As I pulled into the garage yesterday, a melody popped into my head and came tumbling out of my mouth, and I wanted to remember it. Fat chance unless I could quickly record it — the search for a method caused me to lose half the thought but I nonetheless will be better armed next time.

With the exception of the Mac mini and Mac Pro — get a cheap + compatible mic at Amazon — modern Macs include a microphone. Macs also include, and here there are no exceptions, QuickTime for recording.

Thereupon, open QuickTime X (Applications) or QuickTime 7 (Utilities), go to the file menu and click “New Audio Recording,” take a moment to order your thoughts (or not), click the red (record) and then begin speaking, singing, playing et al. When you’re done, click the black square and you will be presented with an editable/savable/exportable QuickTime clip.

Although I only recorded part of the melody and lyric that overtook me in the garage, I now have a new skill with which to capture the next tuneful musing whole.

How do you capture voice, musical and/or audio memos on your Mac?