How to Separate Game Audio From Discord on Mac

You're gaming on your Mac. An explosion goes off, your Discord teammates are talking, and you can't hear them over the gunfire. You turn the volume down: now Discord is quieter too. You turn it back up: the explosions are deafening again.

On Windows you'd open the volume mixer, set the game to 40% and leave Discord at 100%. macOS has no built-in volume mixer. It gives you one output volume, so game audio and voice chat move together.

Here's what you can do with the game's and Discord's own settings, and how to get a separate slider for each.

Why this happens on Mac

Every app's audio is mixed together before it reaches your speakers or headphones, and the Mac's volume control works on that final mix. So:

• If the game is too loud, turning it down also turns down Discord
• If Discord is too quiet, turning it up also turns up the game

To change one without the other, you have to change it inside the app, or use a per-app mixer.

Option 1: Lower the game in its own audio settings

Most games have an audio menu with separate sliders for master volume, music, effects and sometimes dialogue. Lowering the game's master volume (or just effects and music) is the most direct fix.

The catch: you have to pause and dig through menus, the right level changes from game to game, and you start over each time you switch games.

Option 2: Turn Discord up from the inside

Discord has its own output volume in its settings (look for it under Voice & Video). You can also right-click a person in a voice channel and adjust User Volume for just that person, which helps with one quiet teammate.

The catch: this changes Discord's internal mix. If Discord is already near its maximum and the game is still louder, there's nowhere left to go. The Mac's volume still moves both apps together.

Option 3: Combine both

The workable native setup is: Mac volume at a comfortable level, game master volume turned well down in the game, Discord output near maximum. Adjust individual teammates with User Volume. It works, but every change means opening a menu in one of the two apps.

For more on this exact problem, see game too loud vs voice chat on Mac.

A separate slider for the game and for Discord

What you want is to set the game's volume independently of Discord's, from one place, without pausing. That's what a per-app volume mixer does.

SoundDial sits in your menu bar and gives every running app its own volume slider. Set the game to 35% and Discord to 100%, or whatever mix works for you. Change one and the other stays put.

A typical gaming setup might look like:

• Game: 30-50%, loud enough for immersion, not overwhelming
• Discord: 90-100%, clearly audible over the game
• Spotify or music: 15-25%, quiet in the background
• Browser: muted, so a forgotten tab can't start playing
• Slack: muted while you play

Boost quiet voice chat

Sometimes the game isn't too loud, Discord is just too quiet: a teammate with a bad mic, or a quiet call. SoundDial lets you boost one app above 100%, up to 200%, so you can raise Discord without touching the game.

Works with any game and voice app

SoundDial works per app, so it doesn't matter whether the game comes from Steam, the App Store or elsewhere, or whether you talk on Discord, TeamSpeak or FaceTime. If it's running, it gets a slider. Browser games share one slider with the rest of that browser, since SoundDial works per app, not per tab. One thing to know: SoundDial's auto-duck is on by default. While Discord, FaceTime or another call app uses your microphone, it lowers other apps, the game included, to 30% of their level and restores them when the call ends. If you'd rather keep your own mix while you play, switch off "Enable auto-ducking" or change "Duck to" in Settings > Auto-Duck.

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

Get SoundDial on the Mac App Store.