You're streaming on your Mac with OBS. Your game audio is blasting. Your Discord call is running. Spotify is playing background music. Alert sounds fire when someone subscribes. Your viewers hear all of this at the same volume — a chaotic mess where Discord callouts compete with explosions and the music drowns out your commentary.
The core problem: macOS gives you one audio output, and OBS captures it as one combined stream. You can't tell OBS "capture the game at 40%, Discord at 80%, and Spotify at 20%" because macOS doesn't separate them.
The Mac streaming audio problem
On Windows, OBS can capture individual application audio natively. You add each app as a separate audio source and mix them independently inside OBS. On Mac, this isn't built-in. OBS on macOS can capture:
- Desktop Audio — everything playing on your Mac, combined into one stream
- Microphone/Aux — your mic input
- Application Audio Capture (macOS 13+) — capture a specific app's audio, but setup is manual and limited
The Application Audio Capture source (added in OBS 30+) works for isolating one app, but managing five audio sources with separate levels inside OBS is complex and not every app cooperates.
The simpler approach: control levels before OBS captures them
Instead of trying to separate audio inside OBS, control each app's volume before it reaches OBS's desktop audio capture. If you lower Spotify to 20% and boost Discord to 90% at the system level, OBS's desktop audio capture picks up the already-balanced mix.
This is exactly what SoundDial does. Set each app to the level you want your viewers to hear:
Typical streaming audio setup
- Game: 50% — present but not overpowering your voice
- Discord / voice chat: 80% — clear callouts from your team
- Spotify / music: 15% — subtle background vibe
- Stream alerts (browser): 40% — audible but not jarring
- Slack / notifications: muted — viewers don't need to hear your DMs
Save it as a "Streaming" profile
Save this configuration as a volume profile in SoundDial. Before you go live, apply the "Streaming" profile with one click. Every app jumps to its streaming-optimized level. When you're done streaming, switch back to your "Normal" or "Gaming" profile.
What you hear vs. what viewers hear
With SoundDial adjusting per-app volume at the system level, both you and your viewers hear the same balanced mix. This is simpler than trying to maintain separate mixes (one for you, one for the stream) — which requires virtual audio devices and complex routing that's fragile on Mac.
If you need a completely separate mix for your stream versus your headphones (e.g., you want to hear Discord louder than your viewers do), you'll need a more complex routing setup with virtual audio devices. But for most streamers, a single well-balanced mix — controlled easily from the menu bar — is exactly what's needed.
Why per-app control beats OBS-only mixing
- Instant adjustments: Mid-stream, a viewer says the game is too loud. Click the menu bar, drag one slider. Done. No pausing, no opening OBS settings.
- Works outside OBS: Your balanced audio setup works even when you're not streaming. Same profiles, same convenience.
- No virtual audio devices: SoundDial uses Apple's native Audio Tap API — no Soundflower, no BlackHole, no drivers that break on macOS updates.
Available on the Mac App Store — Apple-reviewed, €14.99 one-time purchase, no subscription, macOS 14.2+.