The screen recording option in Quicktime is a useful feature for you to record a part of your screen or your entire screen in high quality for whatever purpose. Quicktime also allows you to record your audio through the built-in mic, thus you can record anything ranging from tutorials to simple videos explaining an issue you’re facing on your system. However, in the case you want to record an online video or clip, you’ll find that there’s no option to record your Mac’s audio output by default. You’re stuck recording the voice from your Mac’s built-in mic.
To solve this problem, Matt Ingalls (GitHub) has created an addon named Soundflower that adds an audio extension to macOS. By using this extension as your audio output source, and input source in Quicktime, you’ll be able to record audio directly from your system, bypassing the built-in mic. It’s way easier than it sounds. Let’s check it out.
Also read: Use QuickTime to Easily Extract Audio from Video Files in Mac [Quick Tips]
1. Download Soundflower onto your Mac by opening the Soundflower page on GitHub, scrolling down to “Assets” and clicking on “Soundflower-2.0b2.dmg.” Alternatively, you can download it directly from here. The installer supports nearly all Mac OS X / macOS versions up to 10.14 Mojave currently, so it should work on your system.
2. Once downloaded, open the DMG file, hold down the Control key on your keyboard, and open up the installer. Install the addon.
Initially, you might face an error in the setup, as the Soundflower installer is not signed. You’ll need to allow it to be installed from the System Preferences app.
Also read: Streamlabs Desktop vs. OBS Studio vs. XSplit Broadcaster
3. Navigate to “System Preferences -> Security and Privacy.” On the bottom-left, you should see a warning for Soundflower next to an “Allow” button.
Also read: How to Record Your iPhone Screen Using QuickTime on Your Mac
4. Click on “Allow.” The installer should restart again by itself. If it doesn’t, simply navigate to the downloaded file and run the installer again. We recommend restarting your system after the installation.
Once you have Soundflower installed, simply follow the guide below to record system audio in your screen recording:
1. Before starting your recording, we need to change the system audio output from the default speakers to our newly installed sound card. To do this, open up System Preferences and click on Sound.
2. From the Output pane, select Soundflower (2 ch) as your output. You’ll notice that if you play any audio on your system, you won’t hear it at all.
3. Now, open Quicktime and select “New Screen Recording” from the File menu.
4. Click on the arrow next to the red record button, and select “Soundflower (2 ch)” as your audio input method.
If you already have an audio playing, you’ll notice the sound level show up in Quicktime.
5. Start your recording and specify the part of the screen you want included in the recording.
6. Once done, be sure to change the audio output back to the Internal speakers from System Preferences (System Preferences -> Sound -> Output). Otherwise, you won’t be able to hear the audio recorded on your screen recording.
That’s it! Soundflower is indeed a handy tool to quickly include system audio output on your Quicktime recordings. Let us know if the method worked for you in the Comments section below.
Also read: How to Use Krisp for Calls, Games, and Recording
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