Blog
Per-app audio on macOS,
written down honestly.
One system volume key, a dozen apps fighting over it. These are the fixes — what your apps and macOS can already do for free, where that stops, and what a per-app mixer adds. Where MixPill isn't the answer, the article says so.
Calls and meetings
Getting through a Zoom, Teams or Meet call without the rest of your Mac shouting over it.
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How to Automatically Mute Background Apps When You Join a Zoom Call on Mac
macOS has no built-in way to duck Spotify, Slack and YouTube when a Zoom call starts. Here are the three routes that actually work on a Mac — automatic, scripted, and manual.
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Stop Spotify From Blasting Through Your Teams Calls: a Mac Fix
Teams has no way to lower Spotify on macOS, and the volume keys turn down the call too. Here is the actual fix, plus the free settings worth changing first.
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Mac Video Call Audio Setup for Remote Work: the 2026 Checklist
A practical, ordered checklist for Mac audio on video calls — output, input, noise, notifications and per-app levels. Free settings first, paid tools only where they earn it.
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How to Stop Keyboard Noise on Mac Video Calls Without a Subscription App
macOS and every major conferencing app already ship free noise suppression that handles keyboard clatter. Here is how to set it up, and the two cases where it genuinely is not enough.
One app is too loud
The specific fix, app by app — what the app itself can do, and what needs a mixer.
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Discord Too Loud or Too Quiet on Mac: How to Fix the Level
Discord has four separate volume controls before macOS gets involved, and one of them is per-person. Here is the order to check them in — and the fix when Discord itself is the problem.
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Spotify Too Loud or Too Quiet on Mac: How to Fix the Level
Spotify ships a normalisation setting with a "Loud" mode that genuinely does push output harder. Here is what to change inside Spotify, and what to do when the app itself is not the problem.
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Chrome and YouTube Too Loud on Mac: How to Turn Down One Browser
A browser is one app playing every tab, which is why per-tab and per-app volume are different problems on a Mac. Here is how to solve each of them.
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Zoom Too Loud or Too Quiet on Mac: How to Fix Call Volume
Zoom keeps its own speaker level, device selection and automatic gain, all separate from macOS. Here is the order to check them in when call volume is wrong.
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Netflix Too Loud on Mac: Why the Volume Jumps and How to Fix It
Netflix has no Mac app, so its volume is really your browser's volume — and film dynamic range does the rest. Here is what to change, including the per-app fix macOS does not provide.
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Slack Huddles and Notification Sounds Too Loud on Mac: How to Fix It
Slack audio comes from two different places on a Mac and they are fixed in different settings. Here is which is which, and what to do about each.
macOS and per-app audio
What the operating system does and does not give you, and how the tools that fill the gap compare.
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Does macOS Have a Volume Mixer Like Windows Yet? (2026 Update)
Nineteen years after Windows shipped one, macOS still has no per-app volume mixer — including in macOS 26 Tahoe. Here is the current state of it, and what Apple did quietly change.
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macOS 26 Tahoe and Per-App Audio: What Changed, What Didn't
macOS 26 Tahoe shipped audio capture regressions in 26.0 and repaired a list of long-standing ones in 26.1. What it did not do is add per-app volume. Here is the accounting.
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SoundSource vs Boom 3D vs MixPill: Per-App Volume Apps Compared (2026)
An honest comparison of three Mac audio apps that get lumped together — including where the other two are the better buy. Written by the people who make one of them.
Streaming, podcasting, recording
Separating what you hear from what you capture, without a virtual audio cable.
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How to Route Game Audio and Discord Separately When Streaming on Mac (No Virtual Cable Needed)
The classic Mac streaming problem: your viewers hear your friends, or your friends hear the stream. Here is the driverless 2026 setup, and where the old virtual cable advice is out of date.
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Mac Podcast Recording Setup: Per-App Audio Without a Driver
Recording a remote guest plus your own microphone on a Mac used to mean a virtual audio driver. In 2026 it does not. Here is the driverless setup and what each tool is actually for.
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OBS on Mac: Controlling Each App's Audio Level While Streaming
OBS can capture individual applications on macOS 13+, but its faders only affect the broadcast. Here is the division of labour between OBS and a per-app mixer, and how to set both.
The long guides
The background pieces the articles above keep pointing back to.
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Why macOS has no volume mixer (and what changed in 2024)
Why Core Audio never exposed per-app volume, what process taps changed, and an honest rundown of the tools filling the gap.
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"When I join a call, drop everything else"
Two ways to duck background audio the moment a meeting starts — automatic, or on a trigger you choose.
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A mixer that never touches your DAW
Why DAW Direct is a switch on every row rather than a list of apps we happen to recognise.
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How to change volume for specific apps on Mac
The short version: what to do, in four steps, without heavy drivers.