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Quicktime Hangouts Recording (using soundflower for audio)
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quicktime-hangouts-recording.md

Short link to this page: caseywatts.com/quicktime

Other gists & tricks: http://caseywatts.com/gists-and-tricks

Unrelated update: my book is out! Debugging Your Brain is an applied psychology / self-help book

Quicktime + Hangouts Recording

Scenario: You want to talk with someone over google hangouts (like for a user study), and you want to record BOTH:

  • the system output audio (from them)
  • the microphone audio (from you)

(screenshots below in a comment)

General Setup (do this once)

1 Install Soundflower

brew cask install soundflower

(if you don't have/use brew, then google soundflower and install it from their site~)

2 Make an aggregate device (for quicktime input)

This is for Quicktime to be able to record audio from both you and the other person.

  • open the OSX system app Audio Midi Setup
  • Create Aggregate Device
  • Include both inputs:
    • Built-in Microphone
    • Soundflower (2ch)
  • Name this one Dual Input for Quicktime (optional)

3 Make a multi-device output (for output)

This is so both you and quicktime (via the aggregate device^) can hear what's going on.

  • open the OSX system app Audio Midi Setup
  • Create Multi-Output Device
  • Include all both outputs:
    • Built-in Output
    • Soundflower (2ch)
  • Name this one Dual Output (optional)

Specific Setup (do this for each screen recording)

4 Choose system output

  • alt-click on the volume icon in the taskbar
  • choose your system
    • input = External Microphone (hangouts only needs one - quicktime will get both on its own)
    • Output = Dual Output (hangouts should output to both quicktime and your headphones)

5 Quicktime screen record

  • Open Quicktime Player
    • (you may need to close and re-open this after configuring inputs)
  • File -> New Screen Recording
  • In the dropdown next to the record button
    • Microphone = Dual Input for Quicktime
@caseywatts
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@lucasm-iRonin I haven't tried it on anything but my machine - I'm on El Capitan.
You've probably done this already but: maybe make sure everything involved is up to date, and maybe restart the computer? Soundflower is the part I'd suspect would have issues more than the other parts - maybe try to confirm that that part is working in isolation somehow?

@mathewtrivett
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mathewtrivett commented Sep 27, 2017 •
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Lucasm, did you manage to successfully figure out how to get it working on osSierra? I'm having the same problem. Were you using headphones?

@mathewtrivett
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If you don't use headphones then it works. Its likely because headphones are a separate channel to the built in output?

@guybowden
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Great gist.. are you able to adjust the speaker output volume when you have the output device set as 'Dual Output'? macOS doesn't let me adjust the volume - though it's left at the setting before you switch to the dual output mode, so not all bad

@scudelletti
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scudelletti commented Nov 3, 2017 •
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Thanks for the tutorial. 🎉

I can confirm that without headphones it works it also works with my headset that is not apple.
Making it work is a real pain. :(

@caseywatts
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meet.google.com (Google's "Hangouts" for business) has a recording feature built-in that accomplishes all of this now 🎉
That's what I've been using lately, since we use gmail (etc) at Heroku 🙂

@reinisb
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reinisb commented Apr 17, 2018

I installed soundflower and configured everything according to instructions, but unfortunately quicktime will only record my mic.

@transfabulation
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Wow. I have Soundflower installed on my Mac but never got to try this. I have been looking for a way to record two-way audio like this to no avail. Thank you so much for such clear and detailed guide. I set it up and it worked! Didn't know Soundflower is such an amazing tool. I confirm this works on Mac OS Sierra 10.12.6. The voice chat app I used is LINE, and I used earphones for my voice input.

I wonder if a similar tool/solution exists for Windows.

Again, I am so thrilled to have found this solution. Thank you for sharing your guide!

@moguelor
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Thank you!!! It works on my macbook pro with headphones.

@param0859
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I want to use microphone + system audio (playing audio file) into Google Hangout Microphone Input. I also want to record Google Hangouts audio output + system audio output (audio file) + microphone on QuickTime. I want to be able to hear the audio file and the Google Hangout output. How can I achieve this on a Mac using SoundFlower. Any suggestions?

@austospumanto
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Works with Skype on Mac (Mojave) as well (using "Default Device" for input and output) 👍

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