Sound Issues: (Back to Categories)

How do I add narration and/or sounds to my PowerPoint presentation?

I don't have any sound when I view an impaticized movie on my Macintosh. Why?

How do I make my single sound file play throughout my impaticized presentation?

I have inserted a sound file on the first slide in my PowerPoint presentation and have set my automatic slide advance timings but my presentation does not advance properly. What am I doing wrong?

How do I add narration and/or sounds to my PowerPoint presentation?

There are several ways to add narration to your PowerPoint presentation. However, we suggest one of the following four methods which are supported by Impatica for PowerPoint, and can be found in your User's Manual. Here is a brief explanation of the four recommended methods of adding narration and sounds to your PowerPoint presentation:

A. You can record your narration directly into PowerPoint. In the "Slide Show" menu, select "Record Narration". This will play your presentation as a slide show and let you record the narration as it plays. You should specify the slide advance to occur "On Mouse Click" so that you can synchronize the slide advance timings to your narration. PowerPoint will then remember the slide advance timings and apply them to future playback.

B. You can also pre-record your narration independently from your PowerPoint presentation. This is often the most convenient approach to including narration, especially if you are using a professional recording studio. It is easiest if you record the narration for each slide as a separate .wav file.

Open your PowerPoint presentation and, for each slide, select "Slide Transition" from the "Slide Show" menu. In the Slide Transition dialog box, from the "Sound" panel, scroll to the bottom of the drop down box and select "Other Sound", then select the appropriate .wav file to insert.

C. Using your pre-recorded narration, you can insert the .wav file using the "Insert Sound From File" option from the "Insert" menu. Selecting this option will prompt you to navigate to your pre-recorded sound file to insert your .wav file directly into your PowerPoint slide.

D. Using your pre-recorded narration or sound file, you can insert a sound on animation. On virtually any animation that can be added to your PowerPoint presentation, you have the option of adding a sound effect to the animation. Simply highlight the object you wish to animate, right-click and select "Custom Animation" from the menu box. Highlight the object in the list of objects for that slide and select the "Effects" tab from the series of tabs in the "Custom Animation" dialog box. There is a drop box which allows you to select one of PowerPoint's standard sound effects. At the very bottom of that list is the "Other Sound..." option. Selecting this option will allow you to navigate to your pre-recorded sound and add it to the animation effect.

See an impaticized tutorial on Adding Sound to Your PowerPoint Presentation.

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I don't have any sound when I view an impaticized movie on my Macintosh. Why?

In the latest version of the Impatica applet, in order to accommodate Netscape 6, different audio class files were used. While this solved the problem of support for Netscape 6, it resulted in a conflict with an older version of the MRJ (Mac OS Runtime for Java) for the Mac. Specifically, only users with MRJ 2.1.4 are affected and will not be able to hear sound in an impaticized movie. Mac users are encouraged to visit http://www.apple.com/java/ and download a more recent version of the MRJ.

For Mac users who view Impatica content with Netscape 6, it is essential that their Macintosh be equipped with MRJ version 2.2 as Netscape 6 is only able to view Java applets on systems that have MRJ 2.2. For more information, please visit http://home.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/ns6/relnotes/6.0.html to view the Netscape 6 for Mac release notes.

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How do I make my single sound file play throughout my impaticized presentation?

You can easily achieve this effect by inserting the .wav file on the "Slide Transition" of the first slide in your PowerPoint presentation and then uncheck the "Wait for sound to finish during playback" checkbox (this is checked by default) in Impatica for PowerPoint prior to translation. This will allow the subsequent slides to advance while the audio continues to play.

It should be noted, however, that this approach is not recommended as it will require the entire audio file to load (stream in) before the playback will begin. This may not be a concern when playing back locally or delivering to an audience with access to high-speed Internet connection but may be troublesome for users with dial-up connections. The recommended approach is to use a separate .wav file for each slide or group of slides in the presentation. This should improve the streaming playback performance for dial-up users.

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I have inserted a sound file on the first slide in my PowerPoint presentation and have set my automatic slide advance timings but my presentation does not advance properly. What am I doing wrong?

By default, the Impatica for PowerPoint translator has the "Wait for sound at end of slide" checkbox checked. As a result, when there is a sound file present, your automatic slide advance timings would be ignored during playback and the length of your sound file will determine when the slides will advance. Uncheck the "Wait for sound at end of slide" checkbox and translate the presentation again.

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