Slideshow with narration

[MikeH]

Hi, I want to create a slideshow with narration. I have 30 photographs and I have recorded the narration for each one as a separate MP3 file. So what I need is software that will allow me to insert all the MP3 files in order, to create a small amount of silence between them and insert the photographs, the visual duration of each one to match the length of the associated MP3 file. I have been advised of 1: Microsoft Powerpoint, but not sure if I can edit as I need, 2: Cakewalk Sonar Audio Recording Software and 3: Sony Soundforge Audio mastering software. The last 2 can edit video apparently. Has anyone any experience of these different softwares, and is there any other software that would be easier to operate?
Thanks hopefully.....
Mike

 

[Ian]

Hi Mike, I can't confirm this will work - but I suspect that Windows Movie Maker (free) will be able to do this. It's very easy to use and certainly works with most photo/movie types, so I can only assume that importing MP3's will work too.

It's free, so no harm in giving it a whirl to see if it fits the bill :

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/movie-maker

 

[nivrip]

I'm sure you can do it with MS Powerpoint. My grandson did one when he was about 10 years old, completely on his own and without any help, and mastered it in a very short time. I remember him showing me how he did it.

He set up the pictures in Powerpoint, went into the Slide Show tab, and then went into the Record Narration section.

Maybe it's easier when you're ten.

 

[MikeH]

Thanks Ian. I'm running Win XP with Service Pack 3 which apparently Movie Maker came with. I can't find it under Start>Programs so I can only assume that I declined to have it installed at the time that I updated from SP2 to SP3. I'll re-check my SP3 disk. I've also been told that what I need can be done in Adobe After Effects, so I'll be checking that too.
Also thanks Nivrip, but I don't think PowerPoint will work for me as I need the picture to be view-able for as long as the associated MP3 file pertaining to that picture. And having 30 MP3 files of differing lengths, I don't think PP will let me choose differing viewing timings for each individual picture.
Mike

 

[Jamie]

The latest incarnation of the PowerPoint animation engine does allow you to specify the time that each slide is shown for and/or the time each object is set to animate so you could do achieve the desired result with PowerPoint (but if you're using Win XP, you may be on an old version of PowerPoint which would make this challenging).