How to make Zoom quieter than Spotify on a Mac

You can't set Zoom and Spotify to different volumes from the Mac's system control — macOS has one master output level, so turning it down quiets both at once. To make Zoom quieter than Spotify (or the reverse), you either lower each app with its own internal slider by hand, or install a per-app mixer that gives Zoom and Spotify separate levels you can set once and ride from the keyboard. This guide covers both, where the free method runs out, and the fastest way to balance a call against music.

It's a common setup: a Zoom call you're half-listening to — a webinar, a standup, a screen-share you only need the gist of — while Spotify carries the actual focus music. You want the music up front and the call in the background, or some balance between them. On Windows you'd open the Volume Mixer and drag two sliders. On a Mac, the single master volume moves everything together, so there's no system-level way to say "Zoom at 40%, Spotify at 100%."

Why one volume key won't do it

The Mac's volume keys and the Sound menu set a single output level for the whole machine. Every app — Zoom, Spotify, Slack, your browser — is mixed down to that one slider before it reaches your speakers or headphones. Nudge it down to soften the call and the music drops with it; push it up for the music and the call gets loud again. The balance between the two never changes, because the system has no concept of "per app." This is the same wall you hit any time you want to lower one app without lowering everything.

Option 1 — Use each app's own slider (free, but fiddly)

Both apps here happen to carry their own volume control, so you can balance them for free:

• Spotify: there's a volume slider in the now-playing bar at the bottom-right of the desktop app. Drag it down to keep the music as a bed under the call, or up to bring it forward.
• Zoom: open Zoom, go to Settings > Audio, and use the Speaker volume slider. It scales Zoom's output independently of your system volume, so you can pull the call down without touching anything else.

Set Zoom's speaker slider low and Spotify's slider high and you've made Zoom quieter than Spotify — no extra software. For a fixed setup you rarely change, that's genuinely all you need.

The friction shows up the moment the balance has to move. Spotify's slider is one click away, but Zoom's lives behind a Settings window — you have to leave the call view, open preferences, find the Audio tab, and drag, every time someone starts talking and you want the call up for a minute. The two controls live in completely different places, and neither is reachable from the keyboard. Do it twice a day and it's fine. Do it through back-to-back meetings and it's the exact papercut this category exists to remove. It also only works because both apps have a slider — the second you add an app that doesn't (many video players, games, system alerts), this approach has nothing to grab.

Option 2 — A per-app mixer (set both levels, recall them instantly)

A per-app volume mixer sits at the macOS audio layer and gives every running app its own level in one place — the Volume Mixer that Apple never shipped. You set Zoom to 40% and Spotify to 100% once, and the balance holds until you change it. Crucially, both controls live in the same spot, so moving the mix is one action instead of a Settings-window expedition. Tools that do this include Background Music (free, open source), SoundSource by Rogue Amoeba (paid, deep), and Fader (paid, keyboard-first).

They all set per-app volume. Where they differ is how fast you can reach the controls mid-call — and that's what decides whether you actually ride the balance or just leave it parked.

Background Music is a real, free option — if you're comfortable with an open-source utility and a menu-bar list, it will set Zoom and Spotify to different levels at no cost. SoundSource is the polished, feature-rich choice: per-app volume plus EQ and audio effects, at $49 one-time. Fader's angle is narrower and faster: balance you reach without lifting your hands off the keyboard.

Why the keyboard matters for a live call

During a meeting, the speed of the control is the whole game. A menu-bar list means move to the menu bar, click the icon, find the Zoom row, drag, dismiss — five actions while someone's mid-sentence. Zoom's own Settings slider is worse. The point of balancing a call against music is that the balance keeps shifting: the call gets interesting, you bring it up; it goes quiet again, you push the music back.

Fader's bet is that the fastest controller you own is already under your hands. You hit a toggle hotkey, the keyboard becomes a mixer — one letter column is Zoom, the next is Spotify — and you ride both levels with key presses without leaving the call. You can also bind a single per-app mute key, so dropping the call to zero (or silencing the music when someone unmutes) is one keystroke. If a fast mute is the part you care about, see how to set a keyboard shortcut to mute an app on Mac.

A quick recipe for the common setup

For "music in front, call in the background" — say a webinar you're monitoring while you work:

• Set Spotify to 100% (its own slider, or in the mixer).
• Set Zoom to roughly 30–50% so voices sit under the music without disappearing.
• Keep your Mac's master volume where it's comfortable — that's now just the overall level, with the Zoom-to-Spotify ratio locked underneath it.
• When the call needs your full attention, push Zoom back up (one hotkey in a mixer, or pull Spotify down).

Bottom line

macOS gives you one master volume, so the system can't make Zoom quieter than Spotify on its own. Both apps do have their own sliders, so a fixed balance is free — set Zoom's speaker level low in Settings and Spotify's high, and you're done. The moment that balance has to move during a call, the free method turns into a settings hunt. A per-app mixer keeps both levels in one place; if reaching them in a keystroke without leaving the meeting is what you want, that's exactly what Fader is built for.