Auto Movie Creator 3.26

Narration

Adding narration to your clips can do wonders for the atmosphere and professionalism of your video.  By adding witty remarks, a running commentary, or descriptions of certain objects, you can make watching your videos fun.  All you need is a microphone, the Narration tool, and some imagination.

Muting/Reducing Clip Sound while Recording

If you don't want to listen to the clip sound (clip audio, music and previous narration added to clips) while recording a narration, you can click the speaker icon on the Preview to turn off the sound of the entire Storyboard.  The other option is to reduce the volumes of clip audio, music and any previous narration using the Volume Balance Control.  Once the narration has been recorded, you can change the settings.

Positioning the Seek Slider

The seek slider must be positioned on the exact position in the Preview where you want the narration to start.  To add narration to a particular clip, click on it.  This moves the seek slider move to the beginning of the clip.  When you start recording, the Storyboard plays, beginning from where the seek slider is positioned.  You can stop recording the narration when the clip ends or continue it for the next clip.  Narration will be added for all clips that got played while recording (till you click the Stop button on the Narration dialog).

Using the Narration Tool

To add narration to clips in the Storyboard:

1. Make sure that you have a microphone connected to your PC and it is correctly configured.

2. Position the seek slider to the moment when you want the narration to begin.

3. Open the Tools menu and click Narration or click on the Narration icon on the toolbar.

4. To change audio properties, click Options in the Narration dialog.  You can select a device from Audio Devices list.  Select the Audio Frequency.  You can select the Audio Bit Size as 8 Bits/Second or 16 Bits/Second.  Audio Type can be selected as Stereo or Mono.  Audio Properties like Sound Quality, Input and Mixing can be changed.  Click OK.

5. Clicking the Tune Audio opens the Audio Tuning Wizard.  You can set the Playback Level, Select Audio Recording Device and adjust Recording Volume using this wizard.

6. Click on the Record to start recording the narration.  Begin talking.

7. Click the Stop button on the Narration dialog when you are done with the narration.  A Save Narration dialog appears informing you about the duration of the narration and the clips to which it would be added.  You can Play, Save or Cancel the recording.  If you click on choose to save, the narration gets added to the clips and a icon appears on the clips.

Adding Narration to a Part of the Clip

If you do not wish to add narration to the entire clip, play it and pause the preview when it reaches the point from which you want to add narration.  Begin recording and continue it for the entire clip or stop it at any point before the clip ends.  You can record separate narrations for different parts of a clip.  If you record narration for a clip or part of a clip that already has a narration, you will be asked whether you wish to delete the previous one.  The latest narration can be saved only if you choose to delete the previous one.

Adding a narration to a clip that has a transition added to it means that the narration would also be added to the other clip for the duration for which they overlap because of the transition.

Removing the Narration of a Clip

To remove narration, right-click on the narration icon of a clip and select Remove Narrations.  A dialog opens listing the start and stop time of the narration(s) added to the clip.  Select the one you want to remove by clicking on it and click Remove.  Use the Play button to listen to a narration before removing it.  Click OK to save and apply the changes.

Automatic Removal of Narration

If you record a single narration that runs over more than one clip and then remove it from any one of the clips, it automatically gets removed completely (from the other clips also).  If you add another narration over any of these clips (coinciding with the previous narration), the previous narration from all other clips would be completely removed.  The previous narration on all these clips does not get removed if the new narration is added to parts where there is no previous narration. 

Re-arranging, adding or deleting clips/transitions deletes all narrations from the Storyboard.  Therefore, be sure to add narration after all other editing is complete.