What application to record two audio streams?

[Cubytus]

Hello there,

I am looking for a free application that would be used to simultaneously record audio from the microphone, and audio coming out from another application.

I already know about Rogue Amoeba's Audio Hijack Pro, but not sure if it would record two streams, and it is not free anyway.

What are your ideas, Mac-native, or from MacPorts?

 

[ChrisA]

Hello there,

I am looking for a free application that would be used to simultaneously record audio from the microphone, and audio coming out from another application.

I already know about Rogue Amoeba's Audio Hijack Pro, but not sure if it would record two streams, and it is not free anyway.

What are your ideas, Mac-native, or from MacPorts?

Is the other audio stream stereo? If you then you have three tracks total.

Garage band can record 16 or more tracks. GB is sort of free because you already have it.

What kind of audio interface do you have? You can patch an output back to input

 

[Cubytus]

No, both stream would be mono. Can Garage Band record sound from applications as well, or discrete devices only? There is no physical interface implied here.

 

[mroddjob]

You could try soundflower (lets you route audio between applications). I think it should let you route the audio stream to garage band although not tried it myself.

 

[ChrisA]

No, both stream would be mono. Can Garage Band record sound from applications as well, or discrete devices only? There is no physical interface implied here.

It can if you have a short patch cable. Patch an output back to an input.

You problem is that there are many ways to record system audio but you want to record from a microphone at the same time.

You don't have Logic. But I think I could do what you want if your app can send to airplay. Logic can use airplay devices as audio in/out and of course it can record from microphones too.


One way to do this is to record the system audio to a file. then record your voice over later. This gives you the abilty to do multiple takes on the voice and mix it later. You get a better product. But maybe you need it to be in real time?

 

[Cubytus]

It can if you have a short patch cable. Patch an output back to an input.

You problem is that there are many ways to record system audio but you want to record from a microphone at the same time.

You don't have Logic. But I think I could do what you want if your app can send to airplay. Logic can use airplay devices as audio in/out and of course it can record from microphones too.


One way to do this is to record the system audio to a file. then record your voice over later. This gives you the abilty to do multiple takes on the voice and mix it later. You get a better product. But maybe you need it to be in real time?

As stated in the first post, I want to record both audio simultaneously. I don't know where you took the idea of an external microphone and audio interface and patch cables in the first place.

And no, I don't have Logic, and I doubt Safari or other common applications would send anything to Airplay.

Soundflower seems to be what I am looking for, just not completely sure how to configure it properly. I'd rather have a full GUI clearly explaining what connection goes where, but lack of it is a lesser evil.

I would like to associate it with a simple sound recorder, able to record in an arbitrary format. Audacity can do it, probably GarageBand as well, but both are quite heavy for this kind of application.

 

[Fishrrman]

My suggestion will be different from all those above.

I suggest that you record the audio "coming out of another application", and then use any DAW app out there to "overdub" your input from the mic.

Might make things MUCH easier.

Of course, this won't work if the incoming audio is has a "live person" on the other end, and you need to engage in "real time" conversation....

 

[Cubytus]

[/COLOR]

My suggestion will be different from all those above.

I suggest that you record the audio "coming out of another application", and then use any DAW app out there to "overdub" your input from the mic.

Might make things MUCH easier.

Of course, this won't work if the incoming audio is has a "live person" on the other end, and you need to engage in "real time" conversation....

There, you stated it as I already said twice. This needs to be real time. There is no overdub involved here. And I don't know what DAW is.

I tried to follow MacWorld's tutorial, to no avail. Whenever I set it up as they state, I get no audio recorded, nor from the mic nor the apps, and nothing can be heard or monitored. Has anyone tried that setup?

 

[rocknblogger]

Battling pneumonia so pardon if I misunderstand.

I use Wiretap Studio to record a podcast. I can record mi USB mic while recording a second source simultaneously.
There are times I play clips from iTunes or sound effects from Sounboard or one of a number of other sources.

It's not free but I don't know of any other way to do it without using external equipment.
It sells for $69 but its worth every penny. And you don't have to be an engineer to use it. It has a user friendly interface and it does what it does very well. You can download a trial version and I believe they offer refunds if you're not happy. Not 100% sure though about the refund.

Good luck!!

 

[ChrisA]

As stated in the first post, I want to record both audio simultaneously. I don't know where you took the idea of an external microphone and audio interface and patch cables in the first place....

I thought of that because it required no software. Plug the microphone into one channel and the system audio int othe next channels and record both tracks. Of cource you don't want stereo with system one one side and microphone on the other but the recording software should let you pan each track to closer to center.

But then you'd need a microphone and an audio interface. Maybe you don't have this and are just using the built-in mic?

 

[Cubytus]

I thought of that because it required no software. Plug the microphone into one channel and the system audio int othe next channels and record both tracks. Of cource you don't want stereo with system one one side and microphone on the other but the recording software should let you pan each track to closer to center.

But then you'd need a microphone and an audio interface. Maybe you don't have this and are just using the built-in mic?

It is even worse because it requires costly external hardware I would probably not use again.

Stereo would be nice but not strictly necessary. I would be using built-in mic as well as sound (probably mono) from an application.

So, how should I configure Soundflower for that? Following the rare tutorials I could find on MacWorld lead to nothing but recording silence.

 

[ChrisA]

It is even worse because it requires costly external hardware I would probably not use again.

So this is a one time deal and you don't have a lot of audio gear.

I'd suggest and audio mixer but you don't have one of those either.

Would you tell us WHY you are needing to do this. What is the bigger picture. Is this an event where you are doing a software demo? I see this done althe time but I've never seen it live and software only. At most live events they would have a mixer for the PA system and for recording most people would well, record so they have a change to do multiple takes.

I'm just trying to picture what is going on.

 

[rocknblogger]

So this is a one time deal and you don't have a lot of audio gear.

I'd suggest and audio mixer but you don't have one of those either.

Would you tell us WHY you are needing to do this. What is the bigger picture. Is this an event where you are doing a software demo? I see this done althe time but I've never seen it live and software only. At most live events they would have a mixer for the PA system and for recording most people would well, record so they have a change to do multiple takes.

I'm just trying to picture what is going on.

Yeah I'm curious too at this point. My solution though $69 works. If there's nothing else, the OP can do it that way. So I guess the question is, what is it and how important?

 

[Cubytus]

It probably won't be a one-time, but no audio hardware should be necessary as , and yes, a software demo would be the most common end-use for that. Of course I can raise the external sound for it to go back in the mic, but it's a dirty solution as the sound from the application won't be very clear.

$69 is still quite a lot of money for something Soundflower is supposed to be able to do.

 

[ChrisA]

It probably won't be a one-time, but no audio hardware should be necessary as , and yes, a software demo would be the most common end-use for that. Of course I can raise the external sound for it to go back in the mic, but it's a dirty solution as the sound from the application won't be very clear.

$69 is still quite a lot of money for something Soundflower is supposed to be able to do.

If it is a live demo, plug the system audio into the same PA system as the mic. Yes you are right letting the system sound spill into the mic is not going to sound very good. But you can plug the computer's output in to the venue's PA system. That is what most everyone does with demoes.

You can even buy a cheap mixer for less than $69 if the PA system lacks enough inputs. Everyone who does live sound needs a few basic things, a mic, speakers, amp mixer and so on.

 

[Cubytus]

But there is no PA or venue! Forget about any kind of external hardware. There is none. There is juste the MBP as it was born (ok, technically no since HDD and memory were upgraded), the softwares, and that's it!

This is not a pro demo, this is an amateur one, me in front of my computer with someone on the other side of the internet.

 

[John Frum]

Audio Hijack Pro

Audio Hijack Pro can record multiple streams:

http://www.rogueamoeba.com/audiohijackpro/download/AudioHijackProManual.pdf

See "Hijacking Multiple Applications," under "Hidden Features."

Note: the audio must be presented by separate applications. Audio streams presented concurrently by one application will be mixed into a single stream.

RadioLover can record multiple streams as well. It's for those interested in recording streams whose individual tracks are identified by tag information (title, artist, etc.). RadioLover separates the tracks and records their tags along with the audio.

 

[Cubytus]

It talks about recording multiple applications, but not one application, one microphone.

Still, absolutely no free software for that? Even some Linux port?

 

[John Frum]

You don't want Audio Hijack Pro, because it isn't free. I answered the question that forms the title of this thread for the benefit of those who (like me) might see it, and were looking for the answer to it.

Audio Hijack Pro can record from any application that uses the microphone. In general, the microphone requires an application that requests audio input. It's possible that Soundflower (or equivalent) could be that application, but I haven't checked that. One of Audio Hijack Pro's options is to record all system sounds, so no matter how one gets sound input from the microphone, Audi Hijack Pro can record it.

For free software, most people use Audacity, which is available on virtually every major platform. Have you looked at iScream as well?

 

[Cubytus]

Well, two arguments here. First, it is not so cheap. $35, accounting for exchange rate, for a software that I would only infrequently use, seems high. And second is technical: it will not work on my machine as it requires OS X 10.7 at least. My only Lion machine is a pre-unibody MacBook, that's struggling to keep up with this heavy OS.

So I am still looking for a way to make such a record.

 

[Cubytus]

Here is a quick and simple representation of what I want to do:

 

[Cubytus]

It doesn't say anything about recording sound from applications. Does it know how to do it?

Nevertheless, I am a bit astonished that no-one has been able to show a free and functional software, and at times not even understand what I'd do. It's so simple!