Mac Audio in OBS

🌱 This post is in the growth phase. It may still be useful as it grows up.

There’s no great way to get system audio into broadcast and recording apps like OBS.

This sucks.

There are a couple paid apps that help.

I’ve used the (advanced) Loopback by Rogue Amoeba. It’s pretty intense and requires System Security Policy level modifications to work on new Macs.

I’ve also used hardware solutions that include routing — Elgato Wave Link, and mixers like Sound Devices Mixpre.

I wanted the simplest option I could find. And if you don’t need to mix multiple sources together, SWB Audio App seems to be it.

I hate that a utility like this is a subscription but I guess the $12/yr pricing is appropriate if you make any amount of money on content. Definitely market priced.

Steps

• SWB Audio App
  • This requires a paid subscription ($12/yr at time of writing) and account creation
• Once installed, the whole thing is pretty easy
  • Click the toolbar icon for SWB Audio App
  • Turn on Preview
    • This inserts SWB Audio App between system output and the active default output
      • This allows it to be introspected by other apps and devices
    • Demo video showing how SWB Audio App
  • Add SWB Audio Capture as a source in OBS or Discord

Notes

SWB Audio App is not smart about audio switching in preview mode.

If you’re switching between inputs, the easiest thing is to kill the preview before switching (built-in speakers to headphones, etc). But even then it got confused and I had to jump into System Preferences.

Taking it further

• Using it with QuickTime (OS-standard software)
• Using it with OBS
• Using it with Discord

Possible content ideas

• Audio routing on the Mac
  • System preferences
  • Audio Midi Setup

Hit me up if you want to learn any more about this stuff