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Capability

Add music to video on your Mac

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Add music to video in Rooster by placing an audio file at the playhead: it lands on its own Music lane, under your narration. A short track can repeat to fill the video, one button sets its level well under your voice, and Duck under speech dips it while you talk, by an amount you choose.

Music that knows when you are talking

Add the file to the project with File > Add Media… or Add in the Media rail, click it there, move the playhead to where it should start and press Add on the Music lane. To play it under one passage only, select those words in the script and press Play under the selected words. Dragging an audio file onto the timeline puts it on the Music lane too, unless you drop it on the main recording's row.

A track shorter than the video does not have to be stretched by hand. Select it and turn on Repeat to fill the video in Adjust: it plays over and over until the next clip on the Music lane or the end of the video, and fades out at the end. Drag its trailing edge to stop it sooner.

The level is the part most editors leave to you, and the part that goes wrong. A finished music track is mastered loud, and a voice recorded on a laptop or desk microphone is far quieter, so a bed dropped in at its own level competes with the words. Rooster measures both on your Mac, says how loud each one is under Level, and offers Set 10 LU under the narration, which sits the music well below your voice in one press. It only ever turns the music down, never up.

Then turn on Duck under speech. The music comes down while you are speaking, stays down through the short gaps between sentences and comes back up in longer pauses, following the speech Rooster measured in your recording rather than a guess, and Amount sets how far it dips. When you first turn it on, the music drops to about 30 percent of its level under your voice.

None of this needs a server. The measuring happens on your Mac, the music file itself is never changed, and every setting is one step you can undo.

What is on screen

  • Add on the Music lane

    In the Media rail, with an audio file selected. It places the file on the Music lane at the playhead.

  • Play under the selected words

    The button under it in the Media rail, which places the music under the words selected in the script and nothing else. It is greyed out until words are selected.

  • Repeat to fill the video

    A toggle under Loop in Adjust, also on the clip's right-click menu. It repeats the track until the next music clip or the end of the video, and fades it out at the end.

  • Set 10 LU under the narration

    Under Level, beside how loud your narration and the music measure. One press sets the music's volume below your voice; you can drag it from there.

  • Duck under speech and Amount

    Under Ducking. The switch makes the music dip while you speak, and Amount sets how far. Ducking belongs to the whole Music lane, so a track split in two ducks as one.

  • Volume, Mute and Fades

    Under Sound: Volume with a Mute button at its end, and Fade in and Fade out of up to five seconds each. Under Music lane, Mute the whole lane silences every music clip at once and leaves them where they are.

Every capability Rooster ships is listed on the features page, and how the work is split between your Mac and everything else is on how it works.

How to use it

What it does not do

  • Rooster has no music library and does not generate music. You bring the track, and having the right to use it in your video is up to you.
  • Ducking follows the speech in your main recording only. It does not dip the music under the sound of a B-roll clip, and a recording in which Rooster cannot measure a speech level gets no dips at all rather than dips at a guess.
  • Ducking is one setting for the whole Music lane. You cannot duck one track more than another on the same lane.
  • Volume stops at 100 percent. Rooster plays a clip at its recorded level or below, so a track that is too quiet cannot be boosted here.
  • Repeat joins the end of the file to its start with no crossfade. A track made to loop joins cleanly; one that is not can click at the join, and the answers today are the end fade and trimming the clip.
  • There is no drawn volume curve and no cutting to the beat: a music clip has one volume, a fade at each end and the ducking.

This list is here because the alternative is a reader installing Rooster and finding out. If one of these is the job you need done, the alternatives page ranks tools that do it.

Frequently asked questions

How do I add background music to a video on a Mac?

Add the audio file to a Rooster project, select it in the Media rail, move the playhead to where it should start and press Add on the Music lane. Turn on Repeat to fill the video if the track is shorter than the video.

Can the music get quieter when I talk?

Yes. Turn on Duck under speech: the music dips while you speak, stays down through the short gaps between sentences and comes back up in longer pauses, following the speech Rooster measured in your recording. Amount sets how far it dips.

How loud should background music be under a voice?

Well below it. Rooster measures both and offers Set 10 LU under the narration, which sets the music's volume that far under your voice in one press. From there you can drag the Volume slider.

Does Rooster come with music?

No. There is no stock library and no generated music. You add a track you have the right to use, from anywhere on your Mac.

Can I loop a short track?

Yes. Repeat to fill the video plays it over and over until the next clip on the Music lane or the end of the video, and fades it out at the end. A track that was not made to loop can click where it starts over.

The rest of the loop