Recording screen and audio (both system audio and audio from microphone) is commonly used in recording video demonstrations. Doing that on Windows with ActivePresenter 7 is a trivial task. However, in order to record system audio on macOS, you will need some additional simple steps. Let’s get to know it.
How To Setup Mac OS X Graphic EQ Tutorial - Duration: 6:54. Dan Horn 61,522 views. How to use Soundflower (Solve Mac Audio Problems for Streaming.etc.) - Duration: 2:55. Soundflower for Mac is a powerful lightweight macOS Kernel extension that can create a virtual audio device with full support for inputting and outputting sound to any of your active apps. Using it you can route an audio signal between apps without the need to use external audio hardware, audio cables or any other software or equipment. .SORRY FOR THE POPPING P's. I DIDNT NOTICE UNTIL I BEGAN TO EDIT THE VIDEO. (Install first) Soundflower 1.6: https://code.google.com/archive/p/soundflower/do.
Soundflower, for example, is an open-source utility for Mac OS, designed to create a virtual audio output device than can also act as an input. It is great that you can capture the sound from outside sources as well as audio streams using the utility, but you have to download Soundflower from a reputable source and install it correctly.
Record System Audio on macOS with the Background Music software
This method applies for ActivePresenter 7.5 for macOS or later versions. The steps are quite simple:
- Download Background Music from our site, then double-click the downloaded file to install if you have not done it yet.
- Start Background Music by clicking Launchpad > Background Music. It also starts automatically right after installing. It is recommended to start any applications which play audio after starting Background Music.
- Click the Background Music icon on the top bar and make sure that the proper output device is selected so you can hear the system audio while recording it.
- Click the Speaker icon on the top bar and make sure the Background Music device is selected.
- Start ActivePrenseter and select Background Music in its audio device list.
Record System Audio on macOS with the Soundflower software
This method applies for older versions of ActivePresenter. Although it also work for later versions but Soundflower is known as not stable on some systems. The steps are also quite complicated.
Download Soundflower
Soundflower is totally free and you can download it from here.
Install Soundflower
After downloading, it’s time to install it on your Mac. To install Soundflower:
Step 1: Double-click the downloaded DMG file to mount it.
Step 2: In the DMG itself, double-click the PKG file.
Note: If you see a warning saying that Soundflower cannot be opened due to your Security Preferences, right-click or control-click over the PKG file and choose Open, then choose Open again.
Set up your macOS
In this phase, you need to configure your Mac to route the sound to Soundflower output device and speaker simultaneously.
To do that, take the following steps:
Step 1: From the Finder, choose Utilities from the Go menu and open the Audio MIDI Setup application.
Step 2: Click the Add (+) button at the bottom-left corner in the Audio Devices window and select Create Multi-Output Device.
Step 3: Select the newly created device. After that, in the Use column of the list on the right of the window, select Built-in Output and Soundflower (2ch).
Step 4: Right-click the Multi-Output Device and select two following items in popup menu: Use this device for sound output and Play alerts and sound effects through this device.
Record system audio with ActivePresenter
After setting up with previous steps, the system sound now is routed to the Soundflower output. Soundflower in its turn routes the sound from Soundflower output to Soundflower input automatically.
Now, select the Record System Audio option. ActivePresenter will capture all sound from Soundflower input as a soundtrack.
Note: You can still record your voice from Microphone while recording system audio.
- In ActivePresenter 6:
- In ActivePresenter 7:
So, you know how to record system audio on macOS with ActivePresenter 7. Download the app today and start to create interesting projects with this feature. Contact us if you have any obstacle, we’re here to help.
Wheather you want to record your favorite radio station or the video game music playing on your Mac, Soundflower is the most popular option out there. For the unknown, Soundflower is a software that helps you route sounds to any Mac app instead of the default speakers. I’ve been using Soundflower for the past 3 years and never had any problem. However, after the latest macOS updates, the recent version of Soundflower has stopped working on Seria and High Seria. If you download Soundflower setup from Google, you are most likely to get Soundflower installation failed error.
Read: Automatically Transcribe YouTube Video/Audio using Soundflower on Mac
So, why do we get Soundflower Installation Failed error?
After a bit of research, I found the answer on StackExchange, according to the author alecail, this is due to System Integrity Protection. El Capitan and higher versions require kext to be signed in order to load them. This one gets its kext installed in /Library/Extensions/ and not in /System/Library/Extensions as previous versions were
Soundflower On Mac
However, his solution didn’t work for me. Thankfully after a bit of research, I was able to dig in the kext signed version from the developer. Follow the steps.
Fixing Soundflower Installation Failed
1. Download the signed version of Soundflower using this link. Download the file that says “Soundflower-2.0b2.dmg” and install the dmg on your Mac like you install any other app. Simply, run the Soundflower package installer by double-clicking on the pkg file. Depending on your macOS setting, you might see an error from GateKeeper.
2. To bypass it, you need to temporarily disable GateKeeper. Go to System Preferences choose Security & Privacy and then click the General, next, to make any changes you have to click the Padlock icon in the bottom left corner to unlock the settings. Next, click on Open Anyway, next to Soundflower.pkg was blocked.
3. Accept the security warning and go back and click on the Soundflower package, once done, you’ll be able to install the signed version with no problem
4. Now, open System Preferences on your Mac, select Sounds, switch to the Output tab and set Soundflower (2ch) as the device for sound output. A quick way to test if Soundflower is working or not is by start playing any audio file, while Soundflower is ch2 is select for output. You shouldn’t be able to hear anything.
5. Now, open Quicktime or any audio recording software. QuickTime allows the Mac user to play movie files, but it can also be used to record screencast and audio. Since it’s free and built-in, we’ll use it for this instance. However, if you want more control, you can use a free app like Simple Recorder. We use it and it works fine.
6. Go to File and choose Audio Recording, a new window will pop-up. Click on the drop-down arrow next to the recording icon and set the audio source select Soundflower ch2 and start audio recording. you won’t hear anything but your Mac’s internal audio will record in the background.
The only downside is, you can’t hear want’s being recorded, so make sure you place close attention to the timestamps of the audio you want to record. Once you are done, simply click on the stop icon on QuickTime icon to stop the recording. It’ll show you a preview your recorded file.
Again, remember, you won’t be able to hear anything since you have set the output source to Soundflower in the Sound setting of your Mac. So, you need to reverse the changes you did there (set the Sound output to speaker or headphones) and listen to your recording. If you are satisfied with your recording, save it on your desktop or something. And that’s it.
How to Uninstall Soundflower
Unlike other Mac’s app, you won’t find Soundflower in your Application folder. Instead, to uninstall Soundflower, just run the Uninstall Soundflower.scpt present in Soundflower folder. if you don’t have it, you can download it from the link above.
Soundflower For Mac Os High Sierra
Also Read: How to Connect USB Mic to Smartphone for Video Recording