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How to record your voice in GarageBand on a Mac

Tested on macOS 26.4.1 (Tahoe), Apple M3 Max, 3 Sept 2026. Updated 2026-09-03.

You can record your voice in GarageBand by creating an Audio track (the microphone icon), choosing the mic under GarageBand > Settings > Audio/MIDI > Input Device, selecting the track and pressing R. Set Settings > Advanced > Audio Recording to 24-bit before the first take; Apple says not to change it afterwards. Export with Share > Export Song to Disk as WAVE, AIFF, MP3 or AAC.

How do I record my voice in GarageBand step by step?

  1. Plug in the mic. A USB mic or an audio interface appears in macOS automatically; the built-in mic is always there.
  2. Open GarageBand, create an Empty Project, and choose the Audio track type with the microphone icon. Under Input pick Input 1 (mono) for a single mic.
  3. Open GarageBand > Settings > Audio/MIDI and set Input Device to your mic or interface. If a button says Allow Access, click it; macOS needs the Microphone permission once.
  4. Open Settings > Advanced and set Audio Recording to 24-bit. Do this now, not later.
  5. Speak at your loudest and watch the track meter. Turn the input gain (interface knob or the track's Recording Level slider) down until the meter never reaches the red.
  6. Select the track header, put the playhead where you want to start, then press R. Apple's steps: "Click the Record button in the control bar (or press R) to start recording" and "Click the Stop button in the control bar (or press the Space bar) to stop recording."

Use the count-in (the 1234 button) so you have a bar to settle before the take starts. Each pass creates a new region on the track; cycle recording stacks takes you can pick between afterwards.

Which input and monitoring settings should I use for vocals?

Monitoring is the button in the track header that lets you hear yourself through GarageBand. Apple's guide is direct about the trap: "When monitoring is turned on, your computer can pick up output from your speakers or monitors, causing unwanted feedback." The rule: monitoring on only with headphones; with speakers, leave it off and listen to the room.

Input choice. A single mic is a mono source, so select Input 1 (or the number of the interface jack you plugged into), not the stereo pair. Recording a mono mic as a stereo track just doubles the file size. The mono/stereo choice is per track and does not affect anything else in the project.

Bluetooth headsets and AirPods appear as an input device but record at a low sample rate over the hands-free profile, and they sound narrow and dull. Use them for a scratch idea, never for a keeper. If a USB mic shows up but the meter stays flat, the Microphone permission is the usual cause; Mac microphone permission not working lists the fixes.

Latency. If you hear yourself late through headphones, the Mac's built-in output and a USB mic are two separate clocks. Plugging headphones into the interface that also carries the mic removes the round trip through the Mac.

Should I record vocals in 16-bit or 24-bit in GarageBand?

24-bit. Apple's Advanced settings page describes the three options: 16-bit "Use only if you want to keep audio file sizes small", 24-bit "The most commonly used bit depth for audio files", and 32-bit float, which "uses 32-bit floating point calculations, resulting in larger audio file sizes." 24-bit gives you room to record with the gain lower and raise it later without adding hiss, which is exactly what a nervous vocal take needs.

The size cost is modest. Measured on stereo files, 24-bit at 44.1 kHz is about 15.1 MB per minute against 10.1 MB per minute for 16-bit; a mono vocal track is roughly half of each. An hour of mono 24-bit vocals is well under half a gigabyte.

The setting must be chosen before the first recording. Apple: "Don't change bit settings after you've recorded or imported audio in your project." If you already recorded at 16-bit, keep the project at 16-bit and start the next project at 24. For the wider trade-off, including when 16-bit is fine for delivery, see 16-bit vs 24-bit recording.

How do I export the vocal as a WAV or MP3 from GarageBand?

Apple's steps: "choose Share > Export Song to Disk", then "Select the format for the exported file (AAC, MP3, AIFF, or WAVE)", choose a quality from the Quality menu, and click Export. Choose WAVE or AIFF for anything that goes to a mixing engineer or another DAW; MP3 or AAC for sending a rough to a collaborator.

GarageBand renders the export at the project's bit depth, so a 24-bit project gives a 24-bit WAVE. The result lands wherever you chose in the Where menu; there is no fixed export folder.

When monitoring is turned on, your computer can pick up output from your speakers or monitors, causing unwanted feedback.

Apple, GarageBand User Guide, Turn on input monitoring for audio tracks

Free and paid ways to record a voice on a Mac, by what you get

ToolMultitrack editingBit depth choiceSample rateDirect WAV exportRecords system audioPrice
GarageBandyes16 / 24 / 32-floatproject rateyesnofree
QuickTime PlayernoAAC or 24-bit44.1 kHzno (.m4a)nofree
Voice MemosnoCompressed or Losslessdevice rateno (.m4a)nofree
Audacityyes16 / 24 / 32-floatanyyesno (needs driver)free
AirCheckno16 / 24device rateyesyes$39

QuickTime and Voice Memos formats from Apple's guides; AirCheck values from its own recordings.

Where AirCheck fits

AirCheck is not a vocal editor, but it is a good capture stage when you record a voice through a multi-channel interface and want a clean 24-bit file without opening a project. It shows a channel-pair picker for interfaces (for example channels 3 and 4 of a Focusrite Scarlett 8i6), records at the interface's own rate, and exports WAV 24-bit, WAV 16-bit or MP3 320 kbps to ~/Music/AirCheck. $39 one-off, macOS 14 or newer. Drag the take into GarageBand afterwards for editing.

When you do not need it: For recording and editing a vocal, GarageBand is free, multitrack, and already on your Mac. You do not need AirCheck for that.

AirCheck records what your Mac plays, or any input, to one file. $39 once.

Buy AirCheck for $39

macOS 14 or newer. One-off payment. Fourteen-day refund, no questions asked.

Questions people ask

How do I record my voice on a MacBook Air in GarageBand?

Create an Audio track, leave Input Device on the built-in microphone in Settings > Audio/MIDI, select the track and press R. The built-in mic is fine for notes and demos; keep Monitoring off because the MacBook speakers sit next to the mic.

Why can I not hear myself while recording in GarageBand?

Monitoring is off for the track. Click the Monitoring button in the track header, and use headphones, because Apple warns that monitoring through speakers causes feedback. Also check that Output Device in Settings > Audio/MIDI points to where your headphones are plugged in.

Does GarageBand record in 24-bit?

Yes. GarageBand > Settings > Advanced > Audio Recording offers 16-bit, 24-bit and 32-bit float. Apple calls 24-bit the most commonly used bit depth and says not to change the setting after audio has been recorded or imported into the project.

How do I record a podcast in GarageBand on a MacBook?

Record each voice on its own Audio track with a USB mic or an interface. For a remote guest you also need their audio, which GarageBand cannot capture from a call by itself; see the guide on recording system audio in GarageBand or use the meeting app's recorder.

Sources

Hannes Hennerbichler builds AirCheck and records his own DJ sets with it through a Focusrite Scarlett 8i6. Every step on this page was run on the macOS version stated above. Drafted with AI assistance, checked and edited by the author. About