be brutal. We made two recordings, one recording in a kitchen on a MacBook Pro using the built in microphone and the second was a video made on an iPhone 12 using the built in microphone. Here's the sound examples from the MacBook Pro recording.

Audio test of Descript Studio Sound using a recording shot on an iPhone 12 in a kitchen, with the door open and a child playing Mario Cart in the background.

After Using Studio Sound

After Using iZotope RX Voice De-noise And Dialogue De-Reverb

Given the quality of the original recordings using domestic recording devices in less-than-ideal environments we have to say we’re impressed by what Studio Sound can do.

It’s not ready for professional use, mainly because to use it you have to use the Descript software, which would make the workflow in a professional studio impractical. It would also be nice to have some adjustment as at times it sounds overcooked. However, given that this is the beta version and their first attempt at trying to fix bad audio, imagine what Descript could do with this technology if they delivered it in a way that could fit into a pro workflow.

However, given the target audience is going to be the casual or semi pro user, this thing is brilliant. A lot of pro audio companies should take note of the simple workflow that professional users could benefit from, all the examples shown here were done with a tick box. That’s as hard as it gets!

We’re die-hard RX fan boys and we’re impressed - what do you think?

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