“Learn the Basics of Adding Music and Effects to iMovie Videos”

Tutorials for Beginners: How to Add Audio to iMovie

Liza Brown

Jan 23, 2024• Proven solutions

iMovie is a video editing software program made by Apple. Capabilities include tools to alter and optimize video color settings, trim and pivot video clips, smooth shaky pictures, add video animations, and change the pace of recordings. you can also edit and enhance a project’s audio by eliminating background noise and increasing the audio levels of quiet segments. Or enjoy your films like never before with iMovie for iOS and macOS. It’s simple to search through your footage and make Hollywood-style trailers and gorgeous 4K-resolution movies.

You may even begin editing on your iPhone or iPad and finish on your Mac. It’s never been easier to implement it in the movies, whether you’re using a Mac or an iOS smartphone. Simply select your clips and then add titles, music, and effects. iMovie even supports 4K video, allowing you to create amazing cinema-quality videos. That’s all there is to it, ladies and gentlemen.

Create professional-looking films using iMovie even if you don’t have a degree in editing. Add images and videos to projects with a single click, cut clips with your finger, create flawless transitions, and fade sounds like a pro. Choose from 13 unique video filters to give a dramatic touch to your movie. Make your film look like it’s from the silent era, a classic western, or a fun comic book. Applying filters to specific segments or your entire video, as well as adjusting the strength, is straightforward on your iPhone or iPad. Slow down action pictures to make them more interesting. Allow viewers to soar across scenes by accelerating them. Alternatively, use picture-in-picture and split-screen techniques to give your school report a broadcast vibe.

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to add audio to iMovie via different methods. Here we go.

If you want to add audio to video via your android phone , check this out.

Part 1. How to Add Audio to iMovie on iPhone/iPad?

Step #1. In your iMovie project, tap the ADD MEDIA (+ Symbol) button.

Step #2. Then, choose AUDIO.

You will now be given three options. Soundtracks, My Music, and Songs in iCloud. Make your choice.

To listen to a soundtrack, tap it. If a soundtrack is muted, press it to download it first, and then hit it again to preview it.

Step #3. To add a soundtrack to your project, hit the Add Audio icon next to it. iMovie will automatically insert the music at the beginning of the project and adjust it to match the duration of the project.

Adding sound effects

When you add a sound effect, it is linked to the video clip above it in the timeline. When you move the video clip, the sound effect moves with it. This differs from soundtracks, which are separate from the video segments in your production.

Scroll the timeline with your project open until the play head (the white vertical line) appears where you wish to add the sound effect.

To browse the built-in sound effects, press the Add Media button, then Audio, then Sound Effects.

To hear a sound effect, tap it.

Tap the Add Audio button next to the sound effect to add it.

Step #4. Adjust the volume of the clip

After you’ve added sound to your iMovie project, you may change the level of audio clips to achieve the ideal sound mix, or change the level of video clips that have sound. To change the volume of an audio or video clip, select it in the timeline, click the Volume button at the bottom of the window, and then drag the slider to raise or decrease the volume. When you completely reduce the volume of a clip, a Mute symbol displays on the clip in the timeline.

Part 2. How to Add Audio to iMovie on Mac?

iMovie for Mac comes with a library of music and sound clips that you may use in your project. In addition to sound effects such as rain and footsteps, iMovie includes audio clips such as ambiances and jingles.

Step #1. With your project open, go to the top of the browser and select Audio, followed by Sound Effects in the sidebar on the left. To access the Media Browser, you may need to click the Media Browser button.

Step #2. Hover the pointer over a jingle or sound clip in the list to preview it, and then click the play button next to the sound clip. You may also preview a song or sound clip by selecting it, clicking on the waveform at the top of the media browser, and then pressing the Spacebar.

Step #3. Drag jingles or other audio clips to the music well, represented by the musical note icon in the timeline, to create background music for your film. The video clips in the timeline have no effect on the audio in the music well.

Step #4. To add music or sound effects to a video clip, drag it under the video clip until a bar linking the clips appears. When you move the connected video clip, the audio follows.

Part 3. How to Add Audio to iMovie from iTunes?

If you want to add songs such as M4P music and Apple Music from iTunes to iMovie but discover that all of the music is protected, all you need is the Sidify Apple Music Converter. Sidify Apple Music Converter enables you to download music without quality loss. One of Sidify’s distinctive advantages is its ability to remove protection at an extremely quick rate – up to 20 times faster than any other similar program. The software’s user interface is straightforward. The program is simple to use even for inexperienced users. In this section, we’ll teach you how to add M4P music and Apple Music to an iMovie project as background music.

What you’ll need:

• A Mac or Windows computer running macOS or Windows OS
• The most recent version of iTunes
• Sidify Apple Music Converter is available
• Sidify Apple Music Converter can now play Apple Music

Launch Sidify Apple Music Converter, click the + button, and all the tunes you’ve downloaded from Apple Music will appear in the adding music window, as seen below. Select the song to be converted and click OK.

Step 1. Select a file type

A setting window would appear after clicking the setting button or the little gear icon on the upper right of the Sidify interface. You may select an output format such as MP3, M4A, WAV, FLAC, or AIFF, as well as a conversion speed of up to 10X and an output quality of up to 320 Kbps. Furthermore, the output path can be changed if necessary.

Step 2. Begin the conversion

Once all of the files have been added to the queue and all of the settings have been completed, click the Convert button.

Step 3. Find the best-converted music files for iMovie

Now, on your Mac computer, click the Menu button to locate the converted iTunes Music files in the target folder. The music may then be readily added to an iMovie project just like any other standard audio file.

Part 4. How to Add Audio to iMovie from Spotify?

Offline playback is possible with a Spotify Premium membership. You may save songs, playlists, or albums to listen to later. The essential element to remember is that Spotify music, whether online or offline, can only be accessed through the Spotify application. To put it another way, you do not have permission to import Spotify music into other third-party software programs. It comes with iMovie and other video editing software.

Step #1. Import music from Spotify into AudFree. The AudFree Spotify converter must be compatible with the Spotify app. When you run AudFree program from your computer’s desktop, Spotify will immediately load. You may now begin to uncover preferred Spotify tunes to add to iMovie. Import them into AudFree by copying and pasting or dragging and dropping.

Step #2. Set the output format and other preferences for iMovie. MP3, WAV, M4A, and AIFF are all supported by iMovie. You may go to the top menu and select ‘Preferences’ > ‘Convert’. A setting window will appear. You may select one of the iMovie-supported audio formats as the output format in the window. You can also change the output parameters.

Step #3. Spotify tracks may be converted for use in iMovie. To begin the download, click the ‘Convert’ button in the bottom-right corner of the main screen. AudFree program will download Spotify music to target iMovie files at up to 5X quicker speeds. You should disable your antivirus or firewall to make the converting process more stable.

Part 5. The Best Alternative to iMovie on Mac

Although iMovie has the amazing features anyone could wish to work with when crafting an interesting content, it has been seen to be limited in some ways. This is why Wondershare Filmora is the best alternative to iMovie. Filmora allows you to swiftly adjust audio effects and edit sound, ensuring that your demands are met.

Wrap Up

iMovie is an essential video editing tool, and that’s all there is to do when it comes to adding audio to iMovie videos.

iMovie, on the other hand, is limited if you want to test out new capabilities like editing films with amazing effects. This is where Filmora may come in handy in such cases.

Liza Brown

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Liza Brown

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