Voice-over presentations are a great way to convey ideas and distill complex information into concise summaries. Whether you’re creating an online course, a business presentation, training modules, or professional pitch decks, every presentation can benefit from voice-overs.
Enhancing slides with great narration provides context and often makes it easier for the audience to follow.
Despite the widespread use of voice-over slides, not all presentation programs come with a built-in audio recording feature. The good news is that the process of adding audio to slides is fairly straightforward. In fact, inserting audio into your presentations takes a matter of minutes.
The best ways to add voice-overs to slides
There are several methods of adding voice-overs to slides. Follow along for a brief overview of the best ways to insert audio into your presentation.
Using Zoom
One of the easiest ways to add voice-overs to slides is through Zoom. Just follow these steps.
1. Present the screen. Start a meeting as the host, share your screen, and hit the record button.
2. Narrate the slides. Narrate each slide and click the Stop Recording button when you’re done.
Using screen recording software
This method involves using specialized software to screen record the presentation as you talk through each slide. Consider these examples of screen recorders for both Mac and Microsoft Windows computers.
- OBS Studio: A free screen recorder that captures your screen and automatically saves the file in a folder. The software offers a variety of customization options and allows users to adjust the default settings based on their preferences.
- Screencast-O-Matic: All-in-one software that combines screen recording and video editing capabilities. It features an intuitive interface that makes screen capture an easy process.
- AceThinker: A free online recorder that allows you to capture your screen and record audio at a high quality. Users can save and convert their files to a wide range of video and audio formats, including AVI, MOV, WMV, WAV, FLV, and MP4.
- Screencastify: A Chrome extension that enables you to capture, edit, and share screen recordings in a matter of seconds. Screencastify can embed your webcam into the recording and capture pristine audio quality from any voice recorder.
- Apowersoft: A free online screen recorder that is another browser extension offering an impressive number of features. Unlike many free extensions, it has no time limits or watermarks and provides users with several export options. It can also capture video from webcams and record audio from external and built-in microphones.
How to add voice-over to Google Slides
The other option is to add a voice-over to each slide on Google Slides or PowerPoint. The former requires you to upload audio to each slide, while the latter comes with built-in audio functionality.
Check the instructions below to learn how to add a voice-over to Google Slides.
Step 1: Record the audio file for each slide and upload it to Google Drive
The first step is to use an online voice recorder to create an audio file for each slide and make a file upload to Google Drive. Use a clear naming convention for the audio clips to avoid confusion.
Step 2: Click on “Insert,” then “Audio,” and select the uploaded audio
Add the audio files to each slide by clicking Insert and then the Audio icon.
The uploaded files should be visible in the Recent tab.
Step 3: Configure the audio settings
Once you’ve added the files to each slide, click on the speaker icon to open the Format Options menu. You can use the Auto-Play option if you want the recording to start automatically or the Loop option if you want it to start again once you reach the final slide.
How to add voice-over to PowerPoint
This step-by-step tutorial illustrates how to add voice-overs to PowerPoint presentations. Since PowerPoint has built-in recording functionality, you only need a computer with a microphone to start recording.
Step 1: Select the “Slide Show” tab and hit “Record Slide Show”
Start recording from either the start of the presentation or the current slide.
Step 2: Start recording
After selecting the point from which you want to record, you’ll have the option to record, stop, or replay. Click on the red record button and wait for the countdown timer to finish. To stop recording, press the record button again. Alternatively, recording will automatically stop once you reach the final slide.
You can also pause the recording at any time by pressing the pause button.
Step 3: Test your narration
Once you’ve finished recording, click on the speaker icon at the bottom-right corner of the slides to test the audio playback. This ensures that the audio is in sync with the slides and that no errors occurred during the file export.
Get voice-over help from Google Slides and PowerPoint professionals
Adding voice-over to slides isn’t complicated, nor does it require any technical prerequisites. With that being said, the process of recording your audio and inserting it into each slide can be quite tedious and time-consuming. In addition, if you’re not a voice-over professional, your narration and recording equipment may not provide optimal output for holding the interest of the audience.
Your time is likely better spent working on the content of the presentation and ensuring that every slide is informative and poignant. You may choose to outsource the actual voice-over recording components to an independent professional.
Hiring someone with extensive experience in this area will save you the hassle of figuring out the operational elements of voice-over audio and allow you to create a professional presentation with little effort on your part. On top of delivering great voice-over narration, the independent worker will use professional recording tools and the right sound effects to ensure crisp and clear audio.
Luckily, finding talented voice-over freelancers, Google Slides specialists, and PowerPoint professionals have never been easier. Upwork connects you to thousands of experienced professionals with skill sets that match your needs. Try exploring our marketplace and discussing your needs directly with skilled independent workers from across the world. Alternatively, you can head to Project Catalog ™ and purchase a predefined project that fits your needs and budget.
