Keynote - adding music

dfaulks

Well-Known Member
Am wishing to add music to a Keynote show which has automatic transition time of 4 seconds for all 48 slides.
Have tried all the Apple Help suggestions and some on-line instructions. All end up as being no help at all.
A ".m4a" file has been dragged in and has been Inserted.
It will play on the first slide bit the automatic 4-second transition becomes disabled.
Really would appreciate guidance on this, please. As usual, I'm on a deadline
Thanks
 

tfindlay

Administrator
Staff member
I don't know how to resolve the issue in Keynote but if it's just a slideshow with music you want you can do this in Photos. If you are interested in this option I can send you instructions on how to do this. One nice feature about Photos slideshows is that it can sync the duration of the slides to the length of the music.
 

dfaulks

Well-Known Member
The file I wish to add to a Keynote presentation is in MP3 format.
Is NCH < https://www.nch.com.au > a reliable source for downloading a file ( Switch MP3 Converter Software ) to do the job of converting that MP3 file to an MP4?
 

dfaulks

Well-Known Member
Seems that the designation is "MPEG-4".
I'm trying to create a "video" file of a song which has three verses and to show the words of each line on its own separate slide.
So, the audio needs to play from one end of the show the other and the slide changes happen at the end of each line of the lyrics.
 

chas_m

Well-Known Member
Switch is from a legit company, but $12.99US seems like an awful lot of money to pay for something that VLC, Audacity, and many other programs can do for free!
 

dfaulks

Well-Known Member
Thanks for that note, Chas. I already had VLC installed but, upon checking, found that it needed updating. Did that.
However, couldn't get the required results with it so resorted to using Amadeus Pro to covert the audio file to an "MPEG-4 Audio".
Even that didn't provide the needed "m4a" designation and wouldn't be accepted by Keynote.
So, I manually changed the (Amadeus Pro-designated) file name to ".m4a" and that WAS accepted by Keynote.
The idea of using Photos to do this (as has been suggested) would call for the production of a number of "photos" with each one tailored to one line of the lyrics and I feel that would be a huge amount of work.
The same would be the case if iMovie were used, I'm thinking.
The problem remains; How to have the music file apply to a number of Keynote slides - not just one slide only - and then be able to adjust slide timing to match a lyric line with that of the music.
 

chas_m

Well-Known Member
See my post of March 2nd above on how to use a piece of music throughout a keynote presentation.

Once you’ve done that, you can easily control the slideshow manually to change slides so that the right one appears at a certain point. You can also record this to save as a video, using QuickTime.
 

dfaulks

Well-Known Member
Wow! Thanks for pointing out, once again, that Link, Chas.

Your suggestions on how to control the slideshow, and the saving of it, are very much appreciated.

The instructions on that page appear to be simple but, for a person like me, they could be a little more specific.
"1) Click the Document button on the top right of the Keynote window.
"2) Select the Audio tab.
"3) Below Soundtrack, click the plus sign button."

I DID manage to wade through it, though, and now - of course! - it is all logical and simple!
Bottom Line: Seems that the goal has been achieved … will have another look after lunch.

Thanks again!
Dick
 

chas_m

Well-Known Member
Ah, I hadn’t understood that the finished product needed to be on a website. Normally I would just manually change slides when I needed to in a “live” setting. When exporting from QuickTime, make sure you save it as an MP4 file ... otherwise it may not play for all viewers.
 

dfaulks

Well-Known Member
It has been saved and is shown as a ".m4v" iPhone movie file; it is of 165.3 MB in size.

Will that work for "all viewers" or is it an absolute must that it be a ".MP4 file"?

I see no option to save it as .MP4. The only options, in Keynote, to the "Export as" window is as a Movie.

After dragging the file onto the Quick Time Player icon, the options are -

Screen Shot 2020-06-06 at 9.40.42 PM.png

From QuickTime, the file has been Exported As both 720 and 1080p.
Those files are very close in size; 165.2 MB and 165.3 MB

Thanks!

Dick
 

chas_m

Well-Known Member
M4V and MP4 are pretty much the same thing, but older Windows computers may not recognize M4V, so I would just manually change the extension to MP4, which should work just about everywhere. No other conversion is needed. You can also use a utility such as VLC to create an MP4 version of the video.
 

dfaulks

Well-Known Member
Thanks to the help received here plus time "working at it", the music/video project was completed and submitted to the one who does the uploading. The venue where the recording was done is Victoria's oldest (1876) standing church, Church of Our Lord, at the corner of Blanshard and Humboldt.

The Apple-Keynote file is of seven long-standing hymns with organ accompaniment and each line of words is on its own "slide". (No bouncing ball, unfortunately!) Audio was captured using a Roland R-05 Wave/MP3 Recorder and a few of the photos are from an iPhone 8+. (The organ was built in Boston in 1823.)

For uploading, the Keynote file was saved as an iPhone Movie (not sure why that is; not sure, either, if that affected the quality of the graphics …)

Thanks again for support and encouragemet through this facility and, especially, to you, Chas.

Dick
-------------------------
For anyone who is interested in viewing the result of my labours (!), the 17-minute file is here -

 

dfaulks

Well-Known Member
I note that by clicking on the Play button, of my last message, one is asked to allow FaceBook to access (whatever) which I do not like.
So I looked more carefully at the options in this message window and saw that there is an option to place a Link.
My intention was to place the letters/numbers of the link ONLY … not the end result.
Unfortunately, that didn't work either.
Dick
 
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