Adding Music & Narration to your Slideshow! :-)

Congratulations!  You have some great pages digi-scrapped and you’re ready to create a DVD.  Before you burn it, consider adding music or narration to really add a special touch (and quite honestly make it that much more interesting!).  Adding music to your pages adds more depth and can create a mood that is like the bow on top of the package.  It makes the show fun to watch and listen to!  The hardest part?  Deciding WHAT song to use, of course!

Do you want light-hearted, fun songs, songs that tell a beautiful story or music that has a special meaning?  What genre?  Country?  Classical?  Rock?  Christian?  Pop? Jazz?  The possibilities are endless and can create whatever mood the pages are intended to portray. It’s all personal preference and limited only to your music library!

The best part is that it is quick and easy to do and can be added to ANY album matching any theme!  Christmas pages?  Carols of course!  Baby/kids’ pages?  Play your favorite lullaby or your child’s favorite song.  Wedding album?  Play classical music or the love song that you and your spouse danced to the very first time.  Remember, it’s not just pictures that create memories but sounds, too.  Music and voices can bring back memories the moment they’re heard.

Another way to add a special touch to your albums is to add narration.  Does your computer have a built-in microphone?  Use it!  I created a “movie” for a client’s surprise party for her husband’s retirement.  Many years ago, her husband composed a beautiful heart-felt poem for her and she wanted that included.  I scanned it and placed in the movie.  The writing was too small to have all the guests read from the projection screen so I recorded my husband reading it (obviously it would have been better to have HER husband read it but because it was a surprise, well, you see my point!).  It brought tears to every eye in the room.  Had we not added that narration, no one would have been able to read it and

Other narration could be the sweet sound of your child’s voice, a grandparent reading a favorite story for your child, you and your family sharing memories – ANY voice adding narration can create an unbelievably special memory, one that is worth preserving and sharing.

If you haven’t placed music or narration into your albums, first create your album (I LOVE Ettes Designs in the Design Shop at My Memories Suite) and consider the mood you would like your album to portray.  Songs will just pop into your head as you go along because you’ll tend to use songs that are your favorites!  Once you’re ready to add music, follow these easy steps:

1. At the top menu bar, select Insert > Add music.
2. Navigate to where your music is stored on the computer and select the song you wish to add to the album; select “open”.
3. That’s all you have to do!  You’ll see the name of the song at the bottom of the screen!

Want to add narration to a page?  Select the page you wish to narrate (make sure you’re open on that page) and follow these steps:

1. At the top menu bar, select Insert > Add page narration.
2. Select the “record” button to record the narration (you even have the option to re-record if need be!).  At this point, notice that there’s a box at the bottom of the page to have music that may be in the album playing softly in the background.  If you’d like this option, select the box “background music (faded)”.  If this box is not selected, the music will automatically stop when the narration begins and will begin playing once the narration is completed.  Once the narration is recorded satisfactorily, click “ok” and it will be added to that page.

Have fun adding these special touches to your DVD!

Jackie L. ~ Creative Team