How can I control the volume of individual applications separately?
Posted 08/28/2007 at 12:06pm
| by The Mac|Life Staff
Last month, a reader asked if we knew of a way to mute the sound of specific apps on his Mac (specifically his Web browser) so as not to distract from the sounds coming from other apps - namely iTunes. A temporary brain cramp helped us forget about Rogue Amoeba’s Audio Hijack Pro ($32), a powerful app for recording sounds that come from and through your Mac (another question we hear frequently), which also has the ability to silence the sound output of any apps you designate. Download and install the app, pony up your shareware fee, and start the silencing.
As you can see in the screenshot below, it’s pretty self-explanatory: Select Safari from the left-side list of apps and click the Mute button. Add other apps to the source list by clicking the plus-sign icon, and don’t forget, if your system sounds become annoying, you can silence them via the Sound pane in Mac OS X’s System Preferences—or try another Rogue app, SoundSource (free, www.rogueamoeba.com), to route system noise to a sound output that you’re not using, such as your Mac’s built-in speaker if you’re using external speakers, or digital-out if you’re not.
Besides its ridiculously cute mascot, Rogue Amoeba makes some crazy-good, useful software.
