Record the audio on a Mac

How can I record the audio from my computer (Mac)?

You can record the audio that is generated by the computer by clicking the Computer Audio option in the recorder controls. The first time you use this feature, you will be prompted to add a capture filter to your computer.

Please note, this does require administrator access and you will be prompted by macOS to enter your admin password.

Note: This feature requires macOS 10.12 or later.

If the steps below do not work to capture your computer audio, please see the Troubleshooting Tips section at the bottom of this article.

1. Click Add Capture Filter to start this one-time setup.  Make sure to stop ALL audio from playing on your mac before running the setup.  You may also need to reboot your mac if you experience any issues right after running the setup.

2. After entering your password and adding the capture filter, it will automatically update the feature, so you can begin to record computer audio. Click Computer Audio option on the recorder controls:

Tip: Remember to turn off the computer microphone under Narration if you don’t need it.

Need to uninstall the capture filter? Click here to download the uninstaller.

Troubleshooting Tips

If you still cannot record computer audio on your Mac after completing the steps above, try the following:

Verify that ScreenPal is enabled in your Mac's Privacy & Security settings.

To do this, click the Apple icon in the top left corner of your screen and select System Settings.  Go to the Privacy & Security section. Click the Microphone, Camera, Files and Folders, and Screen & System Audio Recording settings and, in each settings window, toggle ScreenPal to enabled.

After enabling these settings, exit and relaunch the ScreenPal application by clicking the ScreenPal app icon in the Mac menu bar and selecting Quit, logging out at screenpal.com, logging back in, and then clicking the Create menu in your ScreenPal account to launch the desired ScreenPal tool.

Confirm that the sample rate of your Mac's microphone is set to a compatible value

Click the Spotlight Search icon in the Mac menu bar.  Enter "audio midi setup", and select Audio MIDI Setup to open the utility.

In the Audio Devices window, select the microphone or webcam you use for recording with ScreenPal.  For Format, set the sample rate to 44,100 Hz.

When you are finished, restart your Mac to re-initialize the microphone in the ScreenPal app.

Check whether your Mac has an M-Series chipset

The issue with your audio may be due to a bug that was introduced in a Mac software update. 

To check your chipset, click the Apple icon in the top left of the Mac menu bar and select About This Mac from the dropdown menu.

If the chip is an M-series, uninstall the current ScreenPal app and then install the M-series version. You can find more information about how to do this in the Install the ScreenPal app on Mac knowledge base article.

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