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iMovie Tutorial 0004 - Adding Music and Sound Effects

Sometimes, you just need to add a music track, or sound effects to your video! Perhaps you have several minutes of footage that you have edited together for a project and need that special piece of music to finish it. iMovie is a quick and easy way to do this.

  To Import Music from a CD

  An easy way to get music into iMovie is to import directly from CD. I do need to remind you that this is for educational purposes only. If you need to have music that can be used in a commercial capacity, you will need to use royalty-free music.

  1. Insert the CD in your drive.

  2. Open iMovie, and open an existing project or create a new one. In order to add audio, you will need to be in the expert timeline (tab with the clock on it). In the Audio tab of the clips tray, you will see a list of your CD tracks (labeled Track 01, Track 02, etc...). To import a track, simply drag it to the timeline. Depending on how long your track is, this may take about a minute or so.

  3. You can cut music tracks just as you can cut video clips (see imov0002). If your music is too long, you can cut out the excess by moving the playback head to the appropriate spot and selecting "Split clip at Playback Head" from the EDIT menu. You can also "fade" clips "out" or "in" for a more professional feel.

4. Apple has conveniently provided a group of sound effects that you can use to add atmosphere and fun to your videos. The top section of the audio pane lists the available sound effects. Simply drag a sound effect into place on on the audio tracks in the timeline, and presto! You can make your aunt walk to the sound of crickets!

  In addition to importing audio from CD, you can also import MP3s or AIFF sound files. There is no limit to your imagination! Just think, that video from the party last week could become a masterpiece of strategic sound effects, making for hours of post-party viewing fun! Or, you know, you could use sound effects and music to finish off your video assignment that's due on Friday...