How To Add Music to Your Own Video

Making your own full length videos is fun. You can shoot your own band videos or make a video with your photo collection. You can enhance your videos by creating soundtracks to set the mood. Here's how to add music to your own video with a few simple steps using a program that is available with your Windows operating system.   

1. Download the video file on to your computer after you've taken videos and open it in the Windows Movie Maker 2. Start editing your video until you are satisfied with how the video turns out. You can now start to add your music file to provide background music for your video.
2. Click on “File” then select “Import into Collections.” You can browse for your music file on your hard drive and then once you find it, select the file and then click “Import.” Your music file will be added to your collections on the program.
3. Click “View” on the menu and select “Timeline” on the drop down list. This will enable you to see the timeline on the bottom part of the window. Locate the music file on your collection list and then drag the music file to the timeline. Your music file will appear on the timeline that coincides with the video, now you can drag the song to start either at the beginning of the video or to a certain frame of the video. You can end the song anywhere you choose by locating where the music ends on the timeline and then by placing your cursor over it, a red arrow will appear. Left click and hold on the arrow to drag the ending to any point on the timeline.
4. Start mixing the video and music file volume levels now that you have placed the music exactly where you want on the timeline. If you want to retain the video audio level and have the music file play softly in the background, locate the volume or audio icon at the top of the timeline and click on it. A small window will appear that has a slider to adjust the audio from video relative to the music file. Dragging the slider to the left towards the video icon will give you more of the video audio and less of the music file.
5. Drag the slider all the way to the right if you prefer to just have the music file playing for your video. You can now adjust the music file's volume level by selecting your music file on the timeline and then go to the Clip menu, select “Audio” and then click on “Volume.” Drag the slider to the left to lower the music file's volume level or drag it to the right to make it louder. Save your video project and play it to test the video presentation. If you intend to use more than one song on your video you can import the songs into your collection and then drag each one to the timeline.

Windows Movie Maker 2 is a simple program that lets you edit videos and add music files to your video projects. Most mpg videos that you can get on the Internet are made from such simple and user-friendly video making software.