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Create narrations

Learn to add voice narrations to your clips in Premiere Elements.

Narration is a feature that allows you to record voiceovers directly within Premiere Elements to add spoken commentary, explanations, or storytelling to your video projects. This feature is useful for adding context, guiding viewers, or enhancing the overall narrative of your video with your voice or any other recorded audio.

Create a narration

For best results, confirm that your microphone is working correctly with your computer and Premiere Elements before narrating a clip. You can use your computer's microphone as well as an external microphone.

Using your microphone, you can narrate clips while previewing them in the Monitor panel. Your narration is then added to the Narration soundtrack visible in either the Sceneline or the Advanced view timeline.

Set up for narration

  1. Plug a microphone into your computer’s microphone port or via bluetooth.

  2. (Windows) Test the microphone through the Windows Sound Hardware Test Wizard. Check the Windows documentation for instructions.
  3. In Premiere Elements, choose Premiere Elements 2025 Editor > Settings > Audio Hardware (macOS) and Edit > Preferences > Audio Hardware (Windows).

  4. Select the Default Input from the Default Device menu, click OK.

Narrate a clip

  1. In the Sceneline and Advanced view timeline, drag the current-time indicator (CTI) to the point where you want the narration to begin.

  2. In the Sceneline or Advanced view timeline, select Narration   from the Audio track

    Narration

  3. In the program monitor, you'll see the Record Voice Narration window after the countdown ends, which shows Recording in red. 

  4. You can see the recorded narration in the Audio Track of sceneline or timeline after you press the stop   button, when you finish narrating.

  5. For best results, turn off your computer speakers to prevent feedback. To monitor sound while you narrate, plug headphones into your computer and deselect Mute Audio While Recording.
    Note:

    If your speakers are turned on, move as close to the microphone as possible, and keep the microphone as far away from the speakers as possible to prevent feedback.

Narration Settings

You can specify the duration of the preroll and postroll countdown under Preferences > Playback settings.

Replace or discard a narration

  1. In the Advanced view timeline and Sceneline, drag the current-time indicator to the location where the old narration begins.

  2. Select the Narration  button from the Audio Track in the Sceneline or  Timeline.

  3. In the Record Voice Narration window, do either of the following:
    • To replace the narration, adjust the CTI from where you want to replace the narration and click the Narration button. This will overwrite the existing recording with the new one.

    • To discard a narration, select the narration clip on Audio Track and click the Delete button. The old narration clip is removed from the Sceneline or Advanced view timeline. However, it remains in the Project Assets panel in the Advanced view.

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