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Voiceover

How to Do a Voiceover on iMovie

iMovie records narration over your timeline, or plays an audio file you drag in. Here is each, and how to use a clean generated voice.

Step by step

How to do a voiceover on iMovie

  1. Generate the voice in Cantari: paste your script, pick a voice, and generate a natural read in seconds, then export the audio file (MP3 on every plan, WAV on paid plans). No microphone, no retakes.

  2. To use a ready voice file on Mac: drag the audio clip from Finder onto the timeline below your video.

  3. To record instead: position the playhead, click the Voiceover button (the microphone below the viewer), and record.

  4. On iPhone, tap the add button on the timeline, choose Voiceover to record, or Audio to add a file you saved.

iMovie's voiceover records live, so room noise and retakes are on you. Dragging in a voice generated from text skips both: the line is clean on the first take and easy to re-do by re-generating.

Straight answers

Voiceover on iMovie, answered.

Can I add an audio file as a voiceover in iMovie?
Yes. On Mac, drag the audio clip onto the timeline. On iPhone, use the add button, then Audio, to insert a file you have saved.
How do I lower the background music under the voice?
Select the music clip and turn its volume down, or use iMovie's ducking so the music dips automatically while the voiceover plays.
Why use a generated voice instead of recording in iMovie?
No microphone, no room noise, no retakes. You generate the exact line, drag it in, and re-generate only if the script changes.
Keep going

Voiceovers elsewhere.

The voice itself comes from text to speech. New to it? Read the guide.

Your iMovie voiceover starts with the voice.

Generate a natural read from your script in seconds, export it, and add it the way this guide shows. No microphone required.