A Mac user may meet certain cases where he might need to record audio on their Mac system. It may be to record a voice note, a Skype call, a video conference or any other cases where recording the sound is needed. However, not every Mac user is familiar with recording audio on Mac. Therefore, assuming that you are here to learn. I will explain briefly How to Record Audio on Mac, both the external and internal ones.
Contents
Jan 02, 2018 How to Record Audio on Mac from your Mic. External Audio means any type of sound such as vocals, musical instruments, simple notes, etc that can be introduced into your Mac PC using a microphone (either built-in or an external microphone).
- 1 How to Record Audio on Mac from your Mic
- 2 How to Record Audio (Internal) on Mac?
How to Record Audio on Mac from your Mic
External Audio means any type of sound such as vocals, musical instruments, simple notes, etc that can be introduced into your Mac PC using a microphone (either built-in or an external microphone). Most of the Mac operating systems are bundled with an inbuilt microphone (except Mac Mini and Mac Pro) which can be used to record audio.
However, the quality will be not-so-good in this case. So, I’d suggest you get a better quality dedicated audio device like a USB Microphone. Now let’s move forward with learning to record audio on Mac. There are two ways possible to record the external sounds on Mac. One is to use the inbuilt app Quicktime. The other is to use a good third-party app. I will explain both the methods in required details.
1. Record Mic Sound on Mac using QuickTime
QuickTime is thought of as a movie viewing application, but surprisingly it has video, screen, and audio recording capabilities as well. This app is an inbuilt wonder for all the Mac users. Mac doesn’t have any Voice Memos app like the iPhone, so QuickTime is a good choice without downloading any additional software. QuickTime can easily record sound input from a microphone and save it as a lightweight m4a file. It is perfect for recording quick voice notes, capturing conversations, recording sound effects, making simple ringtones or any other basic audio recording task. Follow these steps in order to learn how to record audio using QuickTime:
Step-1: Firstly open QuickTime player. You can find it in the /Applications/ folder.
Step-2: Now click on the File button to pull down the Menu and then select New Audio Recording.
Step-3: Then click on the Red Recording button present in the center of the Audio Recording box. The recording will start then. When you have to finish the recording, click on the same Redbutton.
Step-4: Afterwards, go to File menu and then choose Save. Then name the file and select the path to store the file.
This way you can record any type of audio on your Mac using QuickTime and save it for future use.
2. Record Audio on Macbook using Third-Party Apps
There are several third-party apps available to record audio on Mac like Audacity, WireTap Studio, Audio Hijack Pro, etc. Audacity is the best option present among them as it is completely free and pretty powerful. It supports audio recording and you can also edit the recorded clip as well. Follow these steps in order to record audio using Audacity:
Step-1:Download and installAudacity from here. Afterwards, open Audacity.
Step-2: Here also, to start recording sound click on the Red circle-shaped button. The recording will begin then and it will use the default microphone.
Step-3: After you have finished recording your audio, click on the brown square-shaped button to stop the recording.
Step-4: Go to File menu and Export & Save the file.
The recorded file will then be saved for future use. You can also edit the clip using Audacity.
How to Record Audio (Internal) on Mac?
Internal audio means the audio that your Mac is playing back, such as an internet stream, song or a Skype call. Recording Internal audio is a little different as it’s not audio we can just simply input into the Mac with a microphone. Mac has no inbuilt app to record what is being played on the speakers. Therefore, you have to use an additional third-party app to record the internal sounds of the computer. There are several apps available to do this like Soundflower, Movavi, Piezo, etc. Soundflower and Movavi are the best options among them. I will explain the procedure of using them in detail.
1. Record Computer Audio on Mac using Soundflower
Soundflower is an amazing audio capturing app for Mac users. It is completely free and simple to use. When a sound is playing on your computer, Soundflower acts as a source to convert it as if it is coming from an external device. This way it makes it possible to record the playing sound. Follow these steps in order to record audio using Soundflower:
Step-1:Download and installSoundflower from here. Your mac will have to restart then.
Step-2: After your PC has restarted, you have to set SoundFlower as your Output Device. To do so, open System Preferences, select Sound and then set Soundflower (2ch) as your Output device. Now any sound that will play on your Mac will not come out from the speakers, instead, it will be routed through Soundflower.
Step-3: Now you have to use Quicktime to record the sound routed through Soundflower. Go to Quicktime, click on File and then select New Audio Recording.
Step-4: In the Audio Recording box, click on the inverted-triangle present on the right side of Red recording button. Now in the resulting Menu, select Soundflower (2ch).
Step-5:Play any sound and when you are ready to record it, click on the Red Record button in Quicktime.
This way you can use Soundflower to record the sounds playing on your Mac.
2. How to Record Audio on Mac using Movavi
MovaviScreenRecorder is an audio recorder that will help you capture any type of audio on your Mac, including internal system sounds, online streaming audio, Internet audio players, Skype calls, and radio. It is a great app capable of recording both internal and external sounds. Follow these steps in order to record audio using Movavi:
Step-1:Download and installMovavi from here. Afterwards, open Movavi Screen Recorder.
Step-2:System Audio recording is activated by default in Movavi (If you want to record the external audio along with the internal one, activate Microphone input recording by clicking on the Microphone button. To start recording audio, click on the Rec button.
Step-3: After you have finished recording, click on the Stop button.
Step-4: Now click on the Save as button, select Mp3 to save the file in Mp3 format and then click on Save to save the file for future use.
This way you can record any type of internal or external audio on your Mac using Movavi.
Summary
These were the best possible ways to record audio (both internal and external ones) on Mac. All the apps listed above are properties of their respective owners. Though they are free to use. You can try them anytime you wish. I’m concluding this article by assuming that you now know how to record audio on Mac. Hope I helped you to learn recording audio on Mac. For any queries, doubts or suggestions, comment down in the Comments section below. Have a nice day, Folks!
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Mac doesn’t have an exclusive application for screen recording. Fortunately, there is a functionality for this bundled right into the QuickTime Player app. So you don’t have to install any additional software to record screen activity on your Mac.
The QuickTime Player’s screen recorder function is dead simple to use. It allows you to record your whole screen, a portion of the screen, with or without audio – a great solution for most use cases. Let’s see how it works!
Using the QuickTime Player’s Screen Recorder in macOS
The screen recorder in QuickTime Player is available in Mac OS X 10.6 and later. Below is the complete guide on how to use it to capture a video of your Mac screen.
Step 1: Launch Quick Time Player
There are various ways to open a program on Mac.
- You can navigate to /Applications in the Finder and launch QuickTime Player
- Or much quicker, press Space + Command – the Spotlight search field will appear in the middle of your screen. Now enter “QuickTime” and launch it.
Record Audio From Computer Mac
Step 2: Start Recording
Look at the menu bar at the top of the screen, click File, then select New Screen Recorder. (Alternatively, if you love using shortcuts, then press Control+Cmd+N)
Note: if you keep the QuickTime app in your Dock, then you can start recording your screen anytime quickly by right-clicking on its icon and choose “New Screen Recording” from the menu.
A small screen recording box will pop up with the remarkable Record button. Before starting, you can choose recording options for audio and mouse clicks. Click on the white down arrow beside the record button to see the options.
- Microphone: Choose None to capture the video with no sound, or choose an audio source from one of your microphones. By default, you’re not able to record system sounds, but if you want to, we’ve got you covered in the next part of this post.
- Options: Choosing “Show Mouse Clicks in Recording” make clicks much more obvious as it places a circle around them. So people who watch your videos will know when you do click. Perfect for making instructional or how-to videos.
Once you’ve done with the settings, click the Record button. After you click the button, the QuickTime Player will display the following instruction:
So
- If you want to record the entire screen, simply click one anywhere on the screen.
- If you just want to record a smaller segment of the screen, such as a Safari window, click anywhere and drag to make a selection area. Then you can resize and move it to fit a specific window. Once you’re satisfied, click “Start Recording” in the middle of the selection area.
Step 3: Stop Recording
To end recording, just hit the stop button in the menu bar (or use the Touch Bar). The QuickTime Player app will let you preview the recorded video. In case the stop button is hidden in the menu bar, right-click on the QuickTime Player icon in the Dock and select Stop Screen Recording.
You can then choose File > Save or hit Cmd + S to save it to your desired folder. By default, the video is saved as a MOV file in HD resolution. Meaning you will have to convert it to another file format if necessary.
You can also choose File > Export to export the video using another resolution: 4K, 1080p, 720p, 480p or export only the audio. If you don’t want to save the video, just close the preview window and click Delete.
Fraps
Note: Using the QuickTime Player app is also one of the native ways to record iPhone and iPad’s screen.
Recording Mac’s screen with Audio using QuickTime Player
As I stated before, you have limited options on what you can use as the audio sound when recording the screen with QuickTime Player. You can only choose between None and Built-in Microphone.
That’s really annoying in situations where you want to record the audio internally. Sure you could try using the built-in microphone to capture the output audio, but it’s far from satisfactory as it will also capture background noise.
The solution is to use an additional sound driver that can route the output audio to act as the input for another application, here it’s QuickTime Player.
SoundFlower was the most popular tool for this but now it’s no longer updated and not compatible with El Capitan and higher. You may find tutorials out there mentioning it, but they’re outdated and may not work for you.
Loopback by Rogue Amoeba is a new alternative I found recently. It’s a paid software with a free trial. I’ve personally tested using the trial version and it works decently. Here’s how I configured the input/output audio for QuickTime using this sound driver.
- Download and install the trial version of LoopBack here. A license key to unlock Loopback costs $99 and can be used on one or multiple Macs.
- After installing it, go to System Preferences > Sound > Output and choose “Loopback Audio” for sound output.
- Open QuickTime to record the screen, click the white down arrow, you’ll see a new option named “Loopback Audio” under Microphone. Select it.
- Click the red Record button to start recording as usual. Now you’ll capture both the video and audio in one recording
If you cannot find Loopback Audio as an available input or output, try to reboot your system for it to work.
Record Sound On Mac
That’s how you can record your Mac’s screen with audio using QuickTime Player. If you know another exclusive screen recorder for Mac, or a decent sound drive that works similarly to Loopback, feel free to let us know in the comments below.
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Dan is a web developer, a digital nomad, and a lifelong Apple fan. At iPhonebyte, his job is to help you get the most out of your iOS and Mac devices. Read the story about him and the website here.