- This is the complete updated guide
to Mac screen recording.
We'll look at the simplest ways to record your screen
on Mac with or without audio,
plus the best screen capture apps available
and exactly how to use them.
Hi, it's Justin Brown here from Primal Video,
where we help you grow an audience
and scale your revenue with online video.
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And all the links to everything I mentioned in this video,
you can find linked in the description box below.
So let's jump into it.
Screen captures are a great way to step your audience
through a process on-screen.
Teaching them how to use an app or software,
record a presentation with slides,
or even capture B-roll of a specific product page
or a website for your videos.
In fact, screen captures are one of the easiest ways
to create B-roll or overlay footage.
So if you're not using them, you definitely should be.
Now, there is a lot of options out there.
You've got things like OBS, Snagit, Zoom,
Screencast-O-Matic, Cloudapp, Screencastify,
Wondershare Democreator, ScreenFlow, Camtasia.
And after trying and testing all the top options,
here's our shortlist.
All right, so the first option
is the Mac Screenshot Toolbar.
This is a free and simple option,
and it's already installed on your Mac.
So you can access this
either through QuickTime,
so just by opening up QuickTime player,
then choosing File, New screen recording.
Or if we cancel back out of this,
you can also access it at any time
by pressing Command + Shift + 5 on the keyboard
and it'll open it up that way too.
So in here, you've got some basic settings.
You wanna make sure
that you're selecting one of these two,
down the bottom here to record your entire screen,
or to record a selected portion,
where we can just draw out the area of the screen
that we wanna record.
And down here, under Options,
you got the ability to select
what you want your video file to be saved out to.
You can set a timer for your recording,
so when you press record,
it's gonna count down from none,
from five seconds or from 10 seconds.
And you can also specify which microphone you wanna use
if you're gonna be recording audio at the same time.
And the last option down the bottom here
is whether you wanna show your mouse clicks.
So it'll make them stand out when you're clicking
to make it easier for your viewers to follow along.
Then when you're ready to record,
all you need to do is press the Record button
down the bottom here.
We're gonna get our countdown from five seconds,
and recording has now started.
Now, to stop the recording at any time,
you can come up to the top menu bar
and press the little Stop button there.
And you can see,
our recording has ended up on our desktop here.
Now, in terms of editing or trimming down
your recording afterwards,
if you open up your recording in QuickTime,
then you come up at the top here to Edit and down to Trim,
you do have some basic functionality in here
to remove something from the start or off the end.
Or if we cancel out of this,
we can actually come across to where we wanna split
our clip and we can choose Edit, Split clip,
to split it into two separate clips,
and do some really basic editing that way.
Now, as for downsides of using this method,
there is no way for you to bring in to record your webcam.
And also, you'll probably find
that the file sizes of your recordings
can be rather large.
But overall, this is a good option
for simple screen recording tasks,
but it doesn't have the flexibility
of some of the other options that we're about to cover here.
The next option you've got is OBS
or Open Broadcaster Software.
Now, this is a really popular live streaming
and screen recording software for PC and Mac.
And probably the biggest reason it's so popular
is because of the huge amounts of settings and control
that you have over everything.
And the price tag, it's open-source software
so it's totally free.
So to share your screen,
you just wanna come down here
to the little plus button
and choose either Display capture
to record your entire computer screen
or down to Window capture
to share a specific application or window.
So I'm gonna go Window Capture,
I'm gonna go, Okay,
I'm gonna pick the window that I wanna share.
So Google Chrome here, and then you go, Okay.
And now we can come up here
and we can resize this,
and customize up how this looks and feels.
Now, you also have webcam recording capabilities
in here as well.
So we can come down the bottom here
and add in another video source,
or in this case, a Video Capture Device.
And we can go, Okay.
And we can select our webcam.
So if I come across here, select our FaceTime camera,
that'll be on the scenes.
Let's go, okay.
And we now have the webcam in here as well,
as a separate video source.
So I can resize this down
and I could put me down the bottom corner here,
so when I'm doing the screen recording,
that you can actually have yourself on camera as well.
So you can customize up either a static shot
like you're seeing here,
or we can create different scenes
that you can switch between while you're live.
So this is now, here, our current Scene 1
where we've got my desktop and we've got me on camera.
We can create a new scene.
Let's call it Scene number two, very original.
And let's add in our webcam in here.
So we've got a full screen webcam of me here.
And then when we're doing our screen recording,
I can switch between the two scenes
of having me down the bottom corner here
with the computer screen
and then back to me full screen.
So as this is live streaming software, primarily,
it makes it so powerful
when it comes to screen recording too,
with all the features and things that you've got access to.
Now, in terms of some of those settings,
if we go down to Settings
and we go over to Output,
then under the Recording section here,
this is where you can really dial everything in.
So you get to specify the recording quality,
either one of their presets here,
or you can actually manually type in the bitrate up here
that you would like to record at.
You can also change up your recording format,
your recording size.
There is a ton of settings in here.
And that's why this is normally aimed
at someone who is more advanced,
or someone that's looking
for more of these advanced features.
So then when you're ready to record,
you just come down the bottom here
and hit this Start Recording button.
The recording starts.
When you wanna stop, press the Stop button.
Pretty simple.
Another big benefit of OBS
is that is not too computer intensive.
Meaning that is great for screen recording any gaming
or even if you're gonna be using it
on a lower spec computer.
But overall, in terms of screen recording software,
it's fairly complicated,
it's fairly clunky,
especially compared to most of the other options out there.
And one other thing to be aware of,
is that the output from this,
the file you get from it when you record
is just one flattened or finished video file.
These separate video layers aren't recorded individually.
So swapping between things afterwards
isn't possible if you're following this method.
But some of the other options I've got coming out
really soon for you,
will actually record separate,
your webcam, your screen,
and any of your other inputs
so that you can edit them down later.
So overall, it's a great option for free.
There is a ton of advanced controls
and everything in here,
but it's definitely on the more complicated side of things.
The next option is Wondershare Democreator.
And this is another one that's available on both Mac and PC.
This one will let you record your computer screen,
also your webcam, and any audio sources,
all on separate tracks,
so that you can actually edit these down afterwards,
which is really powerful.
So this is what you see when you open up the app.
You just wanna go to New Recording.
And once all this loads,
you wanna come down here,
press this little Settings button
to configure everything out.
So in here, we get to choose
what you're actually going to record.
So you can capture your full screen,
you can set a custom size or custom region,
or you can select a target window
or a target application for you to record.
You can also select your frame rate in here as well,
anything from 15 frames per second,
right up to 120 frames per second.
Then over under Audio,
this is where we can choose
if we're going to record our computer audio.
Any audio that is gonna be playing back
through your computer.
We can also select our microphone in here as well.
Then down under camera
is where we can select our camera, our webcam,
and we can specify the recording resolution and frame rate
for that as well.
So once you got those set up,
you wanna come down here to capture
and you can see, I'm here on webcam now,
we have our full screen selected.
If we wanted to just select a region of our screen,
then we can adjust this on the go.
Then when you wanna record,
you just press the little record button here
and we will get a countdown timer from three.
And then the recording has started.
So now that it's recording,
you can bring up some annotations.
If you come up to the little Record button up here,
down to ScreenDrawing, then you get your drawing tools.
So if we wanna type something on-screen,
we can select this tool here and type out some text.
That's pretty hard to read, red on red.
But we can also grab an arrow
if we wanna draw something out.
So the idea here is that you're able to annotate
and point things out to your viewers on the fly
while you're actually recording.
Once you're done recording,
you can press the stop button here,
or you can come back up the top to open the recorder
and stop the recording in here.
So once the recording is finished,
this is where the power of this tool really takes off,
is in the editing capabilities that it has.
So make this bigger now.
But you can see here,
we've got our audio track from the microphone,
We have me on webcam,
and we also have the screen recording
as three separate tracks.
So if we find that we don't want the webcam,
we can select it and press delete.
And we don't have to use that in our finished video.
So under that now,
likewise, if we wanna pick it up
and we wanna move it around,
We have the ability to do this afterwards.
So you might find that for a section of the video,
you might wanna make yourself much bigger on screen.
For another section of the video,
you might not wanna be on-screen at all.
In which case, you can actually edit this as you would
with regular video editing software.
So we could come down here
and we could split the clip at this point,
and delete the rest of the clip.
So as we're playing through this video now,
I'm on screen and then I disappear at this point,
because we've removed that footage.
There's also some other really simple
but powerful features in here as well.
If we come up here to Titles,
you have the ability to bring in a lot of preset titles,
and graphics, and things for your videos.
We can easily add in some annotations
and bring out text boxes.
So we can drop in a text box here
to call out something that might be happening on the screen.
There's also lots of stickers, transitions,
effects in here as well.
But something that I think's really powerful
is if you come down here to cursor,
we can actually adjust what our mouse cursor looks like
after we've actually finished the recording.
So if we come down here and select our screen recording,
come up at the top here to Cursor Highlight.
Let's drag this highlight effect down onto this layer.
And you can see we've now got this highlight
that's gonna follow our mouse cursor around.
So you're not just limited to turning this on or off
before you actually record
like you are in some of the other options we've shown you.
You can actually turn this on or off
after you've actually finished your recording.
Now, not only that,
we can take this one step further.
Again, with this bottom layer selected,
we can come over here and we can adjust
what our cursor looks like.
So I can actually scale it up and make it bigger,
again, after the recording is finished.
So this is a really powerful feature
that most of the other options
that we've covered don't have.
Probably the biggest editing feature
that this program is missing,
is the ability to apply any sort of color grade
or color adjustments to any of your clips.
So if you wanted to tweak the colors a little bit,
there is no option over here to do that.
So it's not a deal breaker,
but it's definitely something to be aware of.
Now in terms of pricing,
you've got two options.
You can buy this outright for 59.99,
that is a one-time fee,
or you can jump on a 39.99 annual plan,
which will give you access to any upgrades
that they release.
So overall, I was pretty surprised by Democreator.
This is something that's really simple,
it's really easy to use.
And it's great value in comparison
to some of the other similar options that are out there.
But if you are looking for something
with more advanced controls,
and even things like color adjustment tools,
then the next option will be for you.
So the next option then is ScreenFlow.
And this is the most robust
when it comes for recording your webcam,
your computer screen, your phone.
There's lots of controls,
there's lots of options.
It really is Wondershare Democreator on steroids.
And in terms of video editing,
this one is actually pretty powerful.
So when you open up the app, you've got two main options.
One is to start a new screen recording
and the other is to start a new editing document
or editing project.
But under the Screen Recording,
you can see here that we can record
multiple computer screens.
So if you're someone who's running multiple screens
and you wanna record all of them at once,
then you can just select those screens here.
Also, if you've got any iOS devices plugged in,
a phone or an iPad, you can record the screen
from that as well.
We can also easily turn on video recording
from our webcams in here as well.
See, on screen again.
So we can pick your webcam in there.
You can also choose the resolution
or the quality that's going to be recorded at.
And we get to choose where we're going to record
our audio from as well.
And there's also an option, once again,
to record your computer audio as well,
or any audio that can be played through your computer
by your recording.
And then down the bottom, we get to choose
if we're gonna record our entire computer screen
just by pressing Record,
or if you wanna draw out an area of our screen,
then we can choose Partial screen capture here
and specify the area that we want to capture.
So cancel out of that one
and we're gonna go back and just hit Record.
So we're recording full screen
and we'll get a countdown,
and it'll tell us again
the things that we're actually recording.
It was a quick little sanity check that counts down,
and we are actually recording.
Now, here, there is no annotations
that you can pull out live
like we've had in a few of the other options.
You can do all of that stuff afterwards.
So your focus on here
is running through doing your screen recording,
taking your viewers through whatever process it is.
Then when you're done, you just wanna come up
at the top here and press Stop Recording.
And that's gonna open it up then in your timeline view.
So again, very similar to Wondershare.
And we can see that once again,
we've got separate video tracks for our screen recording
and for the webcam as well.
So we can, again, pick this up,
we can move it around.
We can choose when we wanna have it on the screen or not,
but in terms of actual editing,
this is definitely a step up from Democreator.
So if we go ahead now and select our screen recording
down the bottom,
we come up here to the tools,
you can see there's already so many more options in here.
We have a lot of transform tools
to make our videos bigger or smaller.
We've got a full set of audio tools in here as well
to dial in our audio,
and even a ton of audio filters built-in
to help you clean up any audio,
and even do things like remove background noise.
And then over here, under the Screen Recording options,
we've got a lot of the similar options
that we just saw in Democreator,
but these take it to the next level.
So we can still zoom in or out on our mouse cursor.
We can actually turn the mouse cursor off completely
if we don't want it on at all,
or for a specific section of our video.
Plus also, the click effects and annotation effects.
There's a lot more in here.
This is far more advanced than Democreator.
But where Screenflow really stands out
is that it is a full-on video editing application.
You're not just here editing down your screen recordings.
I know a lot of people
that are actually using ScreenFlow
to edit down their YouTube content,
or even their course content as well.
And as for the features and things
that you got access to in here,
it's actually a lot more than you would find
in most video editing applications.
Now, in terms of pricing,
this is a one-time fee to purchase this outright for $129,
but know that there is an upgrade charge
every time a major update is released.
And I guess the only other thing to be aware of
is that this software is Mac only.
But, hey, we're watching a Mac video.
So in rounding this out,
if you're looking for some simple,
free screen recording options,
you can try the Mac Screenshot Toolbar or QuickTime,
which is already installed on your Mac,
or you could use OBS.
Wondershare Democreator is gonna be great
for someone looking for that perfect mix
of simplicity, price, and features
without being a full-blown editing program.
Or if you're looking for something
with the most amount of control and features
for both recording and editing, all in one solution,
then that's where ScreenFlow
is going to be the best option for you.
But from all of those,
my number one pick right now as best all-rounder
does go to Wondershare Democreator.
It's a great option,
and I'd say it's the best bang for your buck.
So now that you've got your screen recording on Mac sorted,
if you wanna capture the screen on your iPhone
or your Android device,
then check out the videos linked on screen
for complete tutorials showing you how to do it.
And I'll see you in the next video.