Lip Service Tips

Lip Service is a handy tool for recording audio from traditional audio sources like microphones and iSight cameras. With a little help from some friends, Lip Service can also record audio directly from your Mac. This is useful for recording internet radio broadcasts as well as converting proprietary audio formats to something more useful like AIFF, WAVE, and MP3.

Download Free Tools

Before you begin recording your Mac audio, you need to download two free tools: Soundflower from Cycling '74 and LineIn from Rogue Amoeba.

Soundflower Download

Soundflower is software from Cycling '74 that lets you do all sorts of unusual routing of your Mac audio signals. The installation requires a restart.

  Download Soundflower (link opens in a new window)

Soundflower Setup

Once you've installed Soundflower, it's very easy to set up. Open your Mac's System Preferences and open the Sound Preference Pane. Select SoundFlower (2ch) in both the input and output sections of the Sound preferences. Then, close the System Preferences window. Simple, huh?

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LineIn Download

LineIn is an application from Rogue Amoeba that will help you monitor the audio that Soundflower records. Soundflower takes care of routing the audio from your Mac audio to the input of Lip Service, but you probably still want to hear what Lip Service hears. LineIn helps you do just that.

  Download LineIn (link opens in a new window)

LineIn Setup

Next, launch the LineIn application. (you have installed it in the Applications folder, haven't you?) Select Soundflower (2ch) for the Input from: option and Built-in Audio: External Speakers for the Output to: option. (you can of course select other destinations for the audio) Then, click the Pass Thru button to activate this setup. LineIn will now permit you to listen to the audio that SoundFlower hears.

Lip Service Setup

Finally, launch Lip Service and navigate to the Session area of the interface. Click Select Device to choose an audio input for Lip Service.

Select Soundlower (2ch) from the Input Device popup menu. If you have audio playing in some other application, you should see it registering in the Lip Service audio meters. You are now ready to record any audio that is playing on your Mac with Lip Service.