Add Music to Your Videos:
Create the Perfect Music for a Video

• Open Movie Studio Platinum and create a new project using the Start dialog.
• Open the "Import" tab in the Media Pool in the upper right and navigate to the folder containing your video.
• Drag & drop the video file into the program.

You'll now see a long video object lying on the first track of the project. When you press the spacebar, this will play from the start. Press it again to stop playback. You can move the playback marker above the track to a different position with the mouse.

• Then, to put music over a video, just locate the audio file you want to use in its folder in the Media Pool. Drag the file onto a separate track under the video.
• If you want to add several songs to your video, arrange the song files one after the other on the same track. If you place the files below each other, both songs will play at the same time and sound like a distorted mash-up.
• If you are only using part of a song, first play the song and decide on the section you want to use.
• When you've found one, position the playback marker where you want the music to begin and press the T key. The song will then be cut at this position. Delete the part you don't to use from the track.
• If you haven't cut it in exactly the right place, it doesn't matter: You can drag the passage you accidentally cut out of the audio object. Move the mouse pointer to the object border until it turns into a double arrow. Click and drag out the cut audio object or move it together while holding down the mouse button until the cut section starts or ends at the right position.
• Move the faders at the object edges on the left and right inwards to fade the music in or out. Doing so also enables to you to suppress any crackling that results for the cutting process.
• You can repeat the cut piece of music in sequence as much as you want. Click on the audio object while holding down the Ctrl key and drag out a copy of the cut piece pf music.

Now that you've put music over your video, you might want to add extra sound effects as well. To do this, drag sound files from the Media Pool into the project track and position them in sync with your video images. Via the "Store" tab, you can access "Sound FX" collections which can be used in your videos right away.

Next, decide what you want to do with the original audio track of your video. Maybe you want to replace it entirely with music – or want both the music and the audio track to be audible. Or maybe you want to only hear certain noises from the audio track along with the music?

If you want to replace the audio track entirely with music, you need to remove it:

• To do this, right-click on the video in the track and select the option "Audio Functions > Mute Audio Object.

If you want the track to be audible the whole way throughout, or just audible in sections, first make the corresponding audio object visible.

• Select the option "Audio functions" > "Video/Audio on separate tracks" in the context menu.
• Select the "Create waveform display" option in the context menu.

The audio track now appears as an independent audio object, although it's still grouped with the image track.

• Select the corresponding button on the toolbar to ungroup it.

Now you can cut the audio track independently of the image track and use the waveform display as a visual guide to help you identify where audio is present in your track.

Which sounds from the original recording should you keep in? Keep all the sounds that are relevant to the visual content – for instance the rushing noise of an incoming subway train or the click-clacking of shoes on the pavement.

Cutting the audio track works in the same way described above in the article: Start by identifying the locations where you want to cut. Then place the playback marker on the desired position and press "T" on your keyboard. Simply delete the section you want to remove from the track.

Audio tracks in videos often need to be optimized. Movie Studio Platinum enables you to improve the clarity of speech, filter out constant or intermittent noise interference, and achieve a balanced, natural sound.

A range of effects are provided for improving audio:

• Manual settings for effects can be found in the Media Pool under "Audio effects". "Audio Cleaning" opens a comprehensive dialog for removing background noise (DeClipper, DeNoiser and DeHisser), as well as an equalizer, a compressor and an editor for stereo audio. You will also find notes and tips in the effects dialog for how to properly apply individual audio effects.
• In the Media Pool under "Audio effect presets", you can find presets that you can easily drag on to your audio track, if you find the options for configuring effects too complicated or want to work more quickly.

If you want to combine the audio track of your video with additional music, you'll need to mix them. In doing so, you'll have to balance out the volume between the music and the audio track.

You have several options here.

• Each audio object contains a slider in the middle for setting the overall volume. Click on the slider and drag it left or right to control volume. You can set volume for the audio track and the music you add separately.
• If you want an audio object to fade in or out, drag the fade handle at the object edge inwards (as described above).
• For more precise volume control, you can use the volume curve. Activate the curve via the dropdown menu. A curve will appear within the audio object and shows its volume progression. Double-click on the curve and curve handles will appear. If you raise the curve handles, the volume will increase at this point, and if you lower a handle, the volume will be reduced. Click and drag the handles in the direction where you want to change volume.

Example: A "U" shape lowers the volume and then increases it again ("ducking"). For this you'll need a total of four curve handles: Leave the outer two handles the way they are and drag the middle two handles downwards.

The Soundtrack Maker tool is another helpful aid when you want to add a song to a video. This program wizard can be accessed via the "Edit" menu and creates background music by combining music samples to make a new music track in whatever length or mood you want.

• If you only want to add music to a specific part of the video, first mark the range above the first track where you want to put music on video. To do this, left-click to set the beginning of a range and right-click further right after the object to set the end of the range. The range will appear as a blue bar that runs between these two positions. To adjust the range, simply drag & drop to move the the range edges.
• Open the Soundtrack Maker wizard in the Edit/Wizards/Soundtrack Maker menu.
• In the dialog that appears, check "Apply to selected range only" if you only want to put music over the part of the video you've marked.
• Select a music style. You can choose from "Classical (Score)", "Funky (Funk)", "Chillout (EasyListening)", "Lively (Brazil)" and "Sporty (BigBeat)".
• For even more variety, add a mood. You can set the position for a mood change in the music by using the sliders. In the dropdown menu, choose a style (such as moody, exciting, romantic, moving, playful or action-packed).
• Click on "Create soundtrack" to create the background music. If you're not happy with it click on the "Create variation" button to hear an alternative version. This way you can experiment until you've found a soundtrack that works with your video.

Once you've put music over a video, the final step is to export it.

There are several ways to do this:

• Create video file: Go to "File" > "Export movie" to create a new video file with the added music e.g. in MP4 or MOV format. There are a range of codec settings and presets available in the Export dialog.
• Burn to discYou can also burn your video with added music to disc from right within the program. DVD, AVCHD and Blu-ray Disc are all available. To open the "Burn" interface, click to the right on the button with the disc icon. Pick a selection menu layout and then start the burn process.
• Upload to the Internet: Vimeo and YouTube are directly connected to the program. A click of the mouse is all it takes to upload a video to which you've added music to your account. Just click on the arrow symbol in the top right to open the dialog "Finish movie".
• Transfer to smartphone: In the "Finish movie" dialog you will see the option "Export to mobile device". Here you simply pick a device, Movie Studio Platinum sets the parameters automatically. The video with music will be exported first in the correct format, and then output to your device.