Perfecting Soft Audio Edges: A Guide to Smooth Transitioning in iMovie

How to Fade Music and Audio in iMovie on Mac?

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Fade-in and fade-out effects can help you smooth the video, music, and audio transitions, thus you can make a better movie. When editing videos in iMovie, people may have many video clips and transitions connected to the clips. The fade in and fade out effect seems more important than ever. This tutorial will show you how to fade music and audio in iMovie.

• Part 1: How to Fade Music and Audio in iMovie on Mac
• Part 2: An Easier Way to Fade Audio and Music on Mac

Apart from fading in/fading out the audio, we also want to introduce the video fade-in and fade-out effects, which will help your video to get more attention. Watch the tutorial below to get detailed information about how to fade in/fade out your videos easily.

Related : How to Fade-in and Fade-out Video Clips

After adding the fade-in and fade-out effects to your video, let’s check how to fade your music and audio in iMovie first, and then we will show you how to fade in/fade out your music and audio file in an easier way.

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Part 1: How to Fade Music and Audio in iMovie on Mac

There are two ways available to fade music and audio with iMovie. One is using the fade handles, and the other is using the audio inspector. Before using iMovie audio fade-out effects, please import your video and audio files to iMovie and start a new project.

Method 1: Use Fade Handles to Add Fade in/Fade out Effect in iMovie

Firstly, let’s take a look at the video below to check how to fade audio in/out the audio in iMovie with fade handles.

Step 1. Enable Audio Waveform

When the project opens, check “Show Waveforms” at the bottom of the Project window.

Note: The Blue waveforms indicate the sound recorded within your video clips. Green and purple waveforms indicate sounds and music you’ve added to your project.

Step 2. Move Pointer to Apply Fade Effects

Move the pointer over a waveform, and drag the small gray fade handle at the left of the clip to adjust the fade audio in effect. Then drag the small fade handle at the right of the clip to adjust the fade-out effect.

Step 3. Playback to Check

Move the playhead to the beginning part of the clips with fade effects to check the fade-in and fade-out effects. If everything works OK, uncheck “Show Waveforms” to hide the waveforms.

Related: How to Remove Background Noise from Video

Method 2: Use the Audio Inspector to Apply Fade in/Fade Out Effect in iMovie

To fade audios in and out in iMovie with the audio inspector, you can follow these steps:

Step 1. Open Your iMovie Project and Select a Clip

Double-click the video clip, choose “Clip Adjustments” to open the Inspector, and then click the “Audio” tab.

If there are two audio tracks, and you want to set the fade in and fade out in iMovie for the background music, you can double-click the background music clip to open the audio inspector. This inspector is a little different. If you don’t know how to add background music to iMovie, you can refer to this post: add background music in iMovie .

Step 2. Set the Fade In and Fade Out Effect

In the window, you can manually set the fade-in and fade-out length by dragging the slider bar to the right or left.

If you do not choose “Manual”, that means you’d like iMovie to automatically set it for you. Usually, when you drag video clips to the Project, iMovie will set the fade-in and fade-out effect randomly by increasing the audio volume at the beginning of the clip and decrease the volume at the end of the clip.

If you manually adjust the effect, you can have a better effect.

Step 3. Save the Audio Fade In and Out Effect

After the settings, you can preview the effect in the viewing window to make sure all goes well, and you are much satisfied. Then click “Done” to save the audio fade-in and fade-out effects in iMovie.

Now, that’s done! I hope the above information does help you to set the fade effects to smooth your video and audio transitions.

Related: How to Get More iMovie Themes

Part 2: An Easier Way to Fade Audio and Music on Mac

Let watch the video below to check how to apply fade-in and fade-out effects in an easier way with Wondershare Filmora for Mac. And download it now to try it by yourself.

Download Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )

If you want to quickly apply fade-in or fade-out effects, iMovie’s alternative for Mac - Wondershare Filmora can help you. It enables you to easily edit videos. After you’ve made your creation, it also allows you to directly upload the complete video file to YouTube and Vimeo for sharing. Check out the quick guide below to see how to add audio fade effects in Filmora.

Step 1. Import Your Video

Import the video clip you want to add audio in and out effect. To do this, click “File” > “Import Media” to import your local file to the user’s album. Or you can drag and drop these target files from the computer to this app’s album.

Step 2. Add the Audio Fade In/Out Effect to Your Video

Place the video onto the timeline. Double-click on it and then choose “Audio”. In the tab, you can drag the slider bar to the right or left to manually set the fade in and fade out the length.

Step 3. Save Your Video

Click the “Export” button to select one of the export methods. You can choose your desired format or mobile devices, burn it to DVD and upload it to YouTube and Vimeo.

That’s all about how to fade music and audio with iMovie and its alternative. If you want to learn more about how to edit video clips with Filmora, you can visit its YouTube channel to get more detailed information. Feel free to leave comments below if you need further assistance.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

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