How to Set up a session with Audio Hijack

1 Open Audio Hijack

After downloading the trial version and perhaps purchasing to unlock it, open the app. You are presented with its main window; from here you can click on the New Session button to begin. You’ll need FaceTime (or Skype) already set up.

2 Start a session

The Template Chooser window makes it easy to get started by selecting the kind of source you want to record. In this case it’s FaceTime, so choose the Application Audio option. You can always change the source later, as we will see.

3 Select FaceTime

Your session opens but it’s probably defaulted to using iTunes as the source. To change this, click the iTunes icon which will open the application list. Select Other Application, which will open the Applications folder. Select the FaceTime app.

4 Set record options

FaceTime should appear as the audio source. The central module is the recorder, so click on this to open your record options. The default setting is a decent quality MP3 recording which is fine for things like interviews, though you can change it.

5 Make quality settings

Click on the Quality menu and you will see a selection of quality options. You could choose AAC format if you prefer it to MP3, or higher quality Lossless, or AIFF if, for any reason, you need to record in very high quality.

7 End recording

When you want to stop recording, press the Record button again. This does not terminate your call, it just stops capturing it. You can stay on the call as long as you like. When you’re done, press the Recordings button to see your pool of recordings.

9 Export your recording

If you click on the Actions tab, you can opt to show the file in Finder, open it in an audio editor, add it to your iTunes library or share it using the OS X share options. Very handy if you need to send a recording via email or iMessage.

6 Open FaceTime and record

You can wait to be called or you can open FaceTime first, to make your own call. At whatever point you want to start recording, press the Record button in Audio Hijack. It will wait for a signal before it starts recording.

8 Add metadata and play back

Select your recording and click on it to open its metadata. Here you can add a title and some notes, plus other information to help you keep track of recordings. The playback bar at the top lets you scroll around the recording as you play back.

10 Try it with Skype

Some of your contacts may be using Skype rather than FaceTime but the process for recording is very similar. When choosing a source app for your session, simply choose Skype instead of FaceTime and follow the rest of these steps again.