PP audio per slide

[Sherry G]

I have a 10 min audio file and 21 slides w/text animations. Is there a way to
listen to the audio that is playing with each individaul slide so I get it in
sync?? I only know how to start the slide show and listen from the beginning.

 

[Rick Altman]

Sherry, I too find it maddening that if an audio file spans several slides,
you will only hear it if you begin playing the show on the slide where the
audio originates. When you're several minutes into a closely sync'd
arrangement, it can be deathly tedious.

That is why many people choose to split up the audio file if at all
possible. If it is one continuous music source, then you're simply hosed,
but if it is a narration or a music medley, if you split the clip into
parts, you can attach each part to the slide that is associated with it.
That eliminates the need to retreat to the beginning.

Splitting out an audio clip is no small task, I grant you, but it's worth it
for how much easier it makes editing and fine-tuning.

 

[Austin Myers]

Unfortunately no, a 10 minute audio file played with a presentation
containing animation timings will "drift" too much for any accurate sync.
In fact, open your presentation and run it while timing it. Now without
doing anything to it, run it again and re-time. You will see quite a bit of
difference in most cases.

If your audio file lends itself (example: a narration) to being broken into
smaller parts that is your very best way to work around the issue. One per
slide would be ideal. The other thing that you can try is to build your
presentation in such a way the that the timing isn't so critical. I find
one simple way to do that is to have a blank side, or a slow slide
transition so it can cover several seconds of "drift" in the timing.

Just be aware, not only will you see this issue on your machine, it is
usually worse when played on other PCs.


Austin Myers
AT&W Technologies

Creators of PowerPoint add-ins

 

[Sherry G]

Thank you Rick and Austin. I am "hosed". My presentation is 21 of my photos
layered with excerpts of the children's book I wrote. I have three pieces of
music I arranged in Goldwave to sync with them:/

It'll get better with time. I absolutely LOVE PPT and choose not to use the
Adobe Flash my hubby just got me!!!! (It's not Sherry friendly). He has
become a PowerPoint widower!

 

[Tom]

I used to do a lot of music/image shows and faced the same inconsistency
problems. One of the MVP's here suggested Cyberlink MediaShow as a solution
that was very good for music/image shows. I bought it several years ago and
was very satisfied. Modest cost, user-friendly, good quality. I'm not
affiliated with that company in any way - just thought it might be worth a
look for you.

http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/products/main_5_en_US.html

 

[Rick Altman]

Sherry, your affinity for it notwithstanding, it might be time for you to
look away from PowerPoint -- it's just not well suited for this type of
work. I use ProShow for slide shows set to music; it is a much more robust
experience and I suspect that it will be Sherry-friendly.

www.photodex.com

You can download trials for free, and although the professional version is
$249, there is also a $69 version. I have pretty much created a side
business thanks to it: www.PhotosToMemories.net.



Rick A.

 

[Austin Myers]

Sherry,

You might want to consider using Movie Maker (free from MS) for this. When
you have it completed, its a wmv movie that will play on about any Windows
PC correctly.



Austin Myers
AT&W Technologies

Creators of PowerPoint add-ins