# Audio, music & voice-over: Music that steps aside when you talk.

> Separate tracks, volume regions, music ducking, beat markers and AI narration.

Canonical: https://www.smoothcapture.app/features/audio-and-voiceover

Your microphone, system sound, music and narration each get a track and a fader. Music ducks under the voice by itself, and a narrator can be generated from a script when you would rather not record one.

## Highlights

### Separate tracks

Mic, system audio, music and voice each have waveforms, mute, volume and a fader, plus a master.

### Duck music under voice

Turn on Duck Music and the music lowers whenever someone speaks, then comes back.

### Volume regions

Duck, boost or silence a range of any track, with fades in and out.

### Record a voice-over

Record narration at the playhead with your choice of microphone and a countdown.

### AI narration

Generate speech from a script with Kokoro or PocketTTS voices that run on your Mac, or ElevenLabs with your own key.

### Beat markers

Analyze Beats on a music clip shows its beats on the timeline, so cuts and camera moves can land on them.

## How to do it

### 1. Add music and voice

Drop a music file on the timeline, record a voice-over at the playhead, or click Create AI narration and type a script.

### 2. Balance the mix

Use each lane’s fader and per-clip volume, add volume regions, and turn on Duck Music on the music clip.

## From the CLI or an AI agent

Agents can list voices, generate narration into the project and read its exact duration back to time the edit.

```bash
smoothcapture cli editor narration-voices --json
smoothcapture cli editor generate-narration --input - <<'JSON'
{"text": "When you talk, the music steps aside.",
 "voice": "kokoroHeart", "startTime": 0.5, "revision": "…"}
JSON
```

## FAQ

### Can I add background music?

Yes. Drop any music file onto the timeline. Set its volume, fade it in and out, and turn on Duck Music so it lowers under speech.

### Can SmoothCapture generate a voice-over from text?

Yes. Kokoro and PocketTTS voices download once and then run offline on your Mac. You can also connect your own ElevenLabs key, which is stored in your Keychain.

### Are mic and system audio recorded separately?

Yes. They are separate tracks with their own volume and mute, so a loud notification or a quiet mic can be fixed after recording.

### Does SmoothCapture remove background noise?

Not currently. Use a volume region to silence or duck a noisy stretch, or clean the audio in another app and import it.

### Can I cut to the beat of the music?

Yes. Analyze Beats shows beat markers on the timeline, and blocks snap to them as you drag.

## Related

- [Captions & transcripts](https://www.smoothcapture.app/features/captions)
- [Timeline editor](https://www.smoothcapture.app/features/timeline-editor)
- [Screen recording](https://www.smoothcapture.app/features/screen-recording)