Add Music And Sound Clips In IMovie On Mac - Apple Support

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iMovie User Guide

• Welcome
• What is iMovie?
• Get started with iMovie
  • The first time you open iMovie
  • Add media from your photo library
  • Other ways to import media
    • Import from iPhone or iPad
    • Import from file-based cameras
    • Import from tape-based cameras
    • Record video into iMovie
    • Import media from your Mac
  • Play or skim video
  • Sort and search for clips
  • Rate clips
• Create movies
  • Create a new movie project
  • Work with projects
  • Add or change a movie theme
  • Select clips
    • Select clips
    • Select part of a clip
  • Add clips
  • Trim clips
  • Move and split clips
  • Adjust Cinematic mode video clips
  • Add and modify transitions
    • Add transitions
    • Modify transitions
    • Turn off automatic transitions
  • Add and edit titles
    • Add titles
    • Modify titles
  • Add maps and backgrounds
  • Add music and sound clips
    • Add music and sound clips
    • Record a voiceover
    • Add audio from a video clip
    • Change audio volume
    • Fade audio
    • Correct and enhance audio
    • Add audio effects
• Create trailers
  • Create a new trailer project
  • Add video
  • Add titles
  • Convert a trailer to a movie
• Add video effects
  • Automatically enhance clips
  • Adjust a clip’s color
  • Crop and rotate clips
    • Crop clips
    • Rotate clips
    • Add the Ken Burns effect
    • Modify crop, rotation, or Ken Burns effects
  • Stabilize shaky clips
  • Add video effects
  • Add freeze frames
  • Create effects with multiple clips
    • Create a cutaway effect
    • Create a green-screen effect
    • Create a split-screen effect
    • Create a picture-in-picture effect
    • Change the connected clip effect
  • Change clip speed
  • Add an instant replay
  • Copy effects between clips
• Share video clips and projects
  • Email a movie, trailer, or clip
  • Share to social platforms
  • Export an image
  • Export a movie, trailer, or clip as a file
  • If you’re looking for iMovie Theater
• Create app previews
  • Create an app preview
  • Edit app preview titles
  • Export an app preview
• Work smarter
  • Customize iMovie
    • Change iMovie settings
    • Change project settings
    • Change the window layout
    • Adjust clip appearance
  • Organize your media
    • Organize media and events
    • Lines marking event clips
    • Work with multiple libraries
    • Consolidate projects and events
    • Locate source files for clips
  • Update projects from earlier versions
  • Import projects created on iPhone or iPad
  • Send projects to Final Cut Pro
  • Memory cards and cables
  • Keyboard shortcuts and gestures
    • Intro to keyboard shortcuts
    • Keyboard shortcuts
    • Multi-Touch gestures
    • Force Touch trackpad gestures
• Copyright

You can add sound effects and music to your movies. iMovie provides a library of sound effects to choose from, and you can also use audio from your Music library.

In addition, you can add background music to your movie using any audio clip. Background music plays along with the audio recorded with your video, and any sound effects or voiceovers you add to your movie. Audio placed as background music is edited separately in its own area of the timeline and is unaffected by edits made to other clips in your movie.

Note: To use a song you purchased from the iTunes Store in your project, you must be the copyright holder of the song or have express permission from the copyright holder. For more information, see the iMovie for iOS and iPadOS software license agreement.

Add background music

1. In the iMovie app on your Mac, open your movie in the timeline, and then select Audio & Video above the browser.

   

2. In the sidebar, select Music , Apple TV , or Sound Effects .

   

   The contents of the selected item appear as a list in the browser. To filter what appears, click the pop-up menu in the upper-left corner of the browser and choose a category.

3. Browse to find the clip you want to add to your project.

4. Drag the clip to the background music well, located below the timeline.

   

   You can position, trim, and edit the background audio independently of clips in the timeline. If you have “Trim background music” turned on in your movie settings, the audio in the background music well is automatically trimmed to match the duration of your movie. For more information, see Change project settings in iMovie on Mac.

Add a sound clip

1. In the iMovie app on your Mac, open your movie in the timeline, and then select Audio & Video above the browser.

   

2. In the sidebar, select Music , Apple TV , or Sound Effects .

   

   The contents of the selected item appear as a list in the browser. To filter what appears, click the pop-up menu in the upper-left corner of the browser and choose a category.

3. In the browser, select an audio clip you want to add to your movie.

4. Do one of the following:

   • Add the entire audio clip: Drag the clip from the list to the timeline.

   • Add part of the audio clip: Select a range in the waveform at the top of the browser, and drag the range to the timeline.

     

   The audio clip is now attached to a clip in the timeline. If you move the clip the audio clip is attached to, the audio clip moves as well.

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