Sounds


 * Sounds**

Just as PowerPoint comes with a Gallery of animated GIFs, it also has a collection of sounds that you can insert into presentations—everything from a witch’s cackle to a steam whistle to power chords. To insert one such sound, choose: Insert à Movies and Sounds à Sound from Gallery (sometimes called Clip Organizer). When you insert the sound, an icon appears on your slide and the sound will play when you click the icon.

You can also insert sounds that will play automatically when the slide appears or when you click the mouse. This is especially useful when you are giving your presentation from a podium and using a remote control to change slides. Remote controls let you click through slides but often don’t let you click on icons—and clicking on icons is needed to activate sound files. To insert a sound file that will play when the slide appears, put the sound in as part of a transition. Click on the selected slide, then select Slide Show à Slide transition, and a menu box will appear. Select the visual transition you desire (on no transition). Then toward the bottom of this menu palate, in the Sound window, select the very last item on the long list (“other sound”). This will let you select the sound you wish to play when the slide appears. The sound must be a .wav file (not an MP3 or other format) for it to work with PowerPoint. In this menu, you can also control whether the sound will begin on a mouse click (when the slide first appears) or after a designated number of seconds have passed. You can also apply this sound to all of your slides as a transition, if you wish.


 * [How to create .wav files]**

To insert sounds you’ve saved elsewhere, simply choose: Insert à Movies and Sounds à Sound from file and then locate the file.

Playing a CD audio track—you can do this, but it’s clumsy. Obviously, you must have the actual CD inserted into your computer during your presentation for this function to work. For this, select Insert à Movies and Sounds à Play audio CD track and follow the prompts.

Recording your own sounds and inserting them is also an option. Use the Insert à Movies and Sounds à Record sounds path and then use the computer’s condenser microphone (or attach a regular mic) to record a sound. The sounds you insert in this way will be activated when you click an icon on the slide itself.