I’ve been going audio-crazy over the past few day. Will write more about that later..

Ok.. In the spirit of sharing solutions with other Mac users out there, here is how I managed to record a Skype call on GarageBand using the apps LineIn and Soundflower:

I just kept messing around with the settings and then it worked perfectly using the settings below.

GarageBand: Audio output: Built in Audio Audio Input: Soundflower (2ch)

Skype: Audio output: Soundflower (2ch) Audio input: Soundflower (2ch)

System Preferences/Sound: Output: Built-in Audio Input: Audio line in (I am using a Mic)

LineIn Application: Input from: Built-in Audio: Line In (ie the Mic) Output to SoundFlower (2ch)

Dont forget to click the ‘Pass Thru’ Button in LineIn.

I was amazed that it worked!


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46 responses to “Recording Skype calls on GarageBand with LineIn and SoundFlower (Mac)”

  1. Jaclyn Avatar
    Jaclyn

    I tried this and it recorded everything fine, but I can’t hear the incoming sound (the other end of the call). Garage Band can hear it, since it’s recording, but I can’t hear it until I play it back on Garage Band. Is there something I’m missing?

  2. Humeid Avatar
    Humeid

    You need to switch on sound monitoring in the Garageband track you’re using to record (i think).

    By the way, I am now using Audio Hijack Pro 2.5 which comes with a plugin called Application Mixer which enables easy recording of any application (and mixing that with the mic’s input).

    The cool thing about Garageband is that it’s free of course.

  3. Jaclyn Avatar
    Jaclyn

    Brilliant. That fixes it, except now I can hear my own self repeated back to me in the headphones, like an echo. Is there any way to get rid of that? And/or is it better with Audio Hijack? Thanks SO MUCH for sharing!

  4. Humeid Avatar
    Humeid

    Yeah this is a problem of so-called latency. To reduce the echo problem (you will not get rid of it completely) go to GarageBand preference and under Audio/Midi, select ‘Minimum delay when playing instruments live (small buffer size)’.

    I used Audio Hijack Pro to record a Skype call and there is a degree of latency too (depending on how many filters are used to process the audio).

    In my case, I am using an external audio interface (M-Audio MobilePre). This has a headphone jack that reproduces the input into my professional mic without latency). The problem of course is that when recording skype, I also need to her the other person. If I set the computer’s audio output to the external interface and have the recording monitoring on, then I will hear myself twice too (the first time is the zero latency monitoring and the second is what GB is recording).

    I am sure that there are ways to get around the latency problem, but for now I am sticking to the ‘small buffer’ to at least reduce it.

  5. damian Avatar
    damian

    where’s the PC version?

  6. Jeff Avatar
    Jeff

    Hey there all, I’d like to record a skype call using logic express 7. I have skype , soundflower, line in, AND logic all installed. I also have a motu 828 audio interface I have my Pro mic hooked to. Can anyone tell me how to do this? Good, Now can you tell me before tomorrow is up so I can keep my interview on Monday?

  7. Jeff Avatar
    Jeff

    is there a way to do this so the person you call isn’t hearing an echo? I’ve tried this with vonage and skype and can’t make it all work.

    thanks

  8. Humeid Avatar
    Humeid

    Jeff,

    I hope you managed to get the all the stuff working.

    I stopped using soundflower and linein a long while ago. I can’t really remember how exactly this worked. But you’ll have to experiment with how you’re channeling the sound.

    This echo thing is weird. Why is the other person hearing an echo? There only is an echo when the audio coming from the person you’re calling gets fed back to the audio input. This is what happens when you use skype without a headphone.

    Maybe you are somehow channeling the incoming audio to the output again.

    I used skype in conjunction with Audio Hijack Pro 2.5, which comes with the Application Mixer filter built in, which allows you to mix in any application you want easily.

    My guest on the interview did not hear an echo.

    Good luck.

    Ahmad

  9. BIll Avatar
    BIll

    It works great except person I call hears an echo…. any ideas?

  10. BIll Avatar
    BIll

    I am using a Tascam US-122 and here is my configuration. My caller does get an echo on his/her end. Any ideas?

    Sound Studio:
    Audio output: Tascam US-122
    Audio Input: Soundflower (2ch)

    Skype:
    Audio output: Soundflower (2ch)
    Audio input: Soundflower (2ch)

    System Preferences/Sound:
    Output: Tascam US-122
    Input: Tascam US-122

    LineIn Application:
    Input from: Tascam US-122
    Output to SoundFlower (2ch)

  11. Daniel Avatar
    Daniel

    I did everything you said in the first post, THANK YOU FOR THE INFO, looked all over and this was the fastest and easiest free way to record a call on skype.

    I use garageband and set the real instrument voice track with no effects to stereo and was getting some “tink,tink,tink” noises and serious feedback popping up unexpectedly, but that cleared up by setting the track to MONO.

    Thanks for the help, happy podcasting.

  12. Josh Avatar
    Josh

    This worked for me, but only after switching two settings…

    SKYPE-Audio Input-Built In Audio Line In
    GARAGEBAND-Minimize delay when playing instruments live while recording, gets rid of delay

  13. Kevin Curtis, Jr. Avatar
    Kevin Curtis, Jr.

    ich erfahre die gleiche sache mit dem skype programm. meine anrufer hören ein echo an ihrem telefon, selbst wenn ich kopfhörer an habe. dieses ist sehr merkwürdig. dieses ist skype heraus und innen. ich hoffe, daß sie das problem bald regeln. ich lasse es auf einer FreeBSD-5.3-RELEASE Maschine laufen.

    jede mögliche hilfe würde groß geschätzt!

    Herzlichst,
    Kevin

  14. Kroc Camen Avatar
    Kroc Camen

    This worked for me, but I had to put Skype input as internal microphone. The only downside to this setup is that I can hear myself in my headphones, but the other person doesn’t, and nor does the recording. This is because LineIn routes the mic to SoundFlower, and GarageBand plays back SoundFlower as it’s recording, which includes my voice. It’s a shame that there is no easier and more complete way of recording podcasts for free.

  15. Dan Avatar
    Dan

    The Soundflower/LineIn records fine, but the echo that occurs on the other person’s end is almost too much to deal with.

    I went over to Audio Hijack Pro (free download version) and everything works fine.

    Put the MP3 that Audio Hijack Pro creates into Garageband and edit.

  16. Isaac Wilcox Avatar
    Isaac Wilcox

    I’m new to Skype and have been playing with this setup, and I’ve found a way to get a completely echo-free recording of a call with just the free tools. It’s documented on my site, but this blog entry gets lots more hits, so I thought I’d post a link here to help folk who find this page. The instructions are here:
    http://www.iwilcox.me.uk/zakwiki/index.php/Recording_Skype_calls_on_a_Mac_the_pikey_way

    Hope this helps some fellow pikeys!

  17. Jason Avatar
    Jason

    Is there any way to record on different tracks in GarageBand?

  18. Murphy Avatar
    Murphy

    Fantastic! thanks!

  19. Sieda84 Avatar
    Sieda84

    Work fine but there is THE BUT. The Skype is on both channels. So I can’t separate it from L or R channel.

  20. Billy Avatar
    Billy

    I got everything configured except GarageBand can’t hear me. Any ideas?

  21. TimothyP Avatar
    TimothyP

    Hi,

    I can record skype calls with GarageBand now,
    and I can hear myself as well so it’s working really great.

    The only problem is, my voice and that of my correspondent are
    recorded to the same track, while if you do this with iChat, both
    voices are recorded to a different track.

    The good thing is that my voice is not recorded locally.
    So only the other end is being recorded.
    I would like to add another track now which records my voice
    which is the input of the USB headset. But I can’t seem to select it for
    the track as it alsways suggests Soundflower and you can’t seem to load
    two drivers at the same time.

  22. Robert H Avatar
    Robert H

    Hi all,

    After travelling in Dubai (UAE) and in China, I found a software that unblock Skype and censored contents in some countries.

    I know Skype is blocked or there is censor in the following countries : Belize, China, Columbia, Cuba, Jordan, UAE …

    After searching internet, I found a way to make calls and to access censored content in those countries using a VPN (Virtual Private Network).

    How does it works ?

    A VPN encrypte the data you send on internet to a US IP adress (tunnel). This way your Internet Services Provider can’t detect you are using Skype or another VoIP software ! It allow you access to censored content and geographical locked contents (i.e: listening radio on pandora.com , watching TV streams for US residents, …).

    There is a lot of VPN softwares, the first I tried was VPNaccounts. I didn’t like it because it took a lot of time for activation, it was expensive and helpdesk support was very slow.

    A friend of mine who lives in Belize told me about another VPN software called Witopia personnalVPN.

    Now I am using Witopia personnalVPN. It is easier to use (you just have to launch the software before launching Skype), faster and cheaper than all other VPN softwares I tried.

    It costs 39.99$ and works perfectly.

    You can download it from the editor’s website :

    http://www.witopia.personnalvpn.helpnote.net/

    Works on Windows and Mac.

    I hope this post will help people who are in those countries and reducing censorship !

  23. Matthias Bohlen Avatar
    Matthias Bohlen

    Hi,

    I use Soundflower in the 16 channel (16ch) version. This has the advantage that I don’t get echo effects on my own voice. I have wired LineIn to channel 3 of Soundflower and Skype to channels 1 and 2. I have told SoundFlower to send only channels 1 and 2 to the builtin output so that I do not hear myself (channel 3) on the headphones. I have used Soundflowerbed for this.

    I have configured GarageBand to record two separate tracks from Sounflower: channel 1 in Mono and channel 3 in Mono. This allows me to edit my own track and the track for my Skype partner, separately.

    Looks like the perfect setup.

    Cheers
    Matthias

  24. Nancy Harkrider Avatar
    Nancy Harkrider

    I’m a novice Mac user and want to use Skype on the Mac to do MP3 recordings as interview with callers who don’t always have Skype installed.

    Is that possible?

  25. Lenare Avatar
    Lenare

    Nancy – you use skype’s paid service for calling a standart telephone network number and record the interview from your skype conversation.

    It’s much simplier for PC…

    I use free program, skypecallrecorder from http://voipcallrecording.com/ whitch autorecords my conversation to mp3.

  26. Scott Avatar
    Scott

    I have tried all of the settings you mentioned in your first post at top of page but I am unable to make this work at all. I can hear the phone ring and the person answer the call but there is nothing being recorded in garageband and no one on the other phone can hear me talking. What other parameters need to be checked at this point.

  27. Bruce Avatar
    Bruce

    I have a question, line in application of what? Skype? The Mac? Garage Band? That’s the only part I didn’t understand.

  28. Johnny Canuck Avatar
    Johnny Canuck

    Thanks!

    I’ve been looking for a way to split the Desk Mix from the Skype calls for a while as the levels for both are never the same. This looks like it will work great.

  29. Mojo Mom Avatar
    Mojo Mom

    Hi all, I am glad to see this discussion but I am SO FRUSTRATED because I used Audio Hijack for years recording Skype calls just fine on my Mac, no problem. But now I upgraded to Audio Hijack Pro 2 and it does not work for me. I hear my own voice echoing in the headset and it’s impossible to talk that way.

    Equally frustrating, last week I did something that caused it to work…but today after quitting and restarting, it’s back to that same problem of the echo. I literally cannot record my podcast until I fix this so it’s really a bummer.

    Any ideas? I’ll see if I can go back to my old system…..

  30. Mojo Mom Avatar
    Mojo Mom

    Hi again, I found a different solution. I decided to stop trying to kluge Audio Hijack Pro 2. For twenty bucks I bought “Ecamm Network” Call Recorder for Skype software for Mac. I chose it because it integrates right into Skype and can even automatically record calls. Used it for today’s podcast and it was a lot easier and better than Audio Hijack Pro 2. You can also separate out the two channels for each caller which is potentially useful. So I feel this software is really worth it. You can try it for 7 days for free: http://ecamm.com/mac/callrecorder/
    (This is a true unsolicited testimony from a long time podcaster. The technology to record calls has really improved since 2005.)

  31. Ann Avatar
    Ann

    Your post got me started on the process, but one problem with the setup you described is that you will hear your own voice echoed. This is because the microphone input goes through LineIn into Soundflower, where it is merged with the input coming from Skype/SIP client before being sent to GarageBand.

    A solution to this was described by Matthias Bohlen here: http://360east.com/?p=133#comment-513046
    I found that this solved the echo issue for me. Here’s a description of the solution (I use a built-in microphone):

    1. Xmeeting (or Skype, but instructions are for Xmeeting):
    -> Preferences/Audio
    Audio Output Device: Soundflower (16ch) [this should pick channels 1 and 2 by default]
    Audio Input Device: Built-in Microphone

    2. LineIn
    Input from: Built-in Microphone
    Output to: Soundflower
    -> Advanced
    Output Device Settings/Left: 3
    Output Device Settings/Right: 4
    Note: Click ‘Pass Thru’ before using

    3. Soundflowerbed
    16ch: Built-in output
    [By default, Soundflower (16ch)/Channel 1 should be set to Built-In Output [1]. Channel 2 should be set to Built-In Output [2], while channels 3 and 4 should be set to None.]

    4. GarageBand
    -> Preferences/AudioMIDI
    Audio Input: SoundFlower (16ch)
    Audio Output: Built-In Output
    -> Track/new track/real instrument
    Input: Channels 1 & 2
    -> Track/new track/real instrument
    Input: Channels 3 & 4
    Note: Make press the black circle for each channel so that it is red. This will enable you to record both channels with the large red record button.

    5. System settings (unchanged)
    Input: Internal microphone
    Output: Built-in Output

    When you save the GarageBand recording, you will get two .aif files, one for each channel. I merged these by going to Share/Send Song to iTunes, then opening iTunes and giving the track an identifiable artist name, then going to the directory where the track is stored (by default it is in ~/Music/artistname). There will then be a single .aif file. If you don’t mind a .m4a file, you can skip the iTunes step and use Share/Export Song to disk.

    There may be an easier way to merge the tracks, but I’m describing this for the benefit of someone like me, who never used GarageBand before.

  32. Ann Avatar
    Ann

    Addendum to my last note–with Skype it doesn’t seem to work properly. Make the following changes for Skype:

    1. Skype
    -> Preferences/Audio
    Audio output: Soundflower (16ch)
    Audio input: Built-in Microphone
    Ringing: Soundflower (16ch)

    3. Soundflower
    Change ’16ch’ to ‘None’ instead of ‘Built-in output’ as described above.

    4. GarageBand
    For the first track (the one using channels 1 & 2) change Monitor to ‘On’

    With these minor changes the setup works with Skype as well.

    Here is the configuration which was tested in this post and the previous one:
    OS X 10.4.11
    LineIn 2.0.3
    Soundflower 1.4
    iTunes 8.2.1 (6)
    GarageBand 3.0.4 (104.7)
    XMeeting 0.3.4a
    Skype 2.6.0.151

    There is a newer version of Soundflower available but it didn’t work with this version of OS X. Older versions of Soundflower are easily found at code.google.com (just search for the desired version).

  33. tom Avatar
    tom

    These work for me(different to above)

    1. Skype
    -> Preferences/Audio
    Audio output: Soundflower (16ch)
    Audio input: Built-in Microphone
    Ringing: Soundflower (16ch)

    2. LineIn
    Input from: Built-in Microphone
    Output to: Soundflower 16ch
    -> Advanced
    Input Device Settings/Left: Default
    Input Device Settings/Right: Default
    Output Device Settings/Left: 3
    Output Device Settings/Right: 4
    Note: Click ‘Pass Thru’ before using

    3. Soundflowerbed
    16ch: Built-in output
    [By default, Soundflower (16ch)/Channel 1 should be set to Built-In Output [1]. Channel 2 should be set to Built-In Output [2], while channels 3 and 4 should be set to None.]

    5. System settings: sound
    Input: Internal microphone
    Output: Soundflower 16ch

    4. GarageBand
    -> Preferences/AudioMIDI
    Audio Input: SoundFlower (16ch)
    Audio Output: Built-In Output
    -> Track/new track/real instrument
    Input: Channels 1 & 2
    Monitor: off
    -> Track/new track/real instrument
    Input: Channels 3 & 4
    Monitor: off
    Note: Make press the black circle for each channel so that it is red. This will enable you to record both channels with the large red record button.

    Share/Export Song to disk.

    Leave a message here if this works for you….

  34. Mitchell Avatar
    Mitchell

    What about record Skype,i prefer use IMCapture for Skype.It’s prog for record audio and video calls.I like this simple prog.

  35. Cosmo Avatar
    Cosmo

    Tom, I followed your instructions, but am not able to hear Skype through my USB headset. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

  36. Patrick Avatar
    Patrick

    Thanks for posting this. A friend of a friend died recently and my friend wanted a recording of her friend’s voicemail message to remember her by. I used your setup to make her an MP3 of the message. She appreciated it and so do I!

  37. poonchy Avatar
    poonchy

    yes, i prefere the 16 channel method. it worked better and no double voices and that.

    champ.

  38. Svetlana Avatar
    Svetlana

    Tom (who posted on Feb 5, 2010)
    I tried your settings and they come closest to what seems to work, but still missing a couple of things.
    First, where do you change Soundflowerbed settings? When I launch it, it doesn’t come up as an interface. Seems to run behind the scenes somewhere.
    Second, I can’t hear the output in my headphones (this is probably a result of me not finding where to change Soundflowerbed settings)
    This setup is complicated but if it works, it’ll be brilliant.

    Also, any idea if this will work for gtalk conversations?
    Ultimately, that’s what I would like to record. And not sure yet how Chrome will interface with this setup discussed here.
    Cheers for any advice.

  39. Svetlana Avatar
    Svetlana

    another google search and I found a flower on my monitor! And got the headphones to work. Brilliant!
    now need to figure this out for gtalk.

  40. Matt Layden Avatar
    Matt Layden

    Hello, so I FINALLY got it to work after much frustration and I did use the help that was here.

    To get it to work this is what I currently have set up.

    LINE IN: Input: Headset
    Output: Soundflower (16ch)
    click on pass thru

    Skype: Input: Headset
    Output: Soundflower (16ch)
    Ringing: Soundflower (16ch)

    Soundflower: Soundflower (2ch) : Headset
    Soundflower (16ch): Headset

    System: Input: Headset
    Output: Built In Output

    Garageband: Input: Soundflower (16ch)
    Output: Headset

    make new tracks for each person and set their input source:

    track 1: 1/2 stereo
    track 2: 3/4 stereo.

    Get PODCASTING.

  41. AJ Avatar
    AJ

    I want to set up a Podcast where I can alter my voice so that Garageband records my altered voice AND the person on the other end, who I am also recording, also hears only my altered voice.
    Suggestions?

  42. AJ Avatar
    AJ

    I should add that I want to record the person on the other end with an unaltered voice.
    Thanks!

  43. Beri Hull Avatar
    Beri Hull

    I set this up once and got it to work but have tried to set it up again and it is not working. When I try to record a skype test call I cannot hear anything (ringing, skype message or my voice). What is the problem?

  44. lolly Avatar
    lolly

    there is a nice tool for recording skype calls ( mac) http://www.imcapture.com/IMCapture_for_Skype/, i always use it! try)

  45. SimonL Avatar
    SimonL

    What if I use no MIC other than the MAC’s inbuilt one ?
    Does this equate with poor result ? Or worst ?

  46. Carlos David Avatar
    Carlos David

    Thank you very much this was pretty usefull!!

    Carlos D from Mexico