How to do a voice over on PowerPoint

Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentations are essential for many professionals. The program has widespread uses and the software is becoming more refined by the day. One of the features that can make your projects more effective is voice overs.

This article will tell you how to create a voice over for your PowerPoint presentations.

Why is it important to nail your PowerPoint presentation?

There are many ways to create presentations, but PowerPoint stands head and shoulders above the competition. Regardless of the version of PowerPoint you use, you enjoy incredible ease of use, whether you’re a student or teacher.

As a result, you don’t need to be tech-savvy to develop a stunning presentation. The interface is intuitive, allowing you to add formatting, fonts, and animation effects with just a few mouse clicks. All of which makes your work more creative.

Another admirable quality of PowerPoint is that it promotes customization. You’re in total control of all elements of your presentation. This allows you to customize the slide show according to the subject you’re working on and manipulate the features in various ways.

If you don’t want to create personalized templates, PowerPoint has you covered. You can select many ready-made templates from the web or the program itself.

PowerPoint has a host of other features that allow you to nail your presentations, but what exactly makes your presentations so important? There are several reasons, depending on your environment.

For example, if you’re a high school, university, or college student, a PowerPoint presentation can make up a large percentage of your grades. Your work must be easily understandable and convey relevant ideas to receive the highest marks.

Fortunately, PowerPoint lets you achieve your academic goals with various tools.

In high school, you can use basic templates and fonts to highlight key points of your presentations. In college, you can access tables, diagrams, and charts for serious discussion and support your arguments.

A high-quality PowerPoint presentation is also critical if you’re a business owner or employee. This software can streamline your ideas when describing them to your clients, team members, or partners.

Microsoft PowerPoint presentations help you optimize many other tasks too. The list includes training new staff, reporting financials, and conducting end-of-year summaries.

Adding a voice over to your presentations

In some cases, nailing your presentation requires you to introduce voice overs. Before you start, you’ll need to write a script and find a fully functional microphone. Whether the device is built into your computer or works separately, make sure it produces clear audio.

How to add a voice over on a Mac

Once you’re ready, here’s how you can add voice overs to PowerPoint on a Mac:

• Open an existing or new presentation.

• Go to the upper toolbar and press “Insert.”

• Click “Audio” in the upper-right corner and hit the “Record” button.

• Name your audio file. 

• Select the circle symbol when you want to start your voice over narration.

• Press “End Show” when you’re done recording. You can now click the microphone symbol to listen to your voice over.

How to add a voice over on a Windows PC

Adding a voice over to presentations is just as easy on your Windows PC. Let’s look at how you can do so for individual PowerPoint slides.

• Head to the “Insert” menu, followed by “Audio,” and “Record Audio.”

• Enter the name for your voice over and choose “Record.”

• Improvise your narration or read from a script.

• Hit the “Stop” button when the recording is over. The “Record Sound” box should now disappear, and an audio icon should appear in the middle of your slide. Click the indicator to review your recording and press “Play” to check the narration.

• If you’re happy with your audio, click any area outside your playback controls. Pressing the “Esc” button may also do the trick on some versions.

• Click “Save as” to accept your changes.

PowerPoint also allows you to add voice overs to entire presentations on a Windows PC. Here’s how to set up this feature:

• Press “View” and navigate to “Normal.”

• Choose the first slide in your presentation to record narration.

• Click “Slide Show,” followed by “Record Slide Show,” and “Record from Current Slide.”

• You’ll now see a recording window if you use PowerPoint 2019. If you have PPT 2016, you’ll see a “Record Slide Show” box that prompts further action.

  Here are your options.

• Animation and slide timing – PowerPoint automatically monitors the timing of your slide changes when recording, including any animations.

• Ink, laser pointer, and narrations – PowerPoint automatically monitors any laser printing, inking, or narration when recording.

• Check both options to make your presentation more impactful.

• Press “Record” or “Start Recording,” depending on your version. If necessary, hit the “Pause” button to catch your breath.

• If you want to fix a mistake during your narration, pick “Clear” and “Clear Recordings.”

• When your audio recording is finished on one slide, press “Advance” to proceed to the next slide. Another way to make the transition is to press “Space” on the keyboard.

• Upon finishing the entire narration, click “Stop” and close your recording window. This will return you to your presentation.

You may also decide to revisit your voice over. Here’s how to do so:

• Open a PowerPoint file and choose the specific slide with the narration you wish to hear.

• Select slide and press the recording symbol that either appears as a speaker icon or video screenshot.

• Hover over the symbol and click the Play button.

Make excellent voice overs with Speechify

Another way to play with voice over functionality is to integrate with text to speech (TTS) apps like Speechify. Speechify provides 130+ immersive voices for your narration with an array of pitches, accents, and rates. Additionally, the platform is easy to use and incredibly immersive. Plus, users say the voices are indistinguishable from natural human voices, so the program can create realistic voice overs whether you’re trying to create video or PowerPoints.

Try it now for free to see how Speechify can meet your voice over Powerpoint needs.

FAQ

What is the first step to make a voice over on PowerPoint?

The first step to making a voice over on PowerPoint is to turn on your microphone and go to the “Insert” menu.

What is the difference between a voice over and dubbing?

Voice overs are original recordings, whereas dubbing requires you to replace the source audio with your narration.

What is a voice over?

A voice over is a voice recording of your script for different types of media, such as PowerPoint presentations.

What is the purpose of a voice over?

The main purpose of a voice over is to narrate a story to make it easier to understand.