Spice Up Your Audio With Royalty-Free Music Behind Your Voice-Over
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One way to truly give voice-over audio a professional edge is to put some background music behind it. It has never been easier or less expensive to obtain high quality music files to use in your productions.
So you're sold already huh? You're already on to " how do I get me some? " OK, since it is so easy and quick … just go to Google and type in "royalty-free music," and you'll be presented with tons of links to sites where you can download program music. Some will cost a buck or two per file, some will be free. There. Now go play.
For the rest of you there may be more questions … such as "what does royalty-free mean?" or "is it legal to use someone else's music in my productions?" Good questions! "Royalty-free" means that you do not have to pay royalties to use this music in your production as you normally would if you wanted to use someone else's music. For example, you can not just use an mp3 of a Beatles song in your podcast or video without paying royalties to the publisher. Good luck with that! With royalty-free music, there is no such hassle. You should read the fine print though. There are usually restrictions on things like turning around and selling someone else's RF music on its own, say as part of a collection of RF music. As long as you add something to it, like a voice narration, or use it in a video, you should be fine.
Another burning question you may have is: "what are some good uses of RF music?" Another good question. One very common use is as background for a voice narration for intros (and outros) for podcasts, radio shows, or other types of audio and video programs. Adding good quality music to a short video on the web can really make the difference between seeming professional and not. And let's not forget about radio and television commercials. When was the last time you heard one of those without music?
Okay, so now you have a few files of RF music and you do not know how to put it "behind" your voice? No problemo. If you do not already have audio software that can do multi-track recording, just download the open-source program called Audacity from their website at Sourceforge. It is free of charge and quite powerful. Record your voice on a track in Audacity. Then create a second track right under the first one with the voice on it and insert your RF music file on that track. When you play that back, you'll hear both the voice and the music at the same time. Now all you have to do is set the volume on the music track so it does not drown out your voice, and skidoosh … you have background music behind your voice. Then just export a stereo audio file (wav, mp3, etc.) from Audacity and you're done.
As I mentioned earlier, there are several sources for royalty-free music out there on the web, including Home Brew Audio where we have links to several of these sources. So start adding that professional touch to your stuff!
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Source by Jake Weston