2.4 – Adding Audio, AI Voiceover and Music Lesson

Lesson Overview

Adding effective audio is essential to making your videos engaging and clear. This lesson explains how to use Pictory’s audio capabilities to add both narration (voiceover) and music, fine-tune your audio mix, and ensure your content sounds appealing without any one element overpowering the others.

Voiceovers bring your script to life and provide important information or context to your viewers. Pictory includes a range of AI-generated voices with selectable genders, speeds, and accents. Not every voice will suit every project, so being able to listen to and test options before choosing is a key part of the process. For even greater customization or natural sound, you may wish to use external AI voice tools like ElevenLabs, recognized for high-quality synthetic voices, and then import those results.

Background music is another key element; it shapes the mood and flow of your video. Pictory uses AI to recommend music that matches your video’s topic, and offers filters to help you browse its extensive library. If you need a specific style or more selection, external resources like Envato are available, letting you bring in millions of royalty-free tracks.

Finally, balancing audio levels—so music doesn’t overwhelm your narration and everything is audible—completes the process. Pictory automates much of the mixing, but you can adjust it to suit your needs. This combination of features makes your final product more professional and enjoyable to watch.

Who This Is For

Adding audio and voiceovers in Pictory is useful for anyone wanting to create more compelling and polished videos. This lesson applies to:

• Educators who want to narrate lessons and keep students engaged
• Marketers producing promotional or explainer videos
• Content creators making tutorials, reviews, or social media videos
• Businesses needing internal training or onboarding materials
• Solo entrepreneurs editing their own video content
• Anyone hoping to present information with clarity and rich audio

Where This Fits in a Workflow

Audio is an essential step after assembling your video’s visuals and captions. Once your scenes and on-screen text are ready, you will use the audio tab to:

• Add your main narration with an AI voiceover or a recorded voice
• Enhance viewer experience and pacing with background music
• Carefully mix both audio types so nothing becomes distracting

For example, after scripting a tutorial, you would select or record a fitting voiceover and pair it with a subtle background track. Or, for an explainer targeting a global audience, you might pick an AI voice in a particular accent or language, then add royalty-free music that matches the video’s mood. These steps ensure your message is delivered clearly and your content stands out.

Technical & Workflow Benefits

Before tools like Pictory and AI voice technology, adding high-quality audio meant hiring voice actors, purchasing music licenses, and manually editing multiple soundtracks—a slow, expensive, and often inconsistent process. Pictory’s built-in features, plus the option to import voices or music from specialized services, changes that.

Now you can preview dozens of AI voices instantly, swap music tracks with a click, and let AI handle audio mixing. This saves substantial time—not just on sourcing or recording, but on technical editing and balancing as well. Whether you’re making a single video or a whole series, you’ll notice the difference: faster turnaround, better consistency, and the flexibility to tailor audio for each project. For a business rolling out product demos or a teacher preparing class materials, this means less worry about audio setup and more focus on delivering your message.

Practice Exercise

To reinforce this lesson, use a recent video script or project idea—such as a short course introduction, product walkthrough, or educational tip.

1. Open your project in Pictory and access the audio tab.
2. Choose one AI voiceover, listen to a few alternatives, and apply your favorite.
   1. Optional: Create and upload a custom voiceover from ElevenLabs or another tool.
3. Browse the music library by mood or genre, preview two or three tracks, and swap them to see what fits best. Adjust the volume sliders to balance your chosen music and voiceover.
   
   After exporting a quick preview, compare it with your original video (no audio or with default music). Does the voiceover fit the script’s intent? Is the background music supportive or distracting? Note which combination feels most effective for your audience or goal.

Course Context Recap

This lesson focuses on audio—the component that makes your video both informative and engaging. Previously, you learned to arrange scenes and visual elements within Pictory. In the following lessons, you’ll discover how to record your own voiceovers, further customize style and text, and polish your project for sharing. The skills from this lesson ensure your videos don’t just look professional, but sound that way too. Continue in the course to fully round out your video creation process with Pictory’s advanced features.