Adding Narration

A narrator can set the context for your scene. Narrators can describe a location, introduce the people in the scene, and even give your audience additional information that you didn’t capture on video.

With iMovie, however, you don’t have to narrate your movie as you’re filming it; you can add narration later. This way, you can position the narration exactly where you want it, adjust volume levels without affecting the main audio, and rerecord if you make a mistake.

Tips

Write a script

To help you sound more like a pro, consider writing a script for your narration. You can practice this before you actually record so your voice sounds more relaxed and natural.

Using your iSight as a microphone

You’ve used your attached iSight camera to chat with a buddy. Why not take advantage of the high-quality microphone, and record your narration into iMovie with your iSight? Just plug it in to the FireWire port on your Mac and you’re ready to record using your iSight in iMovie. Many Macs have a built-in iSight and microphone as well.

Use an external USB microphone

You can get high-quality voice recordings with an external USB microphone and your Mac. These microphones often come with headsets, so the microphone will be positioned very close to your mouth and will pick up more of your voice and less room noise.

Use your camcorder to record audio

If you don't have an external microphone available, you can also record narration to videotape and only use the audio portion. Import your video as usual and add it to the timeline. Highlight your video clip and choose Extract Audio from the Advanced menu. Your audio will be extracted from the video and placed on the track immediately below, locked to your video. To unlock audio, highlight your audio clip and choose Unlock Audio Clip from the Advanced menu. Move the audio to the narration point in your video and discard the unused video clip.

Take your laptop someplace quiet

Remember that the microphone you record with is going to pick up all the sound in the room. If you’re using a laptop, consider moving to a quiet room, close the door behind you, and shut off any other machines before you begin recording.

Don’t try to record your narration all at once

It’s easier to record your narration in small pieces. You’ll be able to position the pieces exactly where you want them in your movie, and you’ll have to rerecord only a small portion if you make a mistake.

Lock narration to a video clip

You can ensure a narration or any audio clip stays in sync with a point in your video by locking it to the video clip. This is especially helpful when adding narration, since narration is often associated with the specific video it plays with. To lock any audio clip to a video clip, move the playhead where you want to lock the audio and choose Lock Audio Clip at Playhead from the Advanced menu. You’ll see two yellow push-pins added to your clips to indicate they are "pinned" together.

Lower the volume or mute the video clips’ audio

When you add your own narration, you may want to lower the volume of your audio tracks or any music you’ve added. This way, the audio won’t overwhelm your audience, and they will be able to hear your narration better. Just select the clips or music track you want to change, and then use the Clip volume slider to lower the volume. To only lower audio at a specific area in your video, use Show Clip Volume Levels from the View menu and edit the audio right before and after your narration plays.

Steps

Add narration to your iMovie project

Make sure your Mac has a built-in microphone, an iSight camera, or an external microphone connected.
In iMovie, click the timeline viewer button to display the audio tracks.
Move the timeline playhead to where you want your narration, or voiceover, to begin.
In the Audio pane, click the Record button and then speak clearly into the microphone. As you speak, try to speak loudly enough so that the input meters appear green or yellow, but not so loudly that the meters appear red.
Click the Record button again to stop recording. You’ll see your audio was added to the timeline as you were recording.
Move the timeline playhead to the beginning of your recording and click Play to review your narration.
To isolate your narration, use the audio checkboxes at the far right to deselect the audio from the other tracks. After reviewing your isolated audio, enable audio for all three tracks.
Save your project.