Record Audio from YouTube with Audio Hijack Pro (Mac)



Audio Hijack Pro is a free program for Mac computers that can be used to record audio from any application in mp3 file form, including YouTube videos in a web browser. It records the audio only from that program, and is an easy tool to use for obtaining audio from an embedded video or song, instead of going through a series of downloads. Read on to find out how to use it.

Steps

  1. Download the free program Audio Hijack Pro. Without purchasing a license, you can only hijack ten minutes of audio before static ruins your file, but this is more than enough for most songs. (You can also record in segments.) For audio editing it's recommended that you also download the free program Audacity and the lame encoder which allows Audacity to export to mp3. You'll will probably need to edit out silence at the beginning and end of the song.
  2. Install and open Audio Hijack Pro. It will prompt you every time to register your program, but just click "Cancel". When you open up the program you should be in your "Recording Bin". This is where all recorded sound clips will go. On the left side you will see a list of applications you can record audio from. At the top left is the "Hijack" button, which you need to press before you press the "Record" button.

  3. Open a program to record audio from. For YouTube videos, Safari is most compatible with Audio Hijack Pro; open the video you would like to hijack in Safari. (If your computer lags on videos, you will want to let it load all the way.) In Audio Hijack Pro, click on "Safari" on the left hand side and then press "Hijack." Text should appear in the audio window saying, "Hijacking: 0:00." Play the video, and make sure the music video's into has finished, before pressing "Record." The text will now say, "Recording," and the bars adjacent to the Record button will fluctuate with blue bars. As well, there will be a red circle on top of the Audio Hijack Pro icon on your dock, if you are successfully recording.
  4. Wait until the video or song ends to press "Record" to stop the recording. Also press "Hijack" to stop the program completely. Do not walk away from the computer for too long or it will keep hijacking/recording and you will end up with some nasty static playing. Keep in mind that Audio Hijack Pro only records audio from the program you have selected. So there's no need to be quiet yourself, or silence other programs.

  5. Click on "Recording Bin" on the left hand side. You should see a file with the application name and a number in your recording bin. From here you can edit the file with Audacity or you can go ahead and import it to iTunes.

    • 'Audacity': Audacity is an easy to use audio editing program.
      • To set Audacity as the default "Editor" (the button with the scissors) go to Audio Hijack Pro>Preferences and select it. Then once you have the song selected you can press "Editor" and it will open the file in Audacity.

      • If you have recorded correctly you should see a lot of blue squiggles to represent the audio file. To play use the space bar, click and drag the mouse to select sections of the audio, and use the delete key to remove sections. In the example below, the flat line (silence) at the end all needed to be removed.

      • Make sure you have installed the Lame encoder, or you will not be able to export to mp3 files with Audacity. (This file is on the Audacity website on the same page as the application download link.) If you don't export to mp3, the file will be saved in aud format, which is not compatible with many things. To export your audio file to mp3 go to File>Export as MP3. Save it to your desktop, so you can easily drag and drop into iTunes. You're done!

    • 'iTunes': Press the "iTunes" button to automatically import the file to iTunes. You can also manually drag the file from Audio Hijack into iTunes or an iTunes playlist, so you don't lose track of it. You'll want to give it a more descriptive name immediately, so you don't lose the file. Go to File>Get Info and and rename in the "Info" tab. You can also change when the song starts and stops, to remove static or silence, from the "Options" tab, although this requires guess and check and is not as straightforward as Audacity.

  6. Enjoy your new audio file!

Tips

  • It can be tricky to press record and stop record at exactly the right time. Try to have only the program you are recording and Audio Hijack Pro open.

Warnings

  • If you have an unregistered copy of the program, do not let it Hijack for more than ten minutes or it will start overriding the audio file with static.
  • Hijack copyrighted material at your own risk.

Things You'll Need

  • Audio Hijack Pro
  • Audacity (optional)
  • Safari (or other program)
  • Mac computer
  • iTunes

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