need screen recorder for iMac running Ventura with intel chip

Question

Level 1

10 points

need screen recorder for iMac running Ventura with intel chip

Hi, I used a third-party screen recorder called Movavi 22 for a long time. Worked great until I upgraded to Ventura. Now I can't get it to work at all no matter how hard they and I try. At first it wouldn't record sound. They fixed that with an update to version 23.1. But now it won't save the file about half the time. I've given up on it.

I tried going back to QuickTime, which I left for Movavi because QT recorded sound really badly. When I tried it again, now with Ventura 13.2, it still records sound badly. Words are muffled and echoey. I'm not alone in this, others complain about it in online forums. But I can't seem to find a solution online for the problem that works for me.

Is there a solution to the QuickTime sound problem? Or is there a third-party vendor alternative that works with an iMac with an Intel chip running Ventura 13.2? It doesn't have to be free, but less than $40 (flat fee, not yearly) with a free trial period.

Thanks.

iMac 21.5″, macOS 13.2

Posted on Feb 19, 2023 05:33 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Feb 19, 2023 05:52 PM in response to GPsFriend

you can use QuickTime for that. and, to address the poor sound quality, to record the mac's internal sound with quicktime you need additional software. i use the free BlackHole Virtual Audio Driver. then you can choose "BlackHole 2ch" in the recording options instead of "Built-in Microphone."

you will also need to set up a multi-output device in your audio MIDI setup utility to be able to both hear and record the internal audio at the same time.

to set up a multi-output device:

Open Audio MIDI Setup: (found in /Applications/Utilities)

hit the '+' button in the bottom left corner and select "Create Multi Output Device"

then in the panel that appears on the right, in the Multi-Output Device tab, select "Built-in Output" AND "BlackHole 2ch". (and, if you want, any of your other connected devices.)

once you do that, (and BEFORE recording) you can choose "BlackHole 2ch" or "Multi-Output Device" in your menubar "sound options".

to both hear the speakers and record the audio at the same time, choose "Multi-Output Device". before choosing multi-out, set the internal speakers' volume to a comfortable level first. you cannot control the volume once you are in multi-out mode.

Reply

Answer 2

GPsFriend Author

Level 1

10 points

Feb 19, 2023 11:08 PM in response to jeffreythefrog

Thanks, Jeffrey, your instructions were very clear. I think I did everything right. (See my images insertions.) But it doesn't work. I can hear the video's dialogue as it's being recorded. But when I play it back, there's absolutely no sound.

Reply

Answer 3

Feb 20, 2023 01:17 AM in response to GPsFriend

When you record with Quicktime Player, you need to select BlackHole as the input, NOT the built-in!

To reiterate:

select your Multi-output device as OUTPUT

select BlackHole as INPUT.

You can do it by holding down the Option key (*) and selecting from the audio menu in the menu bar:

(*) Without the Option key, this menu would only show the output options, but we also need to select the right input.

If instead of screen recording you were doing an audio recording, you could select the source right from the recording window

Reply

Answer 4

GPsFriend Author

Level 1

10 points

Feb 20, 2023 09:49 PM in response to jeffreythefrog

These latest suggestions worked! Thanks so much, Jeffrey and Luis!

Here's an extra credit question.

A few years ago I ran into the same sound problem, and online suggestions offered up SoundFlower as a solution. This failed. Probably, because I had updated to an OS that the SoundFlower folks decided not to make it compatible with. This is why I went with a third-party vendor. Now I'm back to QuickTime, adding Black Hole, a SoundFlower-like helper app.

My question is: Why hasn't Apple just fixed this problem in the intervening YEARS? I am a fairly bright layman. And, yet, following your instructions made me feel like I was trying to crack the Nazi U-boat code. Why should a routine use of QuickTime as a screen recorder for capturing audio and video, still require jumping through these esoteric hoops?

Reply

Answer 5

Feb 21, 2023 04:35 AM in response to GPsFriend

GPsFriend wrote:

These latest suggestions worked! Thanks so much, Jeffrey and Luis!

you're welcome. :)

Here's an extra credit question.

Why hasn't Apple just fixed this problem in the intervening YEARS?

I do have a really good guess as to why this is the way it is. but we are not allowed to speculate on or discuss apple's policies here in the forum. so I need to keep my guess to myself. ;)

Reply

Answer 6

Feb 20, 2023 05:52 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

thanks Luis. but I just checked. if you change the menubar sound input, it does not change it in the recording controls. you still need to set it up in the QT controls.

Reply