Microphone and system audio as separate tracks, each with its own volume

How Qreata records microphone and system audio

A screen recording in Qreata is a project with separate tracks: screen, camera, microphone and system audio. The two audio tracks are never mixed during recording. System audio comes with the screen every time, so there is nothing to switch on and no virtual audio device to set up.

Before the take, the “Active source check” tests the live microphone and system-audio streams along with screen and camera, and recording is blocked if a source delivers no data. During the take, a health display shows the state of each track and the audio level. A silent microphone is found before minute one, not after minute twenty.

How to balance voice and app sound after recording

You record a 7-minute demo of a video editing app. The clips you play in it are loud and your voice sits underneath them. At 3:15 a calendar alert chimes over your sentence.

1. Record as usual, with the microphone on. Don’t lower the Mac’s volume to protect your voice; you will set the balance later.
2. Open the recording in the editor and open the “Audio” panel. It has two rows: “System audio” and “Microphone”.
3. Drag the “System audio” Volume down, for example to 40%, and play a passage where you talk over a clip. Stop where your voice is clear and the clip is still audible.
4. If your voice is quiet overall, raise the “Microphone” Volume above 100%. It goes up to 200%.
5. For the chime at 3:15, split the timeline just before and just after it with “Split” (S), select the short segment and choose “Mute segment” in the “Segment” popover on the transport bar under the preview. “Mute segment” silences both the microphone and system audio, so place the splits in a pause between your words; a segment can’t be shorter than 0.5 seconds. If the chime lands on a word, select that sentence and use “Rerecord” to say it again, or cut it.
6. To check the narration on its own, click Mute on “System audio” and play a minute. Unmute it afterwards.
7. Export the MP4. The file contains the mix you set.

Every audio control and its range

The track controls apply to the whole project, with no keyframes. To silence one range, use the “Segment” popover on the transport bar under the preview, with a selection inside one edit segment, or press Delete with the “Voice” track selected to silence only your voice.

Recording system audio and mic separately with the free Mac tools

The free answer depends on your macOS version. On macOS 14, 15 and 26, the built-in recorder (Shift-Command-5) offers a microphone under Options and no system audio. On macOS 27 Golden Gate or later, Options has Include System Audio; Apple’s article does not say whether the two are saved as separate tracks, so test a 10-second recording before you rely on rebalancing them. QuickTime Player’s editing features include removing the audio but no per-track volume.

OBS Studio is the free route to real separate tracks: on macOS 13 or later it captures system audio natively and can write up to 6 audio tracks into one file. It has no post-recording editor, so the balancing happens in another app.

• You only narrate: Shift-Command-5 is enough.
• You are on macOS 27 and one combined soundtrack is fine: Shift-Command-5 with Include System Audio.
• You want free separate tracks and already own an editor: OBS Studio.
• You want to record and rebalance in the same app, without a driver: Qreata.

• Apple: record the screen on your Mac
• OBS multiple audio track recording
• OBS macOS desktop audio capture

Limits of audio in Qreata

The tracks are separate inside the project, not in the export. The MP4 has one mixed soundtrack, encoded as AAC at 128 kbps, and there is no export of raw tracks. System audio is always recorded and holds everything the Mac plays; you can’t pick one app or switch the track off before recording, only mute it afterwards.

Volume and mute are level controls. Qreata has no noise reduction, no normalization and no music track, so hum, echo and keyboard noise have to be solved at the microphone before you record. Volume is set per track for the whole project, from 0 to 200%, with no keyframes or curves that change it over time. To silence a single range, use “Mute segment” (microphone and system audio together), or “Remove voice in selection” or Delete with the “Voice” track selected (your voice only).

A 10-minute test of separate tracks

Install the trial, play a video in your browser and talk over it for 30 seconds. Stop, open “Audio”, and mute “System audio”: your voice should play clean on its own. Unmute it, set it to 30%, and export. That is the control a single mixed soundtrack can’t give you.

The trial runs 7 days with every feature, and recording needs no account. The license is $49 once for 3 Macs with all future updates. There is no subscription for recording, editing or export.

• Qreata app pricing