Adding Sound Objects

A common and sometimes overused use for sound is the addition of simple sound effects that play during slide transitions or as action settings that play when you click an object. PowerPoint comes with several such clips, including applause, bomb, breeze, explosion, and whoosh. You can also find many free sound effects by searching Clip Organizer or the Internet.

To add a sound effect as an action setting for an object, follow these steps:

  1. Select the object.

  2. Choose Slide Show, Action Settings to display the Action Settings dialog box.

  3. Choose Play Sound and then select a sound from the Play Sound drop-down list (see Figure 19.1).

    Figure 19.1. PowerPoint comes with several basic sound effects that can be played through the action settings feature.

    graphics/19fig01.gif

  4. Click OK to associate the sound with the selected object.

At the bottom of the list in step 3 is Other Sound. Selecting that option opens the Add Sound dialog box (see Figure 19.2). You can use this dialog box to browse to find a sound clip, select it, and click OK twice to return to your slide.

Figure 19.2. You can use the Add Sound dialog box to browse for and find sound files.

graphics/19fig02.gif

When you play the slide show and click the object, PowerPoint plays the sound clip.

Sound clips come in many formats. The most common, and the one that always works in PowerPoint, is the WAV format. When you browse for Other Sound, by default PowerPoint looks only for this format. Other formats, such as the popular MP3 format, usually can be played, but not as action settings. Instead, you can create a hyperlink to an object by following these steps:

  1. Select the object.

  2. graphics/insert_hyperlink.gif Choose Insert, Hyperlink or click the Insert Hyperlink button on the toolbar. Note that if the object already has an action setting sound associated with it, PowerPoint displays the Action Settings dialog box (refer to Figure 19.1). Deselect the Play Sound check box and click OK before starting this step again.

  3. PowerPoint displays the Insert Hyperlink dialog box (see Figure 19.3).

    Figure 19.3. You can browse and hyperlink to a sound file.

    graphics/19fig03.gif

  4. Browse and select a sound file.

  5. Click OK.

When you play the slide show and click the hyperlinked object, PowerPoint uses whatever method is set up on your computer to play that particular sound file. For example, to play an MP3 music file, PowerPoint might launch the Windows Media Player or some other MP3 music player, which covers the slide show. If you're intentionally playing the piece and want to control it (start, pause, rewind, and so on), you can easily do so. If you don't want the player to appear, you need to minimize it as soon as it starts playing.

Another method for inserting sound clips is to insert the sound directly, creating a sound file icon. To do so, follow these steps:

  1. If you have a specific file in mind, choose Insert, Movies and Sounds, Sound from File. You can also search for a sound not only on your local computer but also in several Web collections by choosing Sound from Clip Organizer, which searches not only your local computer but also several Web collections.

  2. Browse to find a sound file in the Insert Sound dialog box, which is identical to the Add Sound dialog box (refer to Figure 19.2), or if you're using the Clip Organizer, find a file in the Clip Art task pane (see Figure 19.4, which shows a completed search for a sound clip).

    Figure 19.4. You can also find sounds clips by using the Clip Art task pane of the Clip Organizer.

    graphics/19fig04.gif

  3. Select the sound file and insert it in the slide.

  4. PowerPoint asks how you want the sound to start in the slide show. You have two options:

    • Automatically When this option is selected, as soon as the sound's turn comes up in the animation sequence, the sound begins to play. If it's the first or only such object on the slide, the sound begins as soon as the slide appears.

    • When Clicked When this option is selected, you click the sound speaker icon to start the sound.

  5. PowerPoint places a small sound speaker icon in the middle of the slide (see Figure 19.5).

    Figure 19.5. The sound speaker icon shows where to click to activate an inserted sound when you're playing a slide show.

    graphics/19fig05.gif

You can also play sounds or music directly from an audio CD, by following these steps:

  1. Insert the audio CD in your computer's CD drive. If an audio player starts automatically, close it.

  2. Choose Insert, Movies and Sounds, Play CD Audio Track. PowerPoint displays the Insert CD Audio dialog box (see Figure 19.6).

    Figure 19.6. You can select CD tracks or parts of tracks by using the Insert CD Audio dialog box.

    graphics/19fig06.gif

  3. Choose from these options:

    • Clip Selection You can specify at which track and at what time on that track to begin. You can also specify the ending point. If you're not playing an entire audio track, you might have to time the CD track and experiment a bit to get the timing exactly right.

    • Loop Until Stopped If you want the selection to repeat over and over until you stop it, check this option. If you want the selection to continue playing when you advance the slide, you also have to change the selection's custom animation, as described later in this section.

    • Sound Volume If, for example, you want a music track as background where other sounds might be used, turn the volume down. Note, however, that sound volume depends more on your computer's volume settings than on PowerPoint's volume setting, which controls WAV files but little else.

    • Hide Sound Icon During Slideshow If you choose to have the audio track start automatically (see step 5), you can also hide the icon. Otherwise, the icon always appears.

  4. Click OK.

  5. Choose Automatically or When Clicked to specify how the audio track starts when its turn comes in the slide's animation sequence.

Finally, you can customize how multiple sound clips play and interact with each other. To do so, choose Slide Show, Custom Animation to display the Custom Animation task pane (see Figure 19.7).

Figure 19.7. Media clips automatically appear in a slide's animation list to show the order in which they play, even if a clip itself is not animated.

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Each media clip appears in the list, even if no animation is currently associated with it. What each clip does have, however, is a timing and play order. Right-click a media element and choose from the options listed on the menu (see Figure 19.8). For example, if you choose Start With Previous, that clip begins at the same time as the clip above it.

Figure 19.8. You can use custom animation options to change how and when a media clip begins playing.

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You can also select a media element and use the Re-Order arrow buttons at the bottom of the task pane to change its play order.

If you want a sound to continue, for example, as a background, you have to change the way it stops, which by default occurs when you click the mouse. Even if you loop a sound to play over and over, as soon as you click or advance to the next slide or animation, the clip stops. To allow a sound to continue, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Slide Show, Custom Animation to display the Custom Animation task pane.

  2. Right-click the clip and choose Effect Options. PowerPoint displays the Play Sound dialog box (see Figure 19.9).

    Figure 19.9. Access the Play Sound dialog box to choose options to control the length and timing of a sound clip.

    graphics/19fig09.gif

  3. In the Stop Playing section, choose After and the number of slides after which the sound should stop playing. If you enter a high number (for example, more than the number of slides in the presentation), the sound continues to the end of the show.

  4. Make other changes as desired and click OK to return to the slide editor.

With a little creative fiddling around, you can create elegantly orchestrated sound effects, music, and sound clips to enhance a slide show's effectiveness.



Absolute Beginner's Guide to Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
Absolute Beginners Guide to Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
ISBN: 0789729695
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 154
Authors: Read Gilgen

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