How to Record Audio on Mac

Quick Tips

• Open the Voice Memos app > Hit Record.
• Open QuickTime Player > Right-click the app icon > New Audio Recording > Click the Record icon.
• Open GarageBand > Empty Project > Choose > Select Mic or Link > Click on Create > Input > Select input mic > Hit Record.

Method 1: Record Audio Using Voice Memos

The Voice Memos app comes pre-installed on your Mac, and it can record good-quality audio files and even share them. You can also record audio in Lossless format to get the best quality. Since it is a core app, ensure that you are using the latest version of macOS to avoid any hiccups.

Step 1: Open the Voice Memos on your Mac.

Step 2: Allow Microphone permissions to the app if the popup appears on your screen.

Step 3: Click the Record icon at the bottom-left corner to start recording. To ensure the best quality, try to sit in a quiet place (not exactly like in the film) and then record your audio.

You can even create a folder for your recordings by selecting the New Folder option in the sidebar.

Once created, you can select the folder name from the Sidebar and start recording audio on your MacBook.

Step 3: Once you have finished recording your audio, right-click on its file name to get more options. You can choose to share your file, edit, or trim the recording.

Tip: You can refer to our post if your Voice Memos are not syncing between iPhone and Mac.

Record Lossless Audio Using Voice Memos on Mac

Follow these steps to record Lossless audio using the Voice Memos app on your Mac.

Step 1: Open Voice Memos > click on Voice Memos in the top-left corner > select Settings.

Step 2: In Audio Quality, select Lossless.

You can also enable Location-based Naming for your audio recordings.

Method 2: Using QuickTime Player

The next built-in app to use for recording audio on your Mac is the good old QuickTime Player. In case you have been ignoring it in favor of VLC, now is your time to start commissioning it again. The QuickTime Player helps you record both audio and your Mac’s screen. What’s interesting is that in our usage, we were able to get slightly better quality audio from QuickTime Player compared to Voice Memos while using a USB Microphone with our Mac.

Here’s how you can fire up the QuickTime Player to record audio on your Mac.

Step 1: Open QuickTime Player > right-click the app icon on the Dock > select New Audio Recording.

Step 2: Click the Record icon to start recording. You can also click the dropdown icon and then choose your mic for recording the audio. Your Mac’s built-in mic is selected by default.

Step 3: Once done, stop the recording and then close the recorder window.

Step 4: Enter the name of your recorded file > choose the file location > click on Save.

You can also choose to delete the file and then repeat the process to record the audio again.

Method 3: Record Audio Using GarageBand

The next pre-installed app is GarageBand. This utility is an old wine, albeit in a new bottle, thanks to software updates. Here’s how you can use GarageBand to record and save your audio.

Step 1: Open GarageBand > select Empty Project > click on Choose.

Step 2: Select Mic or Link > click on Create.

Step 3: Click on Input at the bottom and then select your input mic.

You can click the Circle icon next to Input to switch between mono and stereo recording. The single circle is mono and two circles mean stereo.

If you are using headphones, you can enable the Monitoring option. This will allow you to listen to your voice while recording.

Step 4: Disable the Metronome options to remove beats from the background.

You can also switch to Time as the recording display by selecting the same from the dropdown menu at the top.

Step 5: Once you see the mic audio levels, click the Record icon to start.

Step 6: After finishing the recording, click the Pause icon to stop.

Step 7: Click the Share button at the top Menu Bar and select Export Song to Disk.

Step 8: Enter the name of your file > choose the audio format > click Export to save the file.

Tip: You can also refer to our post if you need help fixing your Mac’s external microphone, which is not recording.