Why this is hard on a Mac
Recording your own voice is trivial — QuickTime, Voice Memos, ⌘⇧5 all grab the microphone. The problem is the other side: the voice coming out of your speakers from Zoom, Teams, Meet, FaceTime or a browser tab. macOS deliberately walls off that system audio, so the built-in tools capture you and leave everyone else silent.
The traditional fix is a virtual audio driver — BlackHole (free) or Loopback / Audio Hijack (paid) — routed through a Multi-Output Device in Audio MIDI Setup. It works, but it’s fiddly, easy to misconfigure minutes before a call, and it hijacks your audio output while it runs.
Option 1 — a virtual audio driver + QuickTime
Install BlackHole 2ch, create a Multi-Output Device (your speakers + BlackHole) in Audio MIDI Setup, set it as system output, then in QuickTime or ⌘⇧5 pick BlackHole as the input.
- Good: free, and it works.
- Annoying: multi-step setup, routing to re-check before every call, and you can’t easily hear and record cleanly at the same time. One wrong toggle and you capture silence.
Option 2 — Audio Hijack
Rogue Amoeba’s Audio Hijack (paid) can grab an app’s output and your mic on separate channels — powerful and reliable if you already own it.
- Good: precise, session-based, separates channels.
- Annoying: it’s a paid pro tool aimed at audio nerds; overkill if you just want the call saved.
Option 3 — a local meeting recorder (no driver, no bot)
The clean version: a menu-bar app that captures your microphone and system audio together natively — no BlackHole, no Audio MIDI Setup, nothing joining the call.
With MeetingRecorder:
- It records mic + system audio as one mix, or as separate mic / system tracks if you want to balance or transcribe each speaker independently.
- Nothing joins the call — no bot in the participant list.
- Saves an M4A to a folder on your Mac; one click gives you a transcript with speaker labels and a summary.
Which should you use?
- You already run Audio Hijack: it’ll do the job well.
- You’re comfortable with BlackHole and don’t mind the setup: the free route works.
- You just want both sides saved reliably, with a transcript, no fiddling: a local meeting recorder that captures system audio natively.