You can adjust the audio levels between the Audio and Audio/Music tracks (the audio that was captured as part of a video clip on the Audio track, and the audio that was captured or imported and added to the Audio/Music track). Adjusting the audio levels determines which audio will play louder than the other in your movie.
The default setting plays the audio in both tracks at equal levels. The audio level you select will play throughout your movie.
By adjusting the audio levels, different effects can be achieved. For example, at the beginning of your movie, you may have a video playing with the included audio track while having a separate audio clip playing. In this situation, the audio level could be set so that dialog in your video can be heard over the music that plays in the background that appears on the Audio/Music track.
To adjust audio levels
- On the Tools menu, click Audio Levels.
- Do one of the following:
To increase the audio level of audio on the Audio/Music track, drag the slider bar towards Audio/Music.
To increase the audio level of audio on the Audio track that is part of a video clip, drag the slider bar towards Audio from video. - Click the Close button to close the Audio Levels dialog box.
Adding audio effects
Windows Movie Maker lets you add basic audio effects to your project. The basic audio effects include:
Mute - The audio is not played and cannot be heard during playback.
Fade In - The audio gradually increases until it reaches the final playback level.
Fade Out - The audio gradually decreases until it can no longer be heard.
The transition time for these audio effects is roughly two-thirds of a second.
You may have audio that you do not want to play at all. For example, you may have a video file that contains audio you do not want to be heard in your project. You can mute the audio on the Audio track or the Audio/Music track, so it is not heard in your project. You can also mute audio for single audio files.
Similar to video effects, audio effects are maintained when you split, cut, copy, or move a piece of audio or music. For example, if you add the Fade In audio effect, and then split the clip, the Fade In audio effect is applied to both clips. However, if you combine two audio clips, the audio effects that were associated with the first clip are applied to the new combined clip, and the audio effects for the second clip are removed.
To add an audio effect
- On the Audio or Audio/Music track of the timeline, select the audio clip.
- Do one of the following:
To fade in the audio, on the Clip menu, point to Audio, and then click Fade In.
To fade out the audio, on the Clip menu, point to Audio, and then click Fade Out.
To remove an audio effect
- On the Audio or Audio/Music track of the timeline, select the audio clip that has an added audio effect.
- On the Clip menu, point to Audio, and then clear the selected effect.
Any audio effects, such as a fade in, fade out, or muting are removed from the audio.
To mute audio
- On the Audio or Audio/Music track of the timeline, select the audio clip that you want to mute.
- On the Clip menu, point to Audio, and then click Mute.
Adjusting audio clip volume
You can change the volume of a selected video or audio clip on the timeline. This lets you change the volume of clips on a clip-by-clip basis. For example, you might have video you recorded on tape where the volume of the audio is lower where the dialog between people can barely be heard. In this situation, after you captured the audio and video in Windows Movie Maker, you could then adjust the volume of the audio in the video so the dialog can be heard.
The audio clip you can adjust the volume for can be an audio-only clip that appears on the Audio/Music track of the timeline, or it can be the audio portion of a video clip that appears on the Audio track (which can be seen when the Video track is expanded) of the timeline.
The following options appear in this dialog box.
Adjust volume level - Adjusts the volume of the selected audio clip. By default, the middle setting of the slider corresponds with the original volume level of the clip when it was imported or captured.
Drag the slider to the right to increase the volume, or drag the slider to the left to decrease the volume. When the slider is moved all the way to the left, the audio is muted and not played back. The maximum volume is 15 times the original volume of the clip.
Mute clip - Specifies whether the clip is muted. When this check box is selected, the audio is muted. The audio clip plays at the specified volume when this check box is cleared. If the Adjust volume level slider appears all the way to the left, this option is selected automatically.
Reset - Specifies that you want the audio clip to play at the default volume level. Any changes you made for the volume for the selected audio clip are lost.
To adjust the volume of an audio clip
- On the Audio or Audio/Music track of the timeline, select the audio clip that you want to adjust the volume for.
- On the Clip menu, point to Audio, and then click Volume.
- To adjust the volume, do one of the following:
To reduce the volume, move the Audio volume level slider to the left.
To increase the volume, move the Audio volume level slider to the right.
To mute the clip, select the Mute clip check box.
To reset the volume to the original volume, click Reset.
