Insert an audio file within your PowerPoint slide, and choose
to play it either with a click, or set it to play automatically. Whichever option you choose, some files can sound loud and unexpected!
Have you not experienced the sudden scare or shock when a shrill voice interrupts an almost silent environment? Rather than shake the soul
of your audiences, you can use PowerPoint's fade options to add a gradual increase in the volume of your audio files. PowerPoint provides
both Fade In and Fade Out effects that you can add to the beginning and end of your audio clips. These
fade options make your audio clips sound smoother and more subtle.
Follow these steps to add Fade effects to the beginning and end of an audio clip in
PowerPoint 2016:
-
Open your presentation, and navigate to the required slide where you have already
inserted an audio clip. Just select or double-click the audio
clip to bring up the two contextual Audio Tools tabs in the
Ribbon. These two tabs are Format and
Playback. Click the Playback tab to activate it, as shown in Figure 1 (highlighted in
blue).

Figure 1: Audio Tools Playback tab of the Ribbon
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Now, within the Audio Tools Playback tab, you'll find the Fade Duration options, as shown highlighted in
red within Figure 2.

Figure 2: Fade Duration options
These are the two Fade Duration options:
Fade In: Adds a timed fade effect at the beginning of the audio clip. Within the
Fade In box, directly enter the exact number of seconds you want the clip to fade in.
Alternatively, use the Up and Down arrows besides the box to increase or
decrease the Fade In duration.
Fade Out: Adds a timed fade effect at the end of the audio clip. Within the
Fade Out box, directly enter the exact number of seconds you want the clip to fade out.
Alternatively, use the Up and Down arrows besides the box to increase or
decrease the Fade Out duration.
Note: A longer fade duration will result in smoother fades. Adding a 2 seconds fade to an audio clip that is 10 seconds
in duration will not make too much of a difference. Adding a 10 seconds fade to a 2 minute audio file will result in a more pronounced
change as far as the sound or volume is concerned.
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Experiment with different fade values to get the effect you want. Play your audio clip to preview the difference.
Tip: To remove a fade, set both the Fade In and Fade Out
values back to 00.00 (see Figure 2, earlier on this page).
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Make sure you save your presentation.
Note: Fade effects were introduced in
PowerPoint 2010. If you try
to open the presentation with fade effects applied in older versions of PowerPoint, then those fades will be ignored. Also fades will not work if you choose the
Play Sound Across Slides option.
See Also:
Fade Effect for Audio Clips in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows
Fade Effect for Audio Clips in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows