How to record audio on a Mac

By Dan Murtagh, mix engineer and audio educator · Updated 4 October 2026

To record your voice on a Mac, open Voice Memos and click the Record button, or open QuickTime Player and choose File → New Audio Recording. Both are free, built in and record from a microphone. To record the sound the Mac itself plays, use an app that records system audio; on macOS 27, the screen recorder can include it too, as a movie.

Most people want one of two things: their own voice (a voice-over, a lecture, a song idea) or the Mac’s own sound (a video, a song, a webinar). The built-in apps handle the first well. The second needs a different kind of tool.

Record your voice with Voice Memos

Voice Memos is the quickest way. It records from the built-in microphone, a supported headset or an external mic, and your recordings appear on your other Apple devices signed in to the same Apple Account.

1. Open Voice Memos from Applications, or find it with Spotlight.
2. Click the Record button to start.
3. Click Pause to pause, and Resume to carry on.
4. Click Done to save. The recording is named after your location if Location-based Naming is on, otherwise “New Recording”.
5. Drag the recording from the list onto the desktop or into a folder to get a file you can share or edit.

For anything you’ll keep or edit, choose Voice Memos → Settings and set Audio Quality to Lossless. Voice Memos has no microphone menu of its own: it records from the input chosen in System Settings → Sound → Input. Apple covers the details in its Voice Memos guide.

Record with QuickTime Player

QuickTime Player lets you pick the microphone and quality in the app, and saves a file you name yourself.

1. Open QuickTime Player and choose File → New Audio Recording.
2. Click the Capture Device Selection pop-up button and choose your microphone and quality. Maximum records uncompressed 24-bit audio at 44.1 kHz; High records smaller AAC files.
3. Click Start Recording, and Stop Recording when you’re done. Option-click the button to pause.
4. Choose File → Save and name the recording.

The volume slider is for listening while you record; if you turn it up, wear headphones so the speakers don’t feed back. Apple’s steps are in the QuickTime Player User Guide.

Record with GarageBand for more control

GarageBand is Apple’s free music app, on the Mac App Store if it isn’t already installed. Reach for it when you want several takes, more than one track, or music under your voice: a podcast, a voice-over, a song demo. Start an empty project, add an audio track with your microphone as the input, and press Record. You can trim and arrange takes, then export the result as an audio file with Share → Export Song to Disk.

Using an external mic or audio interface

The built-in mic is fine for notes. For anything others will hear, a USB mic or a mic into an audio interface makes the biggest difference. Plug it in, then choose it in System Settings → Sound → Input, or in the recording app’s own input menu.

• Set the level before you start. Perform at full volume and keep peaks around −12 to −6 dBFS. A quiet recording can be turned up later; one that clips can’t be fixed.
• Get close and stay put. About a hand-span from the mic, slightly off to one side to soften pops.
• Choose the room. A small room full of soft things (a couch, curtains, a wardrobe) sounds far better than a big bare one. Turn off fans and air-conditioning.
• Wear headphones. Speakers bleed into the mic and can feed back.
• Record ten seconds and listen back before the real take.

Record the sound your Mac plays

Voice Memos and QuickTime only record inputs, so they can’t capture a video or song playing on the Mac. On macOS 14.4 and later, apps like PrintBus, Piezo and Audio Hijack record the Mac’s own sound directly once you give them permission, with no driver to install. On older Macs you need a virtual device like BlackHole plus a recorder. On macOS 27, the screen recorder (Shift-Command-5) adds Include System Audio to its Options, though you get a movie rather than an audio file.

PrintBus fits when you want what the Mac plays as files: press record once and every track or clip is saved as a named, trimmed WAV or AIFF. Our guide to recording internal audio on a Mac compares every option step by step.

Record your voice and the Mac’s audio together

Here the tools differ most:

• Audio Hijack is built for it. It mixes a microphone with an app’s audio, or the whole system, into one recording. It suits podcasts and commentary.
• On macOS 27, the screen recorder’s Options list both a microphone and Include System Audio, so a screen recording can carry your voice and the Mac’s sound in one movie. Make a short test first.
• OBS Studio (free) records a microphone and desktop audio together, into a video.
• PrintBus doesn’t do this. It records what the Mac plays, never a microphone.
• Record them separately, your voice in Voice Memos or QuickTime and the Mac’s sound in a system-audio recorder, then line them up in GarageBand. Fiddly, but each part stays on its own track.

The options at a glance

Prices in US dollars, checked 4 October 2026.

File formats and sample rates

• WAV or AIFF for anything you’ll edit, mix or keep: uncompressed, nothing lost. QuickTime’s Maximum setting saves AIFF-C.
• M4A (AAC) for notes and sharing: much smaller, and speech still sounds clear. QuickTime’s High setting saves AAC.
• 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz. 44.1 is the music standard, 48 the video standard. Match the project the audio is going into.
• 24-bit leaves room to record at a safe level without adding noise. Save 16-bit for finished files.