Lower Spotify Without Lowering Everything Else on Mac

You're working with Spotify playing in the background. It's a little too loud: it competes with a video in another tab, or makes it hard to focus. You tap the volume-down key. Spotify gets quieter, but so does everything else: your Zoom call, your notification sounds, your browser.

That happens because macOS has one output volume. The volume keys change it, and it scales every app at once. There's no built-in way to say "just lower Spotify".

Option 1: Spotify's own volume slider

Spotify has its own volume slider in the player bar, usually at the bottom right of the window. It works independently of the Mac's volume: if you leave the Mac at a comfortable level and pull Spotify's slider down, only Spotify gets quieter.

The catch: you have to switch to the Spotify window, find a small slider with no number on it, adjust it, then switch back. That's fine once a day, less fine in the middle of a meeting.

Option 2: Check Spotify's loudness settings

If some songs are much louder than others, look in Spotify's settings for Normalize volume and a Volume level option (in recent versions it's under the playback or audio settings). Turning normalization on, or setting the level to quieter, evens out jumps between tracks so you don't keep reaching for the volume.

The catch: this only changes how loud tracks are relative to each other. It doesn't make Spotify quieter compared with your other apps.

Option 3: Use the Mac volume for calls, Spotify's slider for music

A simple routine that works without any extra software:

1. Set the Mac volume for the app that matters most, usually your call or video.
2. Lower Spotify's own slider until the music sits underneath.
3. Leave the volume keys alone for the rest of the session.

The catch: as soon as you press a volume key, both move together again, and apps without their own slider (notifications, browser sounds) can't be lowered this way at all.

Option 4: Per-app volume in the menu bar

What you really want is a slider for each app in one place, reachable without leaving the window you're in. That's what a per-app volume mixer does.

SoundDial puts a volume slider for every running app in your menu bar. To lower Spotify without touching anything else:

1. Click the SoundDial icon in the menu bar
2. Find Spotify in the list
3. Drag its slider down

Spotify is quieter. Zoom, your browser and notifications stay where they were. You never leave the app you're working in, because the menu opens right where you are.

A few more things it can do for the same situation:

• Mute Spotify for a moment with one click when a call starts, while the call keeps playing, then click again to bring the music back. More on this in how to mute one app on Mac.
• Boost a quiet app up to 200% if the problem is the other way around, for example a call that's too soft next to your music.
• Set other apps too: Slack low, browser medium, call at full volume.

SoundDial works per app, not per browser tab, so if you use the Spotify web player, it shares one slider with the rest of that browser. During calls, SoundDial's auto-ducking (on by default) lowers other apps, Spotify included, to 30% of their level while a call app such as Zoom, Teams or FaceTime uses the microphone, and restores them when the call ends. You can change the level (10% to 80%) or turn it off; see lower music during calls. If Zoom keeps lowering your music on its own, see stop Zoom lowering your music.

SoundDial, a per-app volume mixer for Mac gives you per-app volume control on Mac. It needs macOS 14.2 or later and costs €14.99 one-time purchase on the Mac App Store, no subscription.

Get SoundDial on the Mac App Store.