How to Add a Voice-over on a PowerPoint Presentation

Imagine watching a silent film 100 years ago. Key points appeared on title cards while live music only suggested mood and theme. Something was missing—audiences had to content themselves with visuals alone, like a basic PowerPoint presentation without key details. Then, in 1927, The Jazz Singer introduced sound, and studio profits soared by 600% as audiences embraced a richer, more engaging experience. Just as dialogue brings films to life, adding a voice-over to your presentation can provide clarity and connection. 

Learn how to add a voice-over with PowerPoint’s built-in features or use a video creation tool like Loom to provide extra movie magic, like post-recording edits and audience feedback.

Reading a slide deck is like reading a film script. It conveys your presentation’s main points but lacks detail and nuance. Without a live presenter, it’s incomplete. Adding a voice-over to your presentation completes the story presented in your slides and brings it to life. You now have a complete package for audiences to view without losing important information.

Voice-over removes the live requirement for your presentation, which offers tremendous flexibility. Imagine sharing your video presentation with colleagues in different time zones or with clients who can’t attend a live meeting. Unlocking asynchronous presentations also boosts productivity. Loom customer MetaLab saw a 20% jump in productivity when it used Loom to reduce unnecessary meetings. 

Even when you do present live, adding a voice-over to your PowerPoint lends more professionalism and polish. Rehearse and edit what you say to eliminate flubs or filler words that make you sound less confident or professional. Loom AI can automatically remove filler words and silences, making editing a breeze.

If public speaking makes your heart pound, a voice-over presentation removes that pressure. Let your voice-over get the pivotal message across, then jump back in live to field questions.

Voice-overs make your PowerPoint more accessible. Teammates with partial hearing loss might not follow a live presentation clearly, depending on the speaker’s volume, pacing, or audio quality. With a pre-recorded voice-over, you eliminate those concerns by playing back your audio before you share and rerecording sections that are difficult to hear. You can also provide valuable accommodations like transcripts or captions, another automatic feature when using Loom. 

Finally, adding a voice-over to your PowerPoint extends its utility. You can make the presentation available on your website as a free or paid course, or cut it into smaller videos for demos and social media. Once a single-use tool, your presentation is now multipurpose content for your video marketing strategy.

PowerPoint has solid built-in features to add a voice-over to your presentation. Here’s a walkthrough of two methods you can use based on your preference and presentation style.

Option 1: PowerPoint audio recording 

Looking forward to a seamless recording experience? Start with Microsoft PowerPoint’s audio recording feature. This feature records audio only, not the entire presentation. It’s ideal if you're presenting live and want to control the pacing or only want voice-over on specific slides.

To start recording, open your presentation, navigate to the “Record” tab, and then follow these steps:

1. Click the button with the microphone icon that says “Audio.” You should see a dialog box with basic controls. 

2. Begin speaking and deliver any dialogue you want to accompany the current slide. If you make a mistake, you’ll need to stop and rerecord.

3. Click “OK” when you’re finished. Your audio file will display as a small speaker icon on your slide. The trim feature allows you to do some simple editing, but it’s limited. You can only adjust where playback starts or ends.

Complete these steps on all slides that should have voice-over. When you’re ready to preview or present, the audio plays automatically as you move through your slides, though you may need to sync it if you have animations or particular slide timings.

Check out this Loom video to walk through these steps. 

Option 2: PowerPoint Recording Studio

PowerPoint's Recording Studio offers more options than the Audio Record feature. It records your entire presentation and exports it as a video file to share with others.

Again, start by opening the “Record” tab in your presentation, then follow these steps:

1. Click the “From Beginning” or “From Current Slide” button. This opens the Recording Studio, which resembles presenter mode. At the top, PowerPoint displays your slide notes in the “teleprompter.” A toolbar offers options to toggle your camera and microphone on or off. At the bottom of your screen, you have tools to mark your slides in real time. PowerPoint records the timing of your markings along with your audio.

2. Select “Record” and wait for a brief countdown. With this method, you can move to the next slide without stopping the recording. If your slides have transitions, pause speaking until they’re done. PowerPoint won’t record narration during the transitions. 

3. If you’re not happy with something you recorded, stop and do a retake from the current slide or start over from the beginning.

When you reach the end, follow the prompts to export your full presentation as a video file. 

Here’s a quick Loom video to show you the Recording Studio in action.

Tips for recording effective voice-overs in PowerPoint

Be prepared:

• Organize everything you want to say beforehand to ensure smooth delivery and avoid retakes.

• To use PowerPoint’s teleprompter feature, fill in notes on the appropriate slides before you record. You can’t add notes to this section while presenting.

• Practice your delivery to speak confidently and not trip over your words.

Be heard:

• Find a quiet environment with no echoes or unwanted noises.

• Test your microphone beforehand for volume, clarity, and reliability.

• Speak evenly and clearly so your audience catches everything you say. 

While PowerPoint's built-in tools are a good starting point, Loom’s experience is more streamlined and user-friendly because it’s a video creation platform. Loom’s editing tools remove the pressure to get a perfect take the first time. Instantly shareable videos save you and your team valuable time. It’s like upgrading from creating a movie on your phone to using professional equipment—only it’s just as easy. 

Adding a voice-over with Loom

Open your PowerPoint presentation and Loom’s desktop app, then follow these steps to add a voice-over with Loom: 

1. In Loom’s dialogue box, select whether you want to record your full screen or a particular window. Then, select the camera and microphone buttons to toggle them on or off, and click the “Record” button. 

2. Use visual enhancements to make your presentation pop. Loom’s drawing tool for Business and Enterprise plans lets you mark important information on slides just as you would in PowerPoint. The party popper allows you to add special effects with a burst of confetti. Select backgrounds or frames to add Hollywood razzle-dazzle if you leave your video on. This how-to video lets you see these visual enhancements in action.

3. Start your slide show and present as if you were doing it live. Feel free to pause the recording at any time to collect your thoughts. You can opt to start over if you make a mistake, but don’t feel like you have to scrap everything for a tiny flub. It’s easy to go back and edit after you finish recording. 

Once you finish recording, the video is instantly ready to review and share from your library. If you’re not ready to release it quite yet, you can start editing your Loom recording. 

All customers can use Loom’s classic trim tool, which uses waveform editing to edit audio. Business and Enterprise customers have more options: They can edit straight from the auto-generated transcript or stitch multiple videos together. The AI-powered video editor makes editing hassle-free with automatic silence and filler word removal.

When you’re ready, click the “Share” button. Send your presentation instantly via email, post it on social media, or generate a shareable link. You can even get an embed code if you want to add it to your site. Here’s a quick walkthrough of your options.

Benefits of using Loom for voice-overs

PowerPoint’s built-in recording tools are a great start, but Loom shines above them in a few ways. 

• Enhanced visual features for video: Engage your audience and build connection by making your video personable. Fun frames, colorful backgrounds, and blurring effects add visual pizzazz. 

• Instant video exports: No additional clicks or wait time to convert your PowerPoint video to an MP4 file. Your finished video appears immediately in your Loom library. 

• Easy sharing: Don’t fumble with downloads and attachments. Share your video straight from your library with a single click. Integrations with Slack and Gmail make sharing even simpler.

• Improved accessibility: Background noise suppression generates clear recordings for your audience. Automatic transcripts and closed captions make your video more accessible to viewers who are Deaf or have partial hearing loss. 

• Viewer insights and interaction: Viewers can comment or react with emojis, keeping the conversation around your presentation in one place. And there’s no need to follow up to verify if someone watched your presentation—Loom’s Viewer Insights lets you see who has viewed your video.

• Enhanced features with Business and Enterprise plans and Loom AI: If Loom’s Starter Plan feels like producing a slick indie, Loom’s paid upgrades are like making a Hollywood blockbuster. Paid features include unlimited videos, filler word removal, embedded links, robust Engagement Insights, and more. 

You’ve upped your production values by adding a voice-over to your presentation. These best practices will ensure your PowerPoint video achieves “A” movie status.

Keep it concise 

Use your pre-rehearsed notes to stay focused on the message. Trust your audience to read the text on the slides and supplement it with insights, analyses, and recommendations. 

Concision keeps your audience with you from the first slide to the last and keeps the file size manageable. The larger the presentation, the longer it takes to export. 

A large file might exceed attachment limits when sharing a PowerPoint-generated MP4 file in an email. Loom eliminates those concerns by offering instantly shareable videos with multiple sharing options.

Add a personal touch

A video voiceover makes your presentation more engaging by showing the human behind the slides. Your presentation feels more like a conversation, building trust and rapport. 

PowerPoint’s Recording Studio and Loom allow you to use your computer’s camera to record yourself while you present. When you add video with Loom, you can add special effects like blurred or unique backgrounds and colorful frames. 

Make it accessible

Finally, when converting your presentation to video, account for accessibility. For Deaf viewers or those with hearing loss, you’ll need high-quality audio with minimal background noise. 

People with low vision appreciate simple, high-contrast slides with large, clear text. Adding subtitles and transcripts are valuable accommodations for Deaf viewers and those who prefer watching videos with subtitles. PowerPoint lets you add subtitles from the Slide Show tab. Loom automatically generates captions and transcripts for you.

Adding a voice-over to your presentation makes it more engaging, versatile, and accessible. 

PowerPoint offers simple tools to add audio to your presentation. Loom provides extra showbiz polish with visual effects, robust editing tools, easy distribution, and automatic accessibility features. If you’re at home with PowerPoint, it has everything you need. Curious about Loom? You can get started for free.

Give your slides a voice with Loom. Start adding voice-overs today and impress your audience like it’s 1927.