Replacing Audio Files
Apr 04, 2011
I'm noticing that my slide and animation cues are moving every time I replace the audio file that narrates my 25 slide PowerPoint presentation. The narration is a single MP3 file approximately 12 minutes long. When replacing, I first select the entire waveform by hitting ctrl-a, then clicking the import | single file button. The new MP3 is the exact same duration as the old one, yet all the cues shift to the left by about 10 seconds. I tried importing a few different ways, including modifying my selection before importing (so that it doesn't go all the way to the beginning) with no success.
I was hoping there would be a way to simply replace the audio file by replacing the file from a program like SoundBooth or any other audio editing software, and that Articulate would simply "pick it up" when I re-opened the PowerPoint. I suspect, however, that it splits the audio as soon as you hit "Save and Close" from Articulate's audio editor.
Could it be that my audio file is too long? (~12 mins)
In the future I'll try pre-splitting the track however, that may not work if there's a soundtrack playing under the entire piece.
Is it possible that a WAV or AIFF file would work better?
Thanks in advance for any help, I'm using PowerPoint 2003 and Articulate Presenter '09.
4 Replies
Hi Dave & welcome to Heroes,
Instead of importing the new audio file in the Audio Editor, go to the Articulate menu & click on the Import Audio button. Then, import your new audio into the appropriate slide. According to my testing, this will not move the animation marker.
Hi Dave,
I think you might be using IE9 which is why your reply is blank. If you hit the compatibility mode button in IE9, that should allow you to reply.
Yup, ya caught me. in Firefox now:
My problem is that I'm using one narration track that spans all 25 slides and it seems that when you attempt to import audio the way you're suggesting only allows you to place it on a single slide. Is there something I'm missing or an option I may not be seeing?
Articulate does separate the audio into the individual slides so using one audio file would probably not be the best approach if you want to preserve timings. What I would suggest doing is splitting up the audio into separate files for each slide and then importing them:
http://www.articulate.com/support/presenter09/kb/?p=1435
I typically use a tool like Audacity to edit audio outside of Presenter. That will also allow you to do cool stuff like what's noted in this article:
http://www.articulate.com/blog/articulate-101-how-to-make-the-most-of-your-recorded-audio/
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