Lower background audio under narration

Play the saved recording, not just the recorder preview. Listen to a section with speech and app sound at the same time. If your editor exposes separate sources, mute each in turn to identify it; two channels labelled left and right do not necessarily mean separate microphone and app tracks.

Reel provides microphone and system-audio controls and a single-track option. Those capture settings are useful before recording, but a delivered mixed soundtrack cannot simply be uncombined with an ordinary volume slider. Confirm what your saved file and chosen editor expose before promising a later remix.

Choose the densest sentence in the tutorial, perhaps an explanation spoken while a game plays music. Lower the background until each word is understandable at an ordinary listening level. Then check a quiet sentence and a louder reaction. There is no universal percentage that works for every microphone, game and listener.

In iMovie on Mac, select an audio clip and adjust its waveform volume line. A selected range can receive a different level; Apple also documents volume keyframes for changes over time. These are editor controls, not automatic narration ducking in Reel.

1. Keep the original recording unchanged and edit a copy or project.
2. Identify the independent music or app track, if one exists.
3. Lower it beneath speech, leaving any important demonstration sound audible.
4. Listen across the beginning and end of each volume change for distracting jumps.

For a software tutorial, music may add little during detailed instructions. Removing the optional bed is often clearer than making narration unnaturally loud. Keep essential cues: an error beep that explains why the next step failed should remain understandable, or be described in the narration.

If speech was already distorted during capture, reducing playback volume does not reconstruct the lost detail. A short replacement voiceover may be more useful than boosting or repeatedly processing the damaged passage. Recording rights and music permission remain separate from whether a mixer can lower the track.

Export a short section containing speech, a pause and an important app sound. Listen through headphones and a small speaker. Make this a comparison you perform, not a claim that one device guarantees every listener’s experience.

Finally open the file in the player your audience will use. A project can sound correct while the delivered file selects a different audio track. Arte Soft publishes Reel; this workflow separates its recording controls from the editing work needed afterward.