Tip Sheets

MovieMaker

Add Narration

Adding narration (assuming your movie maker project has the content in the proper order):

  1. Click Start in Windows Vista or Windows 7 and open up Sound Recorder in the Accessories folder.
  2. With your Windows Live Movie Maker project open in the background, click Start Recording in Sound Recorder and immediately click the Play control in your Movie Maker project.

    Narrate your movie. If you mess up, stop the playback of your Movie Maker project, click Stop Recording in Sound Recorder (don’t save the file) and start again.

    When you finish narrating, click Stop Recording in Sound Recorder and save the audio file in a location on your computer that is easy for you to locate.
  3. Go back to Windows Live Movie Maker, find the point in the Storyboard timeline that you would like to add your narration (from the beginning or at a current point), and click Add music below the music note in the Home tab. Navigate to your audio file and add it to your project.
  4. You can edit your narrative track by clicking the Music Tools tab in the ribbon. Start by aligning the audio track to the place in your movie you want the narration to start. Then start playing your movie. The audio and video is probably not synced, for the moment do not pay attention to the video, listen for the point in the narration where you want the audio to start and click Set Start Point. This adjusts the audio so that the start point begins where you originally placed the audio track, effectively syncing your audio with your movie.
  5. Adding a soundtrack and narration

    • Make your movie as you would (using AutoMovie or manually) and add a soundtrack. Export the movie (depending on your resolution, we always recommend 1080p).
    • Once your movie is exported and saved, open a new project in Windows Live Movie Maker.
    • Click Add videos and photos; add the recently exported movie.
    • Click Add music. Follow the steps above to add a narrative track.
    • If you need to adjust audio levels, click Audio mix in the Home tab to make the movie or the audio track (narrative in this case) louder than one another by sliding the bar left or right.