For Mac users, there are fewer audio recording software they could use to record audio Mac, compared with that of Windows. It's not that convenient for people to record audio Mac. But luckily, there are still several Mac sound recorder apps that could be used to let Mac record audio. In terms of the best audio recording software for Mac, you have to take the recording quality, recording steps, intuitive recording interface and other aspects into consideration. In this article, we have sorted out the 10 best audio recording software for Mac. You can choose the most proper recorder for your further references.

If you are looking for best audio recording software for Windows, read on 10 Best Music Recording Software for Windows

Part 1: 10 Best Audio Recording Software for Mac

Firstly, we would like to share with you 10 best Mac audio recorder software. All of these Mac audio recording software could help you easily record audio Mac. You could choose any one of these audio recorder Mac software to fulfill audio recording on Mac.

1. Leawo Music Recorder for Mac

As a professional Mac OS X audio recording software program, Leawo Music Recorder for Mac could easily record audio of any source and get music for free on Mac. Leawo Music Recorder for Mac can record audio files from Built-in audio (Built-in Microphone, Built-in Input and Greatdy System Audio) and Computer Audio (Computer Audio Stream and Online Music) into M4A, MP3 and WAV audios, with output audio Bit Rate and Sample Rate adjustable. This Mac OS X audio recorder software could download and add music tags like song artist, album, album artwork, song name, etc. to complete music info for recordings automatically. The embedded music tag editor allows people to manually edit music tags.

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Pros: Cons:
  • Support computer audio and input source
  • Keep 100% original quality in WAV format
  • Upload to iTunes in one-click
  • Automatically recognize and add music tags
  • Manually edit music tags
  • Free trial limits file length to 3 minutes

2. QuickTime

Another audio recording software for Mac is QuickTime Player. Just as you know, it is not only the default DVD player on Mac system, but also can be used as an excellent audio recorder to record all kinds of online or offline streaming audio resources even though it has many limits. Users are allowed to record both internal microphone and external system audio with the great quality. The recording length could be showed on the screen while recording the audio on Mac and it allows users to export the recordings to MPEG-4 format.

QuickTime-Player
Pros: Cons:
  • Default program on Mac
  • Easy-to-use UI
  • Limited customization
  • Not proper for professionals
  • Limited options for exporting audio

3. Audacity

Audacity is a free cross-platform, including Mac OS X audio editor program which can allow users to record, play, input and output WAB, AIFF, Ogg Vorbis and MP3 files, and support most of the commonly used tools, such as cropping, pasting, mixing, up/down, and special effects for voice change. You can cut, copy and paste (with unconstrained cancellation), mix audio tracks, and add effects to recordings. It also has a built-in package editor, a user-definable sound spectrum template and a frequency analysis window for audio analysis. The built-in editing, copying, mixing and special effects functions can meet the general needs of editing requirements. By the way, it also supports VST and LADSPA plug-in effects.

Audacity
Pros: Cons:
  • Free and cross-platform
  • Professional features for recording
  • Multiple recording options
  • Not simple UI

4. GarageBand

GarageBand is an entry-level music production software made by Apple for users of iPhone series products in 2004. Actually, GarageBand is more than an audio recorder. On Mac, GarageBand outweighs other recorders on its simple user interface and simple recording process without any complications. Also, the audio tracks would be edited in various effects due to the built-in audio filters, including distortion, reverb, echo and so on. Furthermore, GarageBand also provides the studio-quality range of musical instruments effects. If you don’t want to download any other programs, this Mad default audio recorder can be your choice.

GARAGEBAND-1
Pros: Cons:
  • Default recorder on Mac
  • Various built-in audio editing features
  • Proper for professionals
  • Not convenient for quick recording

5. Simple Recorder

Simple Recorder is a recording tool on the menu bar under Mac OSX. You can find the application icon on the right side of the menu bar. Click the icon to display the application menu. You can also find application icons on the Dock. Click the icon to start recording, click again to stop recording. Right mouse button (or ⌘-left mouse button) click the icon on the Dock to display the application menu.

Simple-Recorder
Pros: Cons:
  • Simple and easy UI
  • Useful icon menu
  • Provides various customization
  • No basic recording and editing features and options

6. Ardour

Another open-source DAW audio recording software for Mac you can depend on is Ardour. This recorder could be compatible with various operating systems, including Mac, Windows as well as Linux. One of the most advanced features for Ardour is the multi-track recording function which could import the video for file scoring as well as recording and editing at the same time, which aims to prepare any combination of individual tracks for recording. However, this software doesn’t support additional built-in effects or instruments.

Ardour
Pros: Cons:
  • Professional audio recorder
  • Cross-platform program
  • Complicated UI

7. Macsome Audio Recorder

Macsome Audio Recorder is another powerful audio recorder for Mac which can easily record all kinds of different sources, including internal microphone, external system audio and other external apps on Mac. Even though it doesn’t have the dynamic interface, it is also quite welcomed by the public due to its convenience on the handling of recording on the speech, music or podcast in 3 modes. By the way, for the better grouping, it allows uses to edit ID tags which provides more details about the recordings.

Macsome-audio-recorder
Pros: Cons:
  • Effective interface
  • Capable of recording from individual apps
  • Efficient files management
  • Lack of funtions

8. iMusic

Another excellent audio recording software for Mac is iMusic. You can enjoy this program for free. No matter you have the preferences for songs, comedy TV shows or podcasts, iMusic can be capable of recording these resources without any quality losses. If you don’t tag these files, iMusic can also differentiate tracks when it finishes the recording. Instead, it can tag the audio files based on the artist, album name and song name which could be helpful in the future if you would create a playlist of the recorded audios. Furthermore, if you prefer the quality settings, iMusic allows you to modify the related settings based on your needs.

iMusic
Pros: Cons:
  • Easy steps for recording
  • Capable of recording external resources
  • Excellent file tags
  • Not suitable for professionals

9. Audio Hijack Pro

Audio Hijack Pro is a Mac recording software which can record the audio stream from the Internet, import the recorded audio sound, or grab the sound of the DVD audio disc. The recorded content can be saved as ALAC or AAC files, or MP3, AIFF format, and can be directly burned to CD, supporting VST/AU plug-in effects. Compared with general recording software, Audio Hijack Pro can mix multiple audio sources during recording to achieve a better final effect and reduce post-editing.

Audio-Hijack
Pros: Cons:
  • Intuitive user interface
  • Built-in filters and effects
  • Complicated recording steps

10. Audio Note

AudioNote is a recording software for Mac which combines the notepad function. You can record your voice into notes and audio and this voice recorder could easily improve the quality of your notes and will also save your time by the way. By synchronizing notes and audio, AudioNote automatically indexes your meetings, lectures or classes. With AudioNote, there is no need to waste time searching the entire recording to find out. Each note acts as a direct link to its recorded point, taking you instantly what you want to hear.

Audio-Note
Pros: Cons:
  • Easily sync the audio
  • iCloud integration
  • Quality losses

Part 2: How to Record Audio on Mac with the Best Audio Recording Software for Mac?

With all these 10 Mac audio recording software available, you could freely record audio on Mac. Here we would like to introduce the detailed steps on how to use the best Mac audio recorder - Leawo Music Recorder for Mac to record audio on Mac. This Mac audio recorder could perform as audio recorder Mac, Mac voice recorder and sound recorder Mac. We would show you how to record audio Mac with this Mac audio recorder app on your Mac computer.

Step 1. Download Leawo Music Recorder for Mac

Download and install this Mac audio recorder on your computer and then launch it.

  • music-recorder-mac
  • Leawo Music Recorder for Mac

    - Record any sound from computer stream audio and built-in input audio.
    - Record music from 1000+ music sites like YouTube, Facebook, Veoh, VEVO, etc.
    - Schedule music recording via the internal recording task scheduler.
    - Automatically/manually add and complete music tags like artist, album, cover, genre, etc.
    - Save recorded musicfiles into either WAV or MP3 format for wide uses.

Step 2. Set Audio Source

Click the little microphone icon on the interface. On the "Audio Source" window, choose either "Record Built-in Audio" option if you want to record voice/sound from microphone, or choose "Record Computer Audio" option if you want to record audio Mac from computer audio and online audio.

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Step 3. Set output directory and format

Go to "Leawo Music Recorder > Preferences > Format" to set the output format. You could choose either MP3 Audio, WAV Audio or W4A Audio as output format. Also, you could change the audio parameters like bit rate and sample rate. After format settings, go to "Preferences > General" to choose the target output directory to save the audio files.

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Step 4. Start to record audio on Mac with the best audio recording software for Mac

After the above settings, click the "OK" button to return to the main interface. Then click the red "Start" button to start recording before you activate your audio file or input voice/sound through microphone. Stop at any point you want by clicking the red button again.

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Step 5. Edit audio tags

Leawo Music Recorder is able to automatically download and add music tags if you're recording music on Mac. Also, it enables you to adjust audio tags by entering "Library > All Recordings" to choose the audio recording and right click it to select "Edit Music Tags" option. You could change audio tags like recording title, artist, and genre.

How-to-use-the-best-audio-recording-software-for-mac-to-record-audio-on-Mac-04

Now, you have finished the audio recording on Mac computer. If you like, you could even apply recordings from Leawo Music Recorder for Mac to iTunes in one click by clicking the fourth icon from the bottom left corner. If you're using a Windows computer, you could turn to Leawo Music Recorder to record audio on Windows computer withndows computer with ease.