how to add music to powerpoint presentation.
Microsoft PowerPoint allows you to add various types of multimedia content. Music is another type of content you can add to grab attention. However, before you start adding music to your PowerPoint presentations, remember that not all types of music, or even all sound effects, may be appropriate for your presentation.
As a general rule of thumb, when creating engaging PowerPoint presentations, always adapt the presentation to the content, not the other way around.
Let’s learn how to add music to PowerPoint slides and then customize the music file using the playback controls on the PowerPoint ribbon.
Here are a few things you should know before uploading your first music file:
- You can add one or more audio files to your slides.
- You can download a song or music file from the Internet and then insert it into your slides.
- You can record your own voice and add it as a commentary to your presentation.
- You must use an external audio editor to combine multiple music files if you want to cover a long presentation.
- PowerPoint supports WAV, WMA, MP3, and several other file formats.
In this article, we will not talk about adding an audio recording to PowerPoint. Instead, let’s take a look at how to add music to your PowerPoint presentation using an audio file of your choice.
Add Music To Your PowerPoint Presentation
Adding music to PowerPoint slides is like downloading any other type of file.
- Click the Ribbon tab> Insert. In the Multimedia group, choose Audio> Audio on My Computer.
- Browse to the location of the audio file on your desktop and download it. The icon represents a sound file on a slide. You can drag it anywhere you want.
- The Play Audio tab appears on the ribbon as soon as the file is loaded onto the slide. You can also select the audio file icon in normal slide view and open the Play Audio Tools tab.
- Click the View button to test the playback.
Customize The Music With The Audio Tools Playback Tab
By default, the sound style is automatically set to No Style.
You can choose “Play in the background”. When played in the background, the audio file starts automatically during the slideshow, and also plays across multiple slides.
There are three ways to start playback.
- Automatic: Music starts automatically when the slide appears.
- On Click: Music plays only when you click on the sound icon. For this to work, deselect the Hide While Shown check box to display the icon in Presentation View.
- In a click sequence: Music plays on launch with other effects that you have configured on the slide (for example, animation effects).
Other options, such as Volume, Play Between Slides, Loop to Stop, and Rewind After Play, are self-explanatory.
How To Trim Your Music Clip
The editing group on the Playback tab gives you several ways to change the way your music sounds. You can add fade effects using the fade and fade timers to gradually add a sound clip to your presentation.
Trim Audio is another editing tool that can cut out unwanted parts of an audio clip and keep the section you want to play. Click the button to open the Trim Audio window.
Click the Play button. When the slider reaches the point where you want to cut, click the Pause button. Make minor adjustments as needed using the Next Frame and Previous Frame buttons. Of course, you can also move the slider to the desired position.
Drag the green marker (at the beginning of the clip) to the marker position. To trim the end of the clip, drag the red handle on the right to the new point where you want it to end.
Instead of dragging and dropping markers, you can also mark the time of the end points and then enter it in the start and end time fields.
When you save the presentation, the trimmed information is saved in the file. You can also save a separate copy of the trimmed music file outside of PowerPoint.
How To Add Bookmarks To An Audio File
You can also use bookmarks to keep your music file working. Bookmarks work just like any other bookmarks. They are more useful when you are using PowerPoint video files or dubbed audio files.
But you can use them for creative purposes and when playing music. For example, you can use a bookmark in an audio file to start a new animation, such as an input slide or transition effect.
Adding a bookmark is easy on the Playback tab.
- On the slide, select a sound clip and click Play. When you get to the place where you want to add the bookmark, click Pause.
- In the Bookmarks group, click Add Bookmark. The yellow dot on the slider shows the position of the selected bookmark. The white point is an unselected bookmark.
- You can add multiple bookmarks. To delete a bookmark, select the one you want to delete and click the “Delete Bookmark” button on the toolbar.
When You Want To Change The Audio Icon
By default, the audio file appears on the slide as a speaker icon. If you want, you can change the icon to a different image.
- Select an audio file, then click the Audio Format tab.
- Click the Change Image command.
- Use the drop-down list to select a file from possible sources.
- Click Insert to replace the default icon for the new image.
Play The Perfect Audio For Your Presentation
You can add different sound effects to different slides. Start with cool background music, or add a tiny sound effect to one slide, or just record your own commentary.
You can use songs or instrumental scores for your slides if you want to convert PowerPoint to video.
But remember that these media should not overwhelm the content of your presentation. Every rule of thumb for effective presentations is that it’s important to know what to ignore and what music to add to your PowerPoint slides.
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How to Add Music to PowerPoint Presentations
How to Add Music to PowerPoint Presentation.