Windows Movie Maker 2012: How to Add Picture Overlay Over Video While Retaining Audio

Anonymous

Hey Community,

I'm currently making a Youtube video with Windows Movie Maker 2012 on Windows 8, and I wish to add Pictures here and there in my Video Track while retaining the symmetry of my Voice to Video from the Audio connected to my Video Track. Would really appreciate an answer because all other answers I have searched are very outdated (2007-2010).

Thanks for your time :)

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Anonymous

Hi fredtoossi,

You can't directly overlay a photo to a video in Movie Maker, but you can achieve what you are trying to do by importing the audio for the video separately, and splitting the parts of the videos. Please follow these steps:

Add the video to your Movie Maker project using the Add videos and photos button.
Under Video Tools, set Video volume to none.
Click the Add music button. On the right side of the File name box, set it to videos and located the video itself.
Go to the specific time where you want to put the photo.
Under Video Tools, click Split.
Go to the part where you want the photo to end, then click Split again.
Please take note the length of the part where you want to put the photo, then delete that part of the video.
Add the photo to the project, and move it to the part where you split the video.
Click the photo, then under Video Tools, set the Duration equal to the length of the previously deleted part.
Do this for the other parts of the video, you may need to adjust the videos to properly sync it with the audio.

Please let us know if you need more help.

Thanks!

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Anonymous

Transitions subtract from the duration. So you have to account for that. If you were to add 5 photos, for example, each 7 seconds long that would be 35 seconds. But if you then put 4 transitions in between them each 1.25 seconds, that's a total of 5 seconds that would be subtracted. So you would need to only trim 30 seconds of video out to still match up.

Another option is to try and view the waveforms and see if you can match the waveform of the video track and the waveform of the sound track and make sure they are exactly the same. But that is a bit of trial and error.

A better option would be if Movie Maker allowed for a separate (additional) video track so you could add pictures on that track and they would not affect the original audio at all and there wouldn't be a need to do all this math to try and calculate the amount of video to trim out and replace. :)

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42 additional answers

Anonymous

2013-07-27T14:48:28+00:00

@EditingSamuel,

Movie Maker 2012 gives you the option to add a video file as the audio track as well as have a second audio track for narration/sound. In the prior versions (e.g. Windows Live Movie Maker 2011) you are only able to add an audio file as the added music. What this means, as Helene_C noted, is you must manually convert the video into just the associated audio.

One way to do this is with a tool called Freemake Video Converter. You give it your source video file and tell it to convert to .mp3. The resulting file will just be the audio and you can then add that as the "music" track. Be sure to mute any original audio so you don't get an echo or repeated audio.

Alternatively, if your system is capable, you might consider upgrading to Movie Maker 2012...
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Anonymous

2013-09-03T11:59:16+00:00

Hi Litton_B,

I had a similar kind of question so I followed the steps you have listed above. However. when I tried to add video as music, I got an error saying movie maker does not support that kind of file type even though it is the same file that I am working on already. Can you help me to solve this problem?

I have one more question in regards to adding music to the video. I would like to set the music little higher in intro and then lower in following and increase again in middle passages between video clips where I put some photos. Seems like that is not possible. I want to have different volume settings for different clips within the project I am working on. Is there any way to make it happen? Thanks for your time.

Best,
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Anonymous

2013-09-03T13:42:52+00:00

First, are you using Movie Maker 2012, or an earlier version? If unsure, check the Filemenu (Alt+F), then About Movie Maker. Movie Maker 2012 is the version that lets you use a video file as added audio where Windows Live Movie Maker 2011 will only let you add audio files.

Another feature of Movie Maker 2012 is automatic "ducking" where you can choose which track is emphasized. This can be controlled using the Project tab where you decide which track will get the overall emphasis. When two tracks are contributing audio, one will get "ducked" (reduced in volume) so the other is emphasized.

If the automated ducking isn't what you want, you can always just use the 'Audio Volume' controls. By default, the volume applies to the complete song. But if you want different parts of the song to have different volumes, split it into parts. You can use the 'M' key to split the music. Select the rectangle belonging to the song that you want to split (highlight it in the preview area on the right). Play it to the point you want to split it and have the volume change. Press the 'M' key. It should split into two separate rectangles with the first representing the beginning of the song and the rest being in the other rectangle. Continue splitting as necessary. Now select the rectangle for the part of the song you want to change. Go to the Audio Tools tab and change the Audio Volume.
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