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If you've ever gone live and realized your game audio was completely missing from the stream, you know the pain. Or you're recording a tutorial, your browser plays a clip, and it's silent on the recording. Getting system audio into your stream has always required some kind of compromise: a virtual cable, a screen capture layer, or routing audio through a secondary app just to get it into the mix.
That ends today!
System Audio is now available in Meld Studio on Windows and macOS 13 or later, and it works exactly the way it should have from the start.
What System Audio Actually Does
System Audio captures sound from your entire computer, games, browsers, apps, everything, and brings it directly into your Meld Studio streams and recordings as a mixer track.
That last part is the key detail. It shows up in your Audio Mixer just like any other track: device audio, process audio capture, your microphone. You treat it the same way. You can adjust the volume, apply filters, monitor it in real time. There's no hidden layer, no workaround, no second application running in the background to make it work.
Two things make it genuinely different from older approaches:
- No screen capture required. Previous methods for grabbing system audio on macOS especially often required adding a screen capture source just to piggyback the audio. System Audio skips that entirely.
- Meld's own audio is automatically excluded. Whatever Meld Studio plays back on your end, alerts, monitoring, previews, stays out of the capture. Your viewers only hear what they're supposed to hear.
Who This Is For
Honestly? Almost everyone who streams or records. But here are the setups where System Audio makes the biggest immediate difference:
Gamers and variety streamers who switch between games, Discord, Spotify, and browser tabs mid-stream. Instead of managing separate process captures for each app, one System Audio track picks up everything.
Tutorial and educational creators who demo software or play video clips during recordings. System Audio means that content actually has sound when it reaches your audience, without any extra setup.
Podcasters and multi-app workflows who pull audio from multiple sources during a show. Browser audio for a clip, a game in the background, a sound effect from a desktop app. System Audio handles all of it in one track.
The cleanest setup is often the most reliable one. System Audio removes a whole category of "why isn't this working" from your pre-stream checklist.
How to Add It to Your Setup
Adding System Audio takes about ten seconds. Here's how:
- Open Meld Studio and go to your Audio Mixer
- Click Add Track
- Select System Audio from the track type options
- That's it. It's live in your mix.
From there, treat it like any other mixer track. Set your volume level, chain on any filters you want, and you're good to go. If you want to check what's going into the track before you go live, real-time monitoring works just like it does for your other sources.
A quick note on requirements: System Audio is available on Windows and macOS 13 (Ventura) or later. If you're on macOS 12 or earlier, you'll need to update your OS to use this feature.
Go Make Some Noise
System Audio is available now. Update Meld Studio, add the track, and your next stream or recording will have all the audio it's supposed to have, with zero extra setup.
If you run into any questions, the Audio documentation is a good place to start. And as always, we're building this alongside the community, so if there's something you want to see next, let us know.
FAQ
What is System Audio in Meld Studio?
System Audio is a mixer track that captures sound from your computer, including games, browsers, and other apps. It lets you bring that audio directly into your stream or recording without using a screen capture layer or a separate audio workaround.
How is System Audio different from device or process audio capture?
Device audio and process audio capture target specific sources, while System Audio captures the audio coming from your whole system. That makes it the cleanest option when you want one track that handles everything playing on your computer at once.
Does System Audio capture Meld Studio’s own audio?
No. Meld Studio automatically excludes its own playback from System Audio capture. That means alerts, monitoring, and previews stay out of the track so your viewers only hear what you intend them to hear.
What operating systems support System Audio?
System Audio is available on Windows and macOS 13 or later. If you're on an earlier version of macOS, you'll need to update before you can use the feature.
How do I add System Audio to my mix?
Open Meld Studio, go to your Audio Mixer, click Add Track, and choose System Audio. Once it's added, you can set the volume, apply filters, and monitor it like any other mixer track.
