Last updated: 2026-01-16

For most people in the U.S., the fastest way to record your screen and audio separately is to use StreamYard’s browser studio with local multi-track recording turned on, then export separate audio/video files for each participant. If you need deep hardware-level control or complex game capture, a desktop tool like OBS with multi-track recording is a useful alternative.

Summary

• Separate audio lets you fix mistakes, reduce noise, and balance levels in editing without re-recording.
• In StreamYard, local recordings create separate audio and video files per participant, ideal for presenter-led screen tutorials and interviews. (StreamYard Help)
• OBS can assign each audio source (mic, system audio, Discord, etc.) to its own recording track for detailed post-production. (OBS Knowledge Base)
• Loom can capture system audio from any app with its Desktop App, but is better suited to quick async explainers than multi-track production. (Loom Support)

Why record screen and audio separately in the first place?

If you’ve ever finished a great screen demo only to realize your mic was too quiet, you already know the pain. Recording screen and audio separately solves that.

When you separate tracks, you can:

• Turn down loud notifications or background music without affecting your voice.
• Remove a dog bark or keyboard smash from your mic track while keeping the screen recording.
• Replace or re-record just your narration while reusing the exact same screen capture.

For interviews or panel-style recordings, separate tracks are almost mandatory; they let you mute crosstalk, repair one guest’s noisy mic, or pull clean clips of a single speaker without redoing the whole session.

How do you record screen and audio separately in StreamYard?

At StreamYard, we built recording around a simple idea: you shouldn’t need a production degree to get editor-friendly files. You open a browser, join a studio, record, and walk away with separate audio and video files per participant on local recordings. (StreamYard Help)

Here’s a practical workflow for presenter-led tutorials, demos, or interviews:

1. Create a recording studio
   • Log into StreamYard and create a new "record only" session (no need to go live).
2. Set up your sources
   • Add your camera and mic.
   • Share your screen; you can choose a full display, an app window, or a browser tab. If you want tab audio (e.g., a product demo with sound), choose a Chrome tab and check Share audio, since screen audio is supported specifically for Chrome tab sharing. (StreamYard Help)
3. Enable local recording
   • In the studio settings, turn on local recording so each participant’s audio and video are captured directly on their own device, producing separate files per person. (StreamYard Help)
4. Record your session
   • Present normally. You can change layouts live so your screen takes center stage while you remain picture-in-picture, and you keep full control over mic vs screen audio in the mixer.
5. Download separate files for editing
   • After the recording finishes uploading, you can download each participant’s local audio and video files, then bring them into your editor as separate tracks.

On the free plan, local recording is available with a monthly cap, while paid plans allow unlimited local recording time subject to device and storage. (StreamYard Help) For most creators and teams in the U.S., that means you can standardize on one simple workflow for webinars, training, and YouTube content without touching encoder settings.

How does StreamYard handle separate tracks in the cloud?

Sometimes you want the convenience of cloud recordings plus the safety of separate audio tracks. That’s where StreamYard’s cloud individual audio tracks come in.

• When enabled on eligible paid plans, cloud recordings can include individual audio tracks for each participant alongside the mixed main track. (StreamYard Help)
• You can record live or off-air sessions and later download separate audio files for each speaker.

This is especially useful if:

• You host long-form podcasts or panel discussions and want a fast, cloud-based backup.
• You work with an editor who prefers getting a main mix plus isolated voices.
• You record recurring shows and don’t want to juggle local files on every guest’s machine.

Compared with alternatives that focus purely on local capture, this hybrid local+cloud approach gives you more resilience against Wi-Fi hiccups and guest-side issues, while still keeping per-speaker audio separate for post.

When would you use OBS to record audio separately?

OBS is widely used on Windows, macOS, and Linux for game capture and advanced layouts. It can assign each audio source to its own recording track, which is helpful when you want strict separation between mic, game, music, and chat. (OBS Knowledge Base)

A basic OBS multi-track workflow looks like this:

1. Add your screen, game, and mic as sources.
2. In Settings → Output, enable the audio tracks (1–6) you want OBS to record. (OBS Knowledge Base)
3. In the audio mixer’s Advanced Audio Properties, assign each source (mic, desktop audio, music, etc.) to specific tracks.
4. Record. OBS writes one video file that contains multiple audio tracks.

A couple of nuances:

• Most standard media players will only play one audio track at a time, so you often need an editor like Premiere, Resolve, or similar to see and export each track cleanly. (OBS Knowledge Base)
• Quality and stability depend heavily on your hardware and the settings you choose, which can mean more setup and testing.

For U.S. creators who want complex routing or heavy game capture and are comfortable digging into settings, OBS is a solid option. For teams who prioritize fast setup, browser-based reliability, and easy sharing across multiple presenters, StreamYard usually offers a smoother path.

Can Loom record screen and audio separately?

Loom leans toward quick asynchronous communication: short explainers, feedback videos, and meeting recordings you share via link. It can capture internal audio, but its behavior is a bit different from a full multi-track studio.

Key points:

• The Loom Chrome extension can capture internal audio from a single browser tab while you record the screen. (Loom Support)
• The Loom Desktop App can capture system audio from any application on your device, not just the browser, so you can include app sounds and video playback. (Loom Support)
• Loom’s system audio capture cannot be used at the same time as its noise filter, so you trade off noise reduction for full system sound. (Loom Support)

Loom is helpful when you just need a quick recording and an instant link. But if your main goal is structured multi-track outputs (one file per speaker, predictable studio layouts, branded overlays, portrait+landscape exports from the same session), StreamYard’s studio model is better aligned with that workflow.

Which tool is simplest for teams that record often?

If you’re teaching, selling, onboarding, or hosting recurring shows, your real constraint isn’t software features—it’s time.

Some practical differences to keep in mind:

• Setup speed and learning curve

  • StreamYard runs in the browser; you and your guests click a link and you’re in a studio with screen sharing, per-participant local recording, branded overlays, and presenter-only notes ready to go.
  • OBS requires installation, hardware tuning, and manual scene and audio configuration.
  • Loom is quick to start but is geared toward one-person explainers rather than multi-presenter studios.

• Team costs and collaboration

  • StreamYard pricing is structured per workspace rather than per user, so U.S. teams can add multiple presenters and producers without multiplying seat-based pricing the way many per-user SaaS tools do. (StreamYard Pricing)
  • Loom’s pricing is per user, which can add up quickly in larger teams that want every teammate to record and collaborate in the same account. (Loom Pricing)

• Output flexibility

  • StreamYard supports landscape and portrait outputs from the same session, which is useful if you’re repurposing a single recording into YouTube, LinkedIn, and vertical social clips.
  • OBS gives deep control over technical settings but leaves repurposing entirely to your editor.
  • Loom centers on link-based playback more than on handing you structured multi-track files.

In practice, many teams treat StreamYard as the main studio for repeatable, branded recordings and then bring in tools like OBS or Loom only for specific edge cases.

What we recommend

• Start with StreamYard local recordings when you want clear, presenter-led screen recordings plus separate audio and video files per participant for editing.
• Use StreamYard cloud individual audio tracks on eligible paid plans when you want a simple browser studio plus cloud backups with per-speaker audio.
• Reach for OBS if you specifically need fine-grained control over multiple desktop audio sources and are comfortable managing hardware and multi-track files.
• Keep Loom in your toolkit for quick one-off async explainers, but rely on a studio like StreamYard when multi-track, multi-participant recording and reusability really matter.