How to Use Windows Movie Maker to Create a 'Multi Track' Soundtrack

Step-by-Step Guide

1. 1

   Step 1: Open the Start Menu and go to the "All Programs" menu.

   Now look for an icon labeled "Windows Movie Maker" and open it.
   
   The application window should open up.
2. 2

   Step 2: If you don't already know how to use Movie Maker

   Click and drag whatever video and audio files you need (or want) into the large empty area.
   
   Now click "Storyboard".
   
   A menu should open up.
   
   Select "Timeline".
   
   If Timeline is already selected, you don't have to worry about this.
   
   Now there should be three tracks visible at the bottom of the window in the Timeline view:
   Video, Audio/Music, and Title Overlay.
   
   Now drag the desired audio tracks onto the Audio/Music track in the order you want them. , Click and drag it into the video track. , Optimally, you want to type in something you'll remember, such as "Track1".
   
   It doesn't matter too much where you save the project file, however.
   
   Now click the "Save" button.
   
   Note that this step is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT if you want to go to the trouble of making modifications to your project later. , A window should show up asking you where you want to publish your movie.
   
   Select "This computer".
   
   Now press the "Next" button. , Make the file name something you can remember, such as "Track1".
   
   If it's already the name you want, don't do anything.
   
   Also, by default, the drop-down menu labeled "Publish to:" should be on the "Videos" folder.
   
   If it's not, browse for the "Videos" folder by going into the folder labeled with your User Account name and looking for the folder labeled "Videos".
   
   If the Videos folder is already selected, leave the menu like that and click the "Next" button. , If you don't know what to do here, it is recommended that you click "Best quality for playback on my computer (recommended)"
   
   not because the computer says it is recommended, but because it would probably be irrelevant to this this article to explain what the other settings mean.
   
   Now click the "Publish" button. , Once it says "Your movie has been published"
   
   you're still far from done! Now open up the "Videos" folder (you did publish your movie to the Videos folder, right?).
   
   If you don't know where it is, open up the folder labeled with your User Account name.
   
   It should be in there.
   
   Now find the movie you just published.
   
   It should be a ".wmv" file with the name you designated. , Now hold down the "Ctrl" key on the keyboard and then press the "N" key, or just go into the "File" menu and select "New Project".
   
   If Movie Maker asks you if you want to save the changes you made to your project, click "No" unless you didn't save and want to save now, or made desirable changes to the project after you saved it the first time.
   
   The "Video" and "Audio/Music" tracks should be reset.
   
   However, you haven't lost anything. , If you hit the Play button, you will hear the audio files you put in even though the track is labeled "Video".
   
   Why? Because the Video track has it's own "Audio" track, but in order to use it, you have to put a movie file into it that has an audio track, and then Movie Maker will automatically place the file's audio track into the "Video" track's "Audio" track.
   
   Now you see why you had to go though all of this, right? Now put the next set of audio files you want into the Audio/Music track, in the order you want. , It was warned that this could be very time-consuming, correct? At step #4, be sure to enter a different project file name every time you add a new track.
   
   Also, every time you add a new track, it will be merged with the previous track.
   
   Lastly described by this step, at each step, try to be VERY SURE that you have the desired results because it can potentially be quite time-consuming to make any modifications to the final result (the reason is described under the "Tips" section). , How to convert the movie file into just a plain-old audio file? Very easy.
   
   Click and drag your 'final' movie file to the formerly empty space in the Movie Maker window described in step #9.
   
   Now click and drag it again.
   
   However, this time, don't drag it to the "Video" track; instead, drag it to the "Audio/Music" track.
   
   Now repeat steps #5-8. 4 is recommended as well, but not as strongly.
   
   At step #7, there should be a few changes to the window that displays.
   
   If you're not sure, leave the settings as they are, but if you want a specific sound quality, you can select "More settings"
   
   click on the drop-down menu labeled "High-quality audio"
   
   and then select which quality you want.
   
   This should take much faster than it did with the movie files because this is a straight audio file without any movie.
   
   Now you're done.
   
   Find your finished file, open it up, and enjoy.
   
   Hopefully, this article was helpful to you.
   
   If not, make sure you followed the steps very carefully.
3. 3

   Step 3: it should be fairly easy to learn.

4. 4

   Step 4: Get an image file - any will do fine.

5. 5

   Step 5: Now go to the "File" menu and select "Save Project"

6. 6

   Step 6: then type in whatever file name you want.

7. 7

   Step 7: Go into the File menu again and select "Publish Movie"

8. 8

   Step 8: or alternatively hold down the "Ctrl" key on the keyboard and press the "P" key.

9. 9

   Step 9: Now Movie Maker will ask you what you want the file name to be.

10. 10

    Step 10: The computer will now ask you to choose the settings for the movie.

11. 11

    Step 11: Depending on your computer hardware

12. 12

    Step 12: this can take a while (you were notified that this required patience).

13. 13

    Step 13: Click and drag the movie file to the formerly empty space in the Movie Maker window where you dragged the audio files you wanted.

14. 14

    Step 14: Drag the movie file you created into the "Video" track.

15. 15

    Step 15: Now you repeat steps #4-10 until you have as many audio tracks as desired.

16. 16

    Step 16: At this point

17. 17

    Step 17: all your audio tracks should be crammed into a single movie file.

Detailed Guide

About the Author