Send Audio From Your DAW to OBS (Mac)

How to Send Audio From Your DAW to OBS on Mac (Free Method)

If you livestream and want to bring the full sound of your DAW into your broadcast, there's a completely free way to do it on a Mac. Routing your DAW into OBS means you're not limited to whatever your microphone picks up in the room. You get access to every plugin and effect in your DAW, reverb, delay, EQ, compression, applied live to your stream. It also makes it far easier to mix multiple microphones at once, which is especially useful if you're performing with other musicians during a livestream and need everyone sitting well in the mix rather than just relying on a single room mic.

In this post I'll walk through setting up a virtual audio driver and routing your DAW's audio directly into OBS, so you can use all the plugins and instruments you already have available and get great sounding audio in your livestreams.

A note if you're on macOS Ventura (13) or later: Apple introduced a native macOS Audio Capture source in OBS that removes the need for a virtual audio driver entirely on newer systems. If you're running Ventura or higher, it's worth checking out OBS's official guide to the macOS Audio Capture source first, since it may be a simpler setup than what's covered below. The method in this post still works on any macOS version and remains useful if you want more granular control over your routing, or if you're on an older system.

Choosing a Virtual Audio Driver

The first step is downloading a virtual audio driver. There are two free options: Soundflower and BlackHole. Soundflower was the long-standing option for years, but it's no longer being actively updated and doesn't support Apple Silicon Macs with M1 chips or newer. BlackHole works the same way, is actively maintained, and is fully compatible with Apple Silicon. For that reason, I'd recommend using BlackHole regardless of which Mac you're on, since Soundflower's lack of ongoing updates makes it a riskier long-term choice even on Intel-based Macs.

Once downloaded, open the DMG file and double click to install. You'll likely see a security warning the first time, since the installer isn't from a recognized developer. To get past this, right click the package file and select Open instead of double clicking, which gives you the option to proceed. Run through the installer, and once it's finished you can close the installer window and either move the installer file to the trash or keep it, whichever you prefer.

After installation, open your Mac's System Preferences and go to Sound. You should now see new audio devices listed, such as Soundflower 2-channel and Soundflower 64-channel (or the equivalent BlackHole devices if you went that route, which again is the recommended option). These are virtual audio devices, which means no physical sound comes out of them on their own. Selecting one of these as your output device alone won't let you hear anything, so there's one more step required to make this useful.

Creating a Multi-Output Device

To actually hear your audio while also routing it to OBS, you need to create what's called a multi-output device. This lets your Mac send the same audio signal to two destinations simultaneously: your regular speakers or audio interface, and the virtual audio driver.

To set this up, open Audio MIDI Setup, found under Applications, then Utilities, or simply by searching for it in Finder. Here you'll see all your available audio devices, including your audio interface and your newly installed virtual driver.

Click the small plus button in the bottom left and select Create Multi-Output Device. In the device list that appears, check both your virtual audio driver (Soundflower 2-channel, for example) and your regular output device, whether that's your built-in speakers or an external audio interface.

Set the Master Device to your regular audio interface or output, not the virtual driver. Make sure Drift Correction is enabled for the virtual driver in the list, since this keeps the two devices properly synced. For Sample Rate, match whatever your audio interface is currently set to. If you're working with video and livestreaming, this is commonly 48 kHz.

Finally, rename this multi-output device to something clear, so you know exactly what it is later. Something like "Soundflower/[Your Interface Name]" works well. Once this is set up, selecting this multi-output device as your system output means your Mac will send audio out through your regular interface, so you can hear it normally, while simultaneously sending that same audio to the virtual driver, which OBS or any other application can then pick up.

Setting Your DAW's Output

With the multi-output device created, head into your DAW's audio preferences. In Logic Pro, this means going to Logic Pro, then Preferences, then Audio. You'll see your output device currently set to your audio interface directly. Change this to the multi-output device you just created and named. This same process applies regardless of which DAW you're using, since the multi-output device is a system-level setting on your Mac, not something specific to any one piece of software.

Once this is set, your DAW's audio will route through your interface as normal, letting you hear everything through your speakers or headphones, while also being sent to the virtual audio driver in the background.

Setting Up OBS to Receive the Audio

With everything configured on the Mac side, switch over to OBS. If you're starting from a blank scene with no audio or video sources yet, click the plus button under your Sources panel and select Add Audio Input Capture. Name this source something recognizable, like Soundflower, and under Device, select your virtual driver, Soundflower 2-channel in this example.

Once you click OK, OBS is now set up to receive audio directly from your DAW. Any sound playing through your DAW, whether that's a software instrument, a loaded backing track, or a full session mix, will now come through in OBS as a live audio source.

Putting It to Use

Once this routing is in place, the creative possibilities open up considerably. You're no longer limited to whatever your microphone or audio interface can capture directly. You can switch between software instruments in real time, load in full audio tracks, or build out a complete mix inside your DAW, and all of it gets sent straight into your livestream through OBS.

This is a particularly useful setup for musicians who livestream performances, since it means you can play through any virtual instrument your DAW offers rather than being limited to what you can mic up in the room, and your audience gets a clean, high-quality signal rather than whatever your laptop or webcam microphone happens to pick up.

It's also a genuinely useful approach if you're performing with other musicians during a stream. Rather than relying on a single room microphone to capture everyone at once, you can mic up each musician individually, bring those signals into your DAW, and build a proper live mix with EQ and compression on each channel, the same way you would for a recording session. That mix then gets sent to OBS as one clean, balanced signal, which sounds dramatically better than a single mic trying to capture an entire room.

TIMECODES:
00:00 Intro
00:21 Download and Install Soundflower
01:22 About Virtual Audio Drivers
01:52 Create Your Multi-Output Device
04:01 Configure your DAW
04:47 Configure OBS
05:26 Sound Check