Intro music added to a podcast will make it sound professional and engaging. In this article, we will provide you with steps on how to add intro music to a podcast using a free program called ‘Audacity'.
- Download and install Audacity on your computer. If you don't have the program yet, you can go to audacity.sourceforge.net/download to download Audacity. After downloading the Audacity installer, double-click on the file and follow the installation procedure provided in the wizard. Also, download the ‘LAME MP3 Encoder' plug-in so that you can export files from Audacity in mp3 format. When you download the plug-in, an executable file will be saved on your computer. Double-click on the executable file and save it to your computer's Program Files folder.
- Find the music that you will use for introduction. Use audio files from your own music library, record music that you can use if you know how to play instruments, or look for royalty-free music on the Internet. Download the music and save it on your computer.
- Load Audacity on the computer. Double-click on the Audacity icon from the desktop, or go to ‘Start', then ‘Programs' and click on ‘Audacity'.
- Import the audio files in Audacity. There are three methods that you can use to import audio files into Audacity. First is by dragging and dropping the audio file from a folder in your computer to the Audacity window. Another method is by clicking on ‘Project' from the menu bar and selecting ‘Import Audio'. You can also press Ctrl+I on your keyboard. Audio files that can be imported in Audacity can be in the following format: AIFF, AU, IRCAM, MP3, OGG and WAV. To verify if you have imported the correct audio files, simply click on the green ‘Play' button at the top to hear the audio file. Use this procedure to import the main audio content of your podcast, as well as the intro music. There should be two track channels in Audacity's track panel after you have imported the two audio files.
- Adjust the music file to fit the main podcast track. Click on the ‘Time Shift Tool' on the top left of the Audacity window. The icon for this tool looks like this: <-->. Alternatively, you can also click on F5 to select the Time Shift Tool. Once it is activated, click on the audio track, and it will move the entire clip to any position you want. Adjust the main podcast track by moving it towards the right, so that the music will be at the beginning of the track.
- Cut the music track to fit the timing. Click on the ‘Selection Tool' on the top left of the Audacity window. The icon for this tool will look like a big letter ‘I'. Highlight the remainder of the music track that will not be used in the introduction. Go to ‘Edit' from the main menu or press ‘Ctrl+X' on the keyboard.
- Add audio effects to the introduction music. Using the Selection Tool again, highlight the entire introduction music from the track panel, go to ‘Effects' from the main menu and select ‘Fade In' or ‘Fade Out'. Transition from the intro music to the main podcast will sound more natural once the audio effect is added.
Preview the project after adjusting the tracks in the track panel. Click on the green ‘Play' button and listen to the entire podcast. Once it's ready, go to ‘File', select ‘Export as MP3' and save it to your computer. Your podcast is now ready for publishing on the Internet!
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