Loopback (for MacOS) allows easy routing of audio from desktop/apps (including Zoom) and microphones to a single source that can be used in StreamYard.
Use Windows? Check out Voicemeeter instead!
Setting up Loopback:
- Download and install Loopback.
Follow the installation steps, and restart your computer after installing. - If not already started, launch Loopback.
- At the bottom left corner of Loopback, click New virtual device.
- Name the virtual device "StreamYard Mic" (or something else recognizable.)
- Add your real microphone as a Source device by clicking the + icon next to "Sources", and selecting your microphone.
- In a StreamYard studio, in Settings -> Audio, set your Mic device to "StreamYard Mic" (or whatever your virtual Loopback device is called), and your Speakers device to your real speakers/headphones.
There are two ways to capture application audio with loopback; Application capture, and Entire system capture.
Capturing Individual Applications
- Launch/open the application you'd like to capture audio from.
If it has individual mic/speaker settings, leave them set to your real microphone and headphone/speakers. - Add the application you'd like to capture audio from by clicking the + icon next to "Sources", and selecting the name of the application.
- Repeat the above steps for all applications you'd like to capture audio from.
- Loopback should now look similar to this (in this example, we're capturing audio from Zoom):
Capturing All System Audio
If your application doesn't work with the above method, or you just want to capture all audio coming from your Mac, you can set Loopback as your default output device. instead.
- Open MacOS Audio settings, and click the Output Tab.
- Select "StreamYard Mic" (or whatever your virtual Loopback device is called) as the output device.
- Confirm that the output device selected in the applications you'd like to capture audio from is set to Default/System, or "StreamYard Mic".
- Right now you won't hear any audio through your speakers/headphones.
To fix that, add a Monitor device in Loopback by clicking the + icon to the right of "Monitors", and select your real speakers/headphones. - Right now, you may hear your microphone played/echoed back to you.
To fix that, add an Output Channel by clicking the + icon to the right of "Output channels". - By deleting and re-creating wires, set up your real microphone to go to Channels 1 & 2, but not the Monitor device, and "Pass-thru" to go to Channels 1, 2, 3, & 4 and the Monitor device.
- Loopback should now look similar to this:
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Important: In StreamYard, make sure your "Speaker" device is set to your real headphones/speakers, not "StreamYard Mic"/Loopback.
Otherwise, guests will hear echo.