How to Add Audio to Video

Digital media is everywhere you look. Music and video production have made it to the grass roots level thanks to the affordability and widespread use of powerful computers.

Inexpensive digital video cameras are widely available, and older analog video cameras can be connected to a computer through a video card to download movies to the computer for editing, storage, and distribution to friends and relatives over the internet.

It has become fairly easy to edit your own videos, and there are many software packages available aimed at the amateur. The Windows operating system has its own video editing package called Windows Movie Maker that allows you to produce professional-looking videos.

As you explore this exciting new world, you will inevitably come up with the need to edit the audio portion of your video file. The sound quality of most video cameras is not great, so you may want to process the sound or replace it all together with music or voice-overs.

It is very easy to separate the audio from the video. Free software packages that do this task include Windows Media Encoder from Microsoft (if you are working with WMV video files) and VirtualDub (if you are working with AVI files). Either of these programs (and many others) allow you to save the audio portion of video file quickly and easily.Once you have your audio file, you can process it for noise reduction, bring up the volume, add music or do any digital magic to it that you desire.

With many video editing packages, however, it isn't necessary to split the audio to a separate file. Even simple packages like Windows Movie Maker have basic audio editing functions, and you can add separate music or voice tracks and mix all of them together.

If you have a particular audio file that you would like to use in your video (maybe a special effect or a voice over that you have recorded separately) simply add that file to the list of media to be included in the video. Other media formats can be separate video files, picture files or graphics.

The audio file can be placed anywhere on the time-line, and you can use the same file many times without requiring any extra storage space on your computer. For precise placement, zoom all the way into your timeline and place the audio exactly in sync with the video. That's it! You are well on your way to making professional-looking videos!

Hans is editor of the Audio Howto Section of the Selected Audio Review Guide

More Resources

How to Add Audio to Video
Digital media is everywhere you look. Music and video production have made it to the grass roots level thanks to the affordability and widespread use of powerful computers.
CD/DVD Master Preparation Tips
"CD/DVD Master" is the disc you provide to your CD/DVD vendor for replication or duplication of that media. Here are some helpful tips for creating a high quality master:- Always use high quality media.
7 Ways to Use Website Audio in Your Marketing Arsenal
Most visitors to your website are using computers with audio capabilities. Recently introduced techniques make it easy to take advantage of this capability.
Internet Radio: A Sanctuary in the Rubbish Tip
The internet, it's a whole world of information and entertainment, but every day it fills up just that extra bit more with complete trash. At every corner, popups, banner ads, viruses, spyware, the list goes on, well I've had enough and I'm sure you share my opinion.
Creating Web Content Using Audio Recordings of Expert Interviews
Creating Web Content Using Audio Recordings of Expert Interviews The easiest way to create content for your websites is also one of the best ways to create value for your clients. It's a wonderful technique that when used well can make a big difference to how professionally your work is perceived in the marketplace.
What The Muscle Power of Audio Can Do for Your Site
How Audio can Influence SalesAudio can enhance your website by letting your visitor listen to your voice, which is the next closest form of marketing besides a face to face meeting.Who can use Audio?Anyone can use audio, it all depends how knowledgeable you are when it comes to designing your site.
Heres Exactly What Makes Web Audio So Powerful
Have you ever tried to communicate with another person using just actions and sign language? It gets pretty frustrating, doesn't it? Especially when you know that if you could just SAY a few words, they'd get the picture, almost instantly.Well, imagine if the website you've put up on show.
Get Personal by Adding Your Voice to Your Site
Many customers in today's online business world are shopping around online for a reason; either they are too lazy to go to stores, do not like the masses of people, or they might just want to shop in the comfort of their home. What ever the reason might be, we can conclude that they are not in a store, but rather they are on your site.
How to Create Professional Audio Books from Scratch
My name is Alan Twigg and I'm writing this article to offer advice to anyone thinking of creating their own professional audio books.In the New Year I came up with the idea of creating professional children's stories and offering them for download on the internet.
Eight Reasons Why You Must Add Audio to Your Website
NUMBER 1 : INTERNET USERS REMEMBER WHAT THEY HEARDid you know that Internet users remember only 20% of what they read while remembering an amazing 70% of what they hear? Audio on your website will help your message stay with fresh your visitors for longer.NUMBER 2 : AUDIO INCREASES SUBSCRIPTION RATESUsing audio to convey a personal message to entice visitors to subscribe to your newsletter will result in up to 400% more subscribers than using traditional subscription marketing methods.
The Ten Commandments To Creating Amazing Audio Products
1.Thou shall create audio products as the fastest way to come out with a product.
Alternatives to MP3
Although MP3 is the most popular format for encoding music, it is by no means the only one. There are two basic methods for compressing audio - lossless and lossy, and for each of these methods there are many formats.
wav; Recording Voice or Instruments
A graduate student in Belfast wrote to me about a project he was doing. It is an inter-active instructional CD on the Tin Whistle.
Audio Websites -- Web Developers: Make Money Now
Are you a website developer looking to establish a long-term relationship with a web content provider that could make money over the long-term for both of you? Have you considered becoming an expert in the providing of website audio content -- in webcasting and podcasting? Knowing how to present web audio and how to manage such a site can be your key to making money over the web.It is hard to pick up a periodical about the web these days without coming upon an article about the ever increasing use of substantive audio content in websites.
Why Arent You Using Audio?
As use of the Internet continues to grow geometrically, we see an increased demand for information to be provided by a variety of media. Viewing options can range from simple text to PDF documents to video clips.
Teleseminars, Audio Downloads, Podcasts: Listen Up So You'll Learn and Earn More
Internet Marketers love audio. You can't blame them.
WAV; Useful Applications; Recording Your Tapes or L.P.s to CD
My first article about digital recording that I have had published in various places on the net for some time, talks about the two main audio formats midi. and wav.
The Ten Commandments of Using Streaming Audio On Your Website
When it comes to placing audio on your website there are Ten Commandments you absolutely must follow. Break one of these Commandments and you can watch your website drive visitors away faster than the speed of sound.
DVD Audio: An Introduction
DVD Audio is a music format that is designed to offer improved audio performance over CD. The new audio format can be used to provide listeners with Advanced Resolution stereo and/or multi-channel (up to a maximum of six channels) music.
Transmit Clean Digital Audio with Digital Coaxial Cables
In the world of digital audio, there are two types of cable to choose from; optical cables which use light to transmit signal and digital coaxial cable. These audio cables will enable your home theater system to transmit digital data between components.

More Audio Streaming Information:

Related Articles

How to Add Audio to Video
Digital media is everywhere you look. Music and video production have made it to the grass roots level thanks to the affordability and widespread use of powerful computers.
CD/DVD Master Preparation Tips
"CD/DVD Master" is the disc you provide to your CD/DVD vendor for replication or duplication of that media. Here are some helpful tips for creating a high quality master:- Always use high quality media.
7 Ways to Use Website Audio in Your Marketing Arsenal
Most visitors to your website are using computers with audio capabilities. Recently introduced techniques make it easy to take advantage of this capability.
Internet Radio: A Sanctuary in the Rubbish Tip
The internet, it's a whole world of information and entertainment, but every day it fills up just that extra bit more with complete trash. At every corner, popups, banner ads, viruses, spyware, the list goes on, well I've had enough and I'm sure you share my opinion.
Creating Web Content Using Audio Recordings of Expert Interviews
Creating Web Content Using Audio Recordings of Expert Interviews The easiest way to create content for your websites is also one of the best ways to create value for your clients. It's a wonderful technique that when used well can make a big difference to how professionally your work is perceived in the marketplace.
What The Muscle Power of Audio Can Do for Your Site
How Audio can Influence SalesAudio can enhance your website by letting your visitor listen to your voice, which is the next closest form of marketing besides a face to face meeting.Who can use Audio?Anyone can use audio, it all depends how knowledgeable you are when it comes to designing your site.
Heres Exactly What Makes Web Audio So Powerful
Have you ever tried to communicate with another person using just actions and sign language? It gets pretty frustrating, doesn't it? Especially when you know that if you could just SAY a few words, they'd get the picture, almost instantly.Well, imagine if the website you've put up on show.
Get Personal by Adding Your Voice to Your Site
Many customers in today's online business world are shopping around online for a reason; either they are too lazy to go to stores, do not like the masses of people, or they might just want to shop in the comfort of their home. What ever the reason might be, we can conclude that they are not in a store, but rather they are on your site.
How to Create Professional Audio Books from Scratch
My name is Alan Twigg and I'm writing this article to offer advice to anyone thinking of creating their own professional audio books.In the New Year I came up with the idea of creating professional children's stories and offering them for download on the internet.
Eight Reasons Why You Must Add Audio to Your Website
NUMBER 1 : INTERNET USERS REMEMBER WHAT THEY HEARDid you know that Internet users remember only 20% of what they read while remembering an amazing 70% of what they hear? Audio on your website will help your message stay with fresh your visitors for longer.NUMBER 2 : AUDIO INCREASES SUBSCRIPTION RATESUsing audio to convey a personal message to entice visitors to subscribe to your newsletter will result in up to 400% more subscribers than using traditional subscription marketing methods.
The Ten Commandments To Creating Amazing Audio Products
1.Thou shall create audio products as the fastest way to come out with a product.
Alternatives to MP3
Although MP3 is the most popular format for encoding music, it is by no means the only one. There are two basic methods for compressing audio - lossless and lossy, and for each of these methods there are many formats.
wav; Recording Voice or Instruments
A graduate student in Belfast wrote to me about a project he was doing. It is an inter-active instructional CD on the Tin Whistle.
Audio Websites -- Web Developers: Make Money Now
Are you a website developer looking to establish a long-term relationship with a web content provider that could make money over the long-term for both of you? Have you considered becoming an expert in the providing of website audio content -- in webcasting and podcasting? Knowing how to present web audio and how to manage such a site can be your key to making money over the web.It is hard to pick up a periodical about the web these days without coming upon an article about the ever increasing use of substantive audio content in websites.
Why Arent You Using Audio?
As use of the Internet continues to grow geometrically, we see an increased demand for information to be provided by a variety of media. Viewing options can range from simple text to PDF documents to video clips.
Teleseminars, Audio Downloads, Podcasts: Listen Up So You'll Learn and Earn More
Internet Marketers love audio. You can't blame them.
WAV; Useful Applications; Recording Your Tapes or L.P.s to CD
My first article about digital recording that I have had published in various places on the net for some time, talks about the two main audio formats midi. and wav.
The Ten Commandments of Using Streaming Audio On Your Website
When it comes to placing audio on your website there are Ten Commandments you absolutely must follow. Break one of these Commandments and you can watch your website drive visitors away faster than the speed of sound.
DVD Audio: An Introduction
DVD Audio is a music format that is designed to offer improved audio performance over CD. The new audio format can be used to provide listeners with Advanced Resolution stereo and/or multi-channel (up to a maximum of six channels) music.
Transmit Clean Digital Audio with Digital Coaxial Cables
In the world of digital audio, there are two types of cable to choose from; optical cables which use light to transmit signal and digital coaxial cable. These audio cables will enable your home theater system to transmit digital data between components.