How many ways can you control the sound volume on your Mac? Well, there’s the time honored sound volume control in the Mac’s Menubar. Sound in System Preferences works, too.
Would it not be a cool thing to control the sound of various applications on your Mac? Individually? Or, reroute sound to any audio output device connected to your Mac? Or, use the keyboard to control volume for various connected sound devices? You see where this is going, right?
Controlling Sound
With apologies to David Bowie’s estate, my first title for this article was something along the way of “Sound Control To Major Tom.” Instead, let’s just leave it at the basics. The app– Sound Control— truly, madly, deeply controls your Mac’s sounds in ways you won’t find in many apps, and certainly not in the bowels of macOS High Sierra.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, what’s this image worth?
To change the volume on your Mac, click the Volume control in the menu bar, then drag the slider to adjust the volume (or use the Control Strip). If the Volume control isn't in the menu bar, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Sound.
A single image tells a big story here. One click to the Mac’s Menubar gives you control over sounds in ways macOS does not. There’s a slider for the Master Volume. Like, duh, already. But below that you see the same slider and other options for other Mac apps that have, well, sound output.
There’s much going on in Sound Control but let’s start with marketing speak.
Sound Control enables users to easily and quickly change app volumes as well as selectively apply a system-wide EQ to app audio. Sound Control does this by adding a software mixer to the menu bar of your Mac. In addition to the volume mixer, Sound Control also adds a software EQ to your audio output allowing users to easily tailor the sound of their Mac’s audio to their specific taste or to properly calibrate to the frequency response of their speakers.
Got that? It’s as if your Mac now has a little audio mixer in the Menubar. Click Sound Control to change audio settings– from volume to on-off toggle to equalizer and more– for individual apps, as well as the Mac’s output volume.
There is much to like, much to use, and much you won’t find in other Mac audio apps, and definitely not within macOS.
- Per-App Volume Controls – Control the volume of your apps independently.
- Audio Routing – Reroute app audio to any audio output device.
- System EQ – Opt-in apps to the system wide EQ with built-in and custom presets.
- Keyboard Volume – Add keyboard volume controls, to DisplayPort monitors, HDMI TV & Receivers, and other devices.
- Touch Bar – Use the Touch Bar on your MacBook Pro to control app volume.
- Hotkey Control – Set up hotkeys to control volume, mute and EQ for the foreground app.
Sound Control isn’t free but it’s priced exactly right for anyone who understands the value of such per-app audio control and uses the Mac’s audio regularly for sound output. As you would expect for a very well designed, handy and useful Mac utility, Sound Control has a try-before-you-buy option. As a Boomer who cherishes good sound quality even with aging and less sensitive ears, it’s a pleasure to be able to control sound output with so many options.
Caveats?
Well, not many. Support is quick and responsive. Customers love it. The only disappointment is not all Mac apps with audio can be controlled (but most of those we use are).