Record system audio on Mac with Audition

How can I record sound from computer other than other external sound input through microphone? The stock voice recorder app on Mac, the Voice Memos, can only record sound through your microphone. It is the same with most third-party audio recorder apps. Adobe Audition is a well-known audio wave editor. By default it simply captures sound input through microphone. If you want to record internal sound on your computer with Audition, you need a virtual sound card which can route the Mac sound to Audition instead of your speaker. Today, we will show you how to achieve it easily with Audition in conjunction with Soundflower. It is free and open source.

Download the free virtual audio card

The installation is a bit tricky though due to the new security feature on recent Mac OS. You can refer to this guide to install and configure the virtual sound card software.

Recording internal sound with Audition

In order to record what is currently playing on your Mac, such as streaming music, iTunes music, you will need to set Soundflower as the audio output device from Mac System Preferences, then set it as the default audio input in Adobe Audition Preferences.

Step 1. Output Mac audio to Soundflower

Click the Apple icon at the top menu bar on Mac, choose System Preferences > Sound > Output > Soundflower (2ch).

output sound to soundflower 2ch on mac

Step 2. Set Soundflower as audio input in Audition

Next, run Adobe Audition from the Launchpad. click Adobe Audition > Preferences > Audition Hardware, and set Soundflower (2ch) as the default audio input source.

set Soundflower (2ch) as the default audio input source in Adobe Audition for Mac

Step 3. Record any sound from the Mac computer

Now go to record an audio in Adobe Audition, it will only grab sound from your Mac computer other than external sound from your microphone. That’s to say, you can record audio from iTunes, QuickTime Player, any other media players on your Mac and even internet streaming music.

More ways to capture internal audios on Mac

With Soundflower installed on your Mac, you can actually use many other sound recorders, even those from Apple, to capture system sound on Mac. Follow these steps to record iTunes music on Mac using QuickTime Player and Voice Memos.

Now you know how to route sound from Mac system to Audition using Soundflower and record internal sound on Mac. If you still have problem with local audio recording on Mac, feel free to leave us a message in the comment section below.