How to Narrate a Timeline in Windows Movie Maker

Have you ever wanted to make a recording of your voice, and save this file on your computer? Or, have you ever wanted to add your voice, or a voice over, onto a video you were trying to create? This can be done quite easily in Windows Movie Maker, the free program to edit your own videos and clips that is included with Windows XP.

Before doing this, you'll need a microphone that can be plugged into the mic outlet on your PC. I would suggest getting a headset before hand, as you can use this for Skype, Ventrilo, and other applications, and not just for Windows Movie Maker. NewEgg.com sells some very affordable headsets with mics, including one that I bought for only $3. If you need a high quality voice recording tool, make sure to spend a little more, but if you just need a simple headset with microphone, then get the cheapest you can find.

Plug this mic/headset setup into the mic outlet on your PC (usually located in the back of the PC). Then, after you've tested to see if your mic is working (speak into it and see if you can yourself on the speakers or headset), open up the Windows Movie Maker program.

If you want to add your voice to a video, import the video into Movie Maker with the 'Import Video' command. If not, and you just want to record your voice for the audio file, don't import anything. Now, click on the 'View Timeline' button at the bottom of the Windows Movie Maker program, as it will now show the timeline view of the movie, if one has been imported.

Click on the little microphone icon just above the timeline, which will open up th Windows narration tool. Make sure your settings (shown in the same window) are configured to run with your microphone for input, and then, start recording by just clicking the 'Start Narration' button. Speak into the mic, and hit 'Stop Narration' when you are done. You'll be asked where you want to save your file, and then you can save it as whatever file name you want. That's it!