Add background music to a recording

A bed of music under a voice is what makes a voice note sound produced. The tool mixes a second audio file underneath the recording and renders both into one file.

Add a bed

1. Open the recording in the player.
2. Tap Background music in the tool row.
3. Choose an audio file from the Files app — anything the app can read: M4A, MP3, WAV, AAC, AIFF.
4. Set the music level so it sits under the voice, and turn on looping if the music is shorter than the recording.
5. Add a fade in and out, preview it, then save as a copy.

Getting the level right

• Music should be roughly a fifth as loud as the voice. If you find yourself listening to the music, it is too loud.
• Instrumental only. Lyrics compete with speech and both lose.
• Fade in over two seconds and out over three — a hard start sounds like a mistake.
• Check on phone speakers as well as headphones; phone speakers lose bass and the mix changes.

About the music you use

Music you did not make is somebody's property. For anything you publish, use tracks you have licensed or that are explicitly free to use, and keep a note of where each one came from.