Both tools make a voice sound cleaner, but they are built for different jobs. Descript is an editor where you shape a podcast or video by its transcript. Gleam Audio is a small app that cleans a pile of speech files on your own computer. The right pick depends on whether you need to edit or just to clean.
Gleam Audio cleans speech files on your computer
Gleam Audio runs on macOS, Windows and Linux. Every file stays on your computer, and the app works with no internet. It has five tools: Remove noise, Enhance, Cut, Split and Convert.
Remove noise uses a deep learning model trained on human speech. You set one Strength slider. You do not need to give it a sample of the noise first. Enhance evens out loudness with presets for podcasts, audiobooks, music streaming and broadcast. It also clears the low rumble that desks and traffic put under a mic. If the loudness numbers are new to you, What is LUFS? explains them.
Remove noise, Enhance and Convert run on a whole list of files at once. Cut and Split work on one file at a time, on a picture of the sound. Convert saves to mp3, wav, m4a, flac, ogg, opus and more.
The app is free for personal use, up to 20 files a week. A license adds commercial use and removes the limit. You pay once, at a price you pick from $5. The source is on GitHub under the AGPL, so you can also build it yourself.
Descript edits audio and video by transcript
Descript is an audio and video editor built around a transcript. It transcribes your recording, and you edit by changing the text. Its home page also lists multitrack audio editing, captions, clips, translation, AI voices and an AI co-editor called Underlord.
Studio Sound is its voice cleanup. Descript says it isolates your voice and then regenerates it, to remove echo and background noise. You turn it on with a toggle in the Properties panel. An Intensity slider sets how strong it is. Descript also has auto-leveling, which keeps clips at a steady loudness and is on by default.
Descript has a desktop app for macOS and Windows and a web version for Chromium browsers. You sign in to an account in both. Your edits save to Descript’s cloud as you work. Its help center says Studio Sound needs an internet connection.
Where Studio Sound and Remove noise overlap
Both tools take noise out of speech. Both give you a slider for how hard they work. So the choice is rarely about the cleanup alone. It is about the work around it.
Descript is where you shape a story. You cut words, move sections and finish a video. Studio Sound is one effect inside that project. Gleam Audio is where you clean raw files. You add a folder of recordings, run Remove noise and Enhance, and get new files back. Those files can then go into any editor, Descript included.
When Descript is the better pick
Descript does a lot that Gleam Audio does not. It is the better pick when:
- You want to edit a podcast or video by editing its transcript. Deleting words in the text cuts them from the media.
- The project is a video. Descript exports video up to 4K on the Creator and Business plans, and it makes captions and clips.
- You have several tracks to edit together. Descript has multitrack editing and multitrack transcription.
- You work with a team. Creator and Business plans scale to more editors, and people can leave comments on a shared link.
- You want filler word removal, AI voices or translation in the same app as your cleanup.
- You cannot install apps on the computer you use. Descript for Web runs in a Chromium browser.
The trade is that your media lives in Descript’s cloud, and each plan has a set number of media hours. Studio Sound and syncing your edits both need an internet connection.
When Gleam Audio is the better pick
Pick Gleam Audio when the job is cleanup, not editing. Add a stack of interviews, lectures or voice notes. Then run Remove noise, Enhance or Convert on all of them at once. You do not need a transcript or a project for that.
It also fits when the audio should not leave your computer. Unreleased episodes, client work and anything under an NDA are simpler when nothing is uploaded. It works on a plane or in a room with no internet. It also runs on Linux, and Descript’s desktop app runs on macOS and Windows.
The price is easier to plan for. There is no monthly bill and no meter of media hours. It is free for personal use up to 20 files a week. For paid work, a license is a one-time buy from $5.
Some people use both. They clean and level the raw files in Gleam Audio, then edit them in Descript. For more local tools, see Best Offline Noise Removal Apps for Speech. To weigh Descript against a cloud finishing service, read Auphonic vs Descript for podcast cleanup. For a local and cloud match, see Gleam Audio vs Auphonic.
An honest limit on each side
Gleam Audio’s Remove noise is tuned for speech. On music it can take out more than you want, so lower the Strength to keep more of the sound. It also has no transcript, no video and no multitrack mix.
Descript does not support offline editing. Your edits sync to its cloud, and Studio Sound needs a connection. Descript’s own guide says a slow connection can delay uploads and project loading.
Whichever tool you use, pushing cleanup too hard can make a voice sound thin. Why noise reduction makes a voice sound robotic explains why. The voice cleanup guide walks through a gentle pass.