How to Fade Music on a PowerPoint

You need a third-party audio editor to fade music with PowerPoint.

Sometimes, music that is faded in or faded out can go a long way in making a presentation memorable. Unfortunately, Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 does not offer you the option of fading music. However, you can add a music file that has already been faded in and/or out in the same way that you would add any music file. Any good audio-editing program can fade a music file, including shareware programs like WavePad.

Things You'll Need

• Audio editing program

Instructions

Fading In and Out

1. Open the music file you want to fade in your audio editor. If you do not have audio editing software, you can purchase a sound editor like Adobe Audition, or download WavePad or Audacity for free.

2. Select the first 15 seconds or so of the song for a fade-in, or the last 15 seconds for a fadeout. This is usually accomplished by left-clicking a point in the visual representation of the song file (the actual picture of the sound wave that appears after you have loaded the music file into your audio editing program) and highlighting the part you want to select.

3. Click the "Effects" tab in the toolbar at the top of your audio editing program. Choose "Fade In" or "Fade Out" depending on which you want.

4. Save the altered file. Most programs allow you to save an altered file by opening the "File" tab in the upper-left corner of your audio editing program and clicking the "Save" button in the window that appears. Note the folder in which you are saving the file.

Adding Music to a PowerPoint

1. Click the "Insert" tab on the slide you want to add the music file. This will open a toolbar at the top of your screen.

2. Click the "Sound" button at the upper middle/right of the insert toolbar. This will open a pop-up window. Right-click the folder containing the song you faded, then highlight the altered file by right-clicking the song. Click "OK."

3. Choose how you want to trigger the playing of the song in the slide show. After you click "OK", a pop-up window appears asking if you want the music to be played automatically (when you get to the slide) or when clicked. Pick the option that best suits your slide show.

Tips & Warnings

• More complicated audio editing programs may fade music in a slightly different manner. Look through your instruction manual if you are having any problems.

• If you don't like the speaker picture that appears when you choose the "Play music when clicked" option, you can right-click the picture and choose "Change Picture", allowing you to attach the music to any picture.

References

• PowerPoint Help: I Cannot Fade a Sound in My Presentation

Resources

• WavePad Download Link
• Audacity Download Link