17.3. Recording Narration If anyone ever belittles iMovie for being underpowered, point out an iMovie feature that isn't even available in most expensive video-editing programs: the ability to record narration while you watch your movie play. You can create a reminiscence, narrating as the video plays (thereby creating a voice-over ).You can identify your home movieswhen or where they were shot, for example. Doctors use iMovie to create narrated slideshows, having created a Movie Track filled with still images of scanned slides. Realtors feature camcorder footage of houses under consideration, while narrating the key features that can't be seen ("Built in 1869, this house was extensively renovated in 1880"). And it doesn't take much imagination to see how lawyers can exploit iMovie. 17.3.1. Preparing to Record Your Mac's microphone takes one of two forms: built-in or external. The built-in mike, a tiny hole in the facade of the iMac, eMac, or PowerBook, couldn't be more convenientit's always with you, and always turned on. If your Mac doesn't have a built-in microphone, you can plug in an external USB microphone (see the Apple Products Guide at www.guide.apple.com) or a standard microphone with the help of an adapter (like the iMic, www.griffintechnology.com). 17.3.2. Making the Recording Here's how you record narration: -
Click the clock icon so that you're looking at the Timeline Viewer . You'll do all your audio editing in Timeline view. -
Drag the Playhead to a spot just before you want the narration to begin . You can use all the usual navigational techniques to line up the Playhead: Press the Space bar to play the movie, press the right and left arrow keys to move the Playhead one frame at a time, press Shift-arrow keys to make the Playhead jump 10 frames at a time, and so on. -
Open the Audio panel, if it's not already open . You do so by clicking the Audio button, shown in Figure 17-3. -
Click the round, red Record Voice button and begin to speak . You can watch the video play as you narrate.
Note: If the level meter isn't dancing as you speak, the problem may be that your Mac is paying attention to the wrong audio input. Choose   System Preferences, and click the Sound icon. Click the Input tab, then click the microphone input that you want to use. When youre done, quit System Preferences.
If the level meter bars are dancing, but not farther than halfway across the graph (see Figure 17-3), then your narration isn't loud enough. On playback, it'll probably be drowned out by the camcorder audio track. To increase the volume, open System Preferences, click Sound, and click the Input tab to make sure that your input volume slider is at maximum. If that's not the problem, your only options are to lean closer to the microphone, speak louder, or use an external microphone. (You can learn tricks for boosting the volume of audio tracks later in this chapter, but it's much better to get the level right the first time.) -
Click Stop to complete the recording . Now a new stripe appears in the upper soundtrack, already highlighted, bearing the name Voice 01, like the one shown in Figure 17-1. Drag the Playhead to the leftto the beginning of the new recordingand then press the Space bar to listen to your voice-over work. If the narration wasn't everything you hoped for, it's easy enough to record another "take." Just click the stripe representing your new recording and then press Delete to get rid of it. Then repeat the process.  | Figure 17-3. To summon the narration controls, click the Audio button. If your microphone is correctly hooked up, the round, red Record Voice button is available. (Otherwise, it's dimmed.) Just beside the Record button is a live "VU" level meter. Test your setup by speaking into the microphone; if this meter twitches in response, you're ready to record. | |
|
