- iMovie HD at a Glance
- The Essentials of Movie Making
- A Short Lesson in Video Formats
- Importing DV and HDV Video
- Working with Clips
- Timeline Techniques: Adding Clips to a Movie
- Advanced Timeline Techniques
- Creating Cutaways
- Adding Photos to Movies
- Working with the Ken Burns Effect
- Advanced Ken Burns Techniques
- Adding Audio to Movies
- Tips for Recording Better Sound
- Working with Audio Tracks
- Applying Audio Filters and Effects
- More Sound Advice
- Adding Transitions
- Creating Titles
- Adding Effects
- Adding Sizzle and Structure with Themes
- Magic iMovie: Editing on Autopilot
- Working in Other Video Formats
- Its a Wrap: Exporting to Tape
- Creating Chapter Markers
- Go Small: Internet and iPod Movies
- More Ways to Share Movies
- Fun with Freeze Frames
- iMovie HD Tips
- More iMovie HD Tips
- Tips for Making Better Movies
- Creating Time-lapse Movies and Animation
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Adding Audio to Movies
In movie making, sound is at least as important as the picture. An audience will forgive hand-held camera shots and poor lighting—The Blair Witch Project proved that. But give them a noisy, inaudible soundtrack, and they’ll run for the aspirin.
Poor quality audio is a common flaw of home video and amateur movies. One problem is that most camcorders don’t have very good microphones—their built-in mikes are often located on the top of the camera where they pick up sound from the camera’s motors. What’s more, the microphone is usually far from the subject, resulting in too much background noise. And if you’re shooting outdoors on a windy day, your scenes end up sounding like an outtake from Twister.
If your camcorder provides a jack for an external microphone, you can get much better sound by using one. On the following pages, you’ll find some advice on choosing and using microphones.
If you’ve already shot your video or you can’t use an external mike, there is another solution: don’t use the audio you recorded. Instead, create an audio bed consisting of music and, if appropriate, narration or sound effects (see page 245).
iMovie HD provides several features that you can use to sweeten your soundtracks. Take advantage of them. And if they don’t do the job, consider bringing your movie into GarageBand for additional sonic seasoning (page 362).
Importing Music from Your iTunes Library or GarageBand
Use the media browser to bring in music from your iTunes library or GarageBand.
- Step 1. Position the playhead where you want the music to begin playing.
- Step 2.
Step 3.
For details, see page 347.
- Step 4. Locate the song you want to import.
- Step 5.
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Recording an Audio Narration
If you connect a microphone to your Mac, you can record narration directly within iMovie HD.
To begin recording, click the red button 
next to the volume meter in iMovie HD’s Audio pane. To stop recording, click the red button again.
As you record, iMovie HD adds your narration to the first audio track, positioning it at the playhead’s location and giving it the name Voice 01.
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Also, position the mike carefully to avoid the “popping p” syndrome—bursts of breath noise. Record the phrase “pretty poppies” as a test, and back off if the results sound like a hurricane. (Audio trivia: those breathy, percussive consonants are aptly called plosives.)