Mac Audio for OBS and Streaming: Set Your Levels

You're streaming on your Mac with OBS. The game is loud, Discord is running, Spotify plays in the background and stream alerts fire now and then. If all of that ends up on stream at one level, Discord callouts fight with explosions and the music drowns out your voice.

Here's how to get control over it, first inside OBS, then on your Mac.

Why Mac streaming audio gets messy

macOS has one output volume for all apps. It doesn't give you a mixer where the game, Discord and music each have their own level. So the levels have to be set somewhere else: inside each app, or inside OBS.

Option 1: Separate sources in OBS

Recent versions of OBS on recent macOS versions can capture audio directly, without extra software:

• Desktop or system audio: everything playing on your Mac as one source.
• A single application's audio: in recent versions, OBS offers a macOS audio capture source that can be set to one app instead of the whole desktop.
• Microphone: your mic as its own input.

Look in OBS's Sources list (the + button) for the macOS audio capture options; names and availability depend on your OBS and macOS versions.

If you add the game, Discord and music as separate app sources, each gets its own fader in OBS's Audio Mixer. That's the most direct way to control what viewers hear, and it doesn't affect what you hear on your headphones. The downside is setup time: one source per app, and you adjust levels inside OBS during the stream.

Option 2: Set levels in each app

The simplest fix is often the app itself:

• Spotify, Music and most games have their own volume slider
• Discord lets you change the volume of individual users and has its own output volume in its voice settings
• Browser-based alert pages usually follow the browser's volume, or the alert service's own volume setting

This works, but you end up switching between many windows mid-stream.

A starting point for levels

Whichever method you use, a common starting point looks like this:

• Voice chat: clearly audible, so your team's callouts come through
• Game: present, but below your voice
• Music: low, in the background
• Alerts: audible, not jarring
• Notifications from Slack, Mail and similar: muted, viewers don't need to hear your DMs

Do a short test recording and listen back before going live; what sounds right in your headphones can sound different on stream.

Option 3: Per-app volume on your Mac with SoundDial

SoundDial, a per-app volume mixer for Mac puts a slider and a mute button for every running app in your menu bar. Each app can go from 0% to 200%, so you can lower the game, boost a quiet Discord call above 100%, and mute Slack with one click.

What it changes is what you hear on your Mac. Whether those levels also reach your stream depends on your OBS setup: test it with a short recording. If you capture each app as its own source in OBS, you'll usually still set the stream levels in OBS's Audio Mixer.

Where it helps most while streaming:

• Your own monitoring: turn down a loud game in your headphones without opening its settings
• Quick mutes: silence a notification-heavy app for the length of the stream
• Quiet voice chat: boost Discord on your end when a teammate's mic is weak

Before going live, check auto-ducking: it's on by default, and while Discord or another call app uses the microphone, SoundDial lowers your other apps (the game included) to 30% of their level. If you're in voice chat while streaming, turn it off or raise the duck level in SoundDial's settings.

It works per app, not per browser tab, and it does not record anything. More on the basics in per-app volume control on Mac, and for the mic, game and music side of streaming, see a streaming audio mixer for Mac.

SoundDial 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.