Add audio files in Motion

You can add different kinds of audio files to a Motion project. Motion lets you preview files before adding them to your project. Motion supports audio in a variety of common file formats, sample rates, and bit depths. For a complete list, see Supported media formats in Motion.

Audio files added to a project are converted to a Motion-specific internal format, allowing you to mix audio files with differing formats, sample rates, and bit depths in the same project.

Note: When you add an audio file, its start point in the Timeline is determined by the Create Layers At preference in the Project pane of Motion Settings. To adjust this preference, see If it’s your first import in Motion.

Add an audio file to a project

In Motion, do one of the following:

In the toolbar, click Import, locate and select an audio file, then click Import.
Choose File > Import (or press Command-I), locate and select an audio file, then click Import.
Drag an audio file from the Finder into the Layers list, Timeline, canvas, Audio Timeline, or Audio list.
Control-click in the Audio list, choose Import Audio, locate and select an audio file, then click Import.

The audio file is added to the project and appears in the Audio Timeline, Audio list, mini-Timeline, and Media list (but does not appear in the Layers list).

Important: Audio tracks from files with more than two tracks of audio (such as 5.1 surround audio) are imported as individual audio objects.

Add an audio file from Music

In the Library in Motion, select the Music category.
Select a subcategory, such as Music, Movies, or a playlist, then select a file.
If your Music library contains rights-protected audio files, such as songs purchased through the iTunes Store or downloaded with an Apple Music subscription, those items do not appear in the Music category of the Motion Library.
Note: To use a song you purchased from the iTunes Store in your project, you must be the copyright holder of the song or have express permission from the copyright holder. For more information, see the Motion software license agreement (choose Motion > About Motion, then click License Agreement).
Do one of the following:
- In the preview area, click Apply.
- Drag the file to the Layers list, canvas, Timeline, Audio Timeline, or Audio list.

The audio file is added to the project and appears in the Audio Timeline, Audio list, mini-Timeline, and Media list (but does not appear in the Layers list).

Add an audio file to a project for later use

You can also add an audio file to your project without having it appear in the composition. For example, you might want to archive an audio file for later use. You do this by dragging the file into the Media list.

In Motion, click Media in the Project pane to open the Media list.
Drag an audio file from the Finder or Import dialog into the Media list.

The audio file is added to the Media list, but not to the Audio Timeline or Audio list. If you later decide to add the file to the active composition, drag its row from the Media list to the canvas, Timeline, or Audio Timeline.

Add only the audio from a QuickTime movie

When you add a QuickTime movie to your project, the movie’s video and audio tracks are both imported. If you don’t need the video, you can add only the audio track to your project.

In Motion, drag a QuickTime movie file from the Finder into the Audio list.
The audio track from the movie is added to your project, without the video footage. The video footage is added to the Media list (but isn’t used in your composition).

Add multi-channel audio from a QuickTime movie

You can import multi-channel audio from QuickTime files as a single stereo track or as individual tracks.

In Motion, choose File > Import (or press Command-I).
In the dialog, select a QuickTime movie file that contains stereo or multi-channel audio tracks.
Click the Audio pop-up menu at the bottom of the Import Files dialog, then choose an import option:
- Mix to Stereo: Imports the movie file as a single stereo track.
- Import All Tracks: Imports the movie file with a separate audio track for each channel.
Click Import.
If you chose Mix To Stereo, the Audio list displays a single audio track
If you chose Import all Tracks, the Audio list displays an individual audio track for each channel in the file. The following image shows the Audio list after importing a stereo QuickTime movie file using the Import All Tracks option, with the resulting left and right tracks.

When you export a multichannel audio file from Motion, you can export all channels or mix them down into a single track. See Select audio output channels in Motion.

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Motion User Guide