How to Add Voice and Related Effects to Instagram Reels

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If you’ve been on Instagram recently, you’re probably aware that Reels with voice and other audio effects are all the rage right now. They’re everywhere. If you’d like to be part of the trend, this tutorial shows you how to take advantage of these rather new features on Instagram to make your Reels shine.

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Also read: How to Add Photos to Your Instagram Reels

Table of Contents

How to Add Voice to Your Instagram Reels

To add your own voice or a friend’s to your Instagram Reel, follow these steps to create your first voiceover.

Open the Instagram app on your mobile device.
To create a new Reel, tap on the “+” button in the upper-right corner of your feed and select “Reel.” Alternatively, swipe left from your main feed to bring up the Instagram camera. Select the Reel option at the bottom to get started.

Tap on the large Record button at the bottom to start recording your Reel, then press “Preview.” A Reel can be 15, 30 or 60 seconds.
You don’t necessarily need to record the Reel right then and there. If you already have a video that you previously recorded and would like to use it now as a Reel, press on the small picture icon in the lower-right corner and upload the video from your gallery.

When done, tap on the “Preview” button.

It’s time to tap on the musical note icon at the top. Alternatively, based on your version of Instagram and region, you may have to press on the mic icon to bring up this feature.

Select “Voiceover” from the options at the bottom.

Make sure you use the bar in the preview slider to specify the exact location where you want your voice to start. Press Pause in the upper right corner of the card, then drag your finger to move the bar on the slider.

Tap or hold to record audio over the video.
Tap on “Done” to complete the process. The voiceover area will now be highlighted in red.

Press “Done” again.
You’ll be taken to the posting page. Here, you can select a cover, tag people, add a location and more. Once finished, press the “Share” button.

Your Reel with voiceover will now be released into the wild.

Did you know: Instagram reels and stories contain Safe Zones, which are areas of the screen where content may be cut off or covered by menu buttons. It’s best not to place text or important visual elements in those areas.

How to Change Your Voice When Doing Voiceovers on Reels

Regardless of whether you were talking while recording your Reel or added a voiceover afterward, you can change your voice using various Instagram filters.

In the Reel preview panel, tap on the musical note icon.

Press “Edit” underneath “Camera audio” and select “Add Effects.”

Select the desired effect from the available options at the bottom.

Press “Done” to hear how you sound with the applied effect.
If you don’t like it, retrace the steps and pick another effect.
Once you’re happy with what you’re hearing, press “Next” and continue on to the Posting screen as shown above.

Also read: How to Create and Use an Instagram Avatar

How to Add a Text-to-Speech Voiceover to Your Instagram Reel

The text-to-speech feature allows Instagram users to add a computerized voice that narrates their content while the Reel is playing. If you’d like to add your own, here’s how to do so.

Shoot or upload a Reel on Instagram.
Go to the Preview page.
Tap on the Text icon at the top: the one that says “Aa.”

Type the text you want to have read out loud for viewers. Tap on “Done” when you’re ready.
The text will be displayed on your Reel. Tap the small text button in the lower-left corner.
Three small dots will appear in the right corner of this button. Before pressing it once again, make sure you swipe your finger over the slider on the video feed at the bottom to select at which moment during your Reel you want the text to appear.

Select the “Text-to-speech” option from there.

A pop-up will appear from the bottom asking you to select between “Voice 1” and “Voice 2.”

Press “Done” and a robotic voice will speak the words you’ve written.
Go back to the “Preview” view. Press “Next” to go straight to the Posting screen.

Also read: 8 Tips to Win at Instagram Search and Get Discovered

How to Add More Sound Effects to Your Reels

If you wish to add more effects to you Reels, Instagram has even more options for you. Here’s how you can take advantage of them.

Create or upload your Reel on Instagram.
Go to the Preview page.
Tap on the musical note icon at the top.

Select “Sound Effects.”

Press the Pause button on the left and drag your finger over the Reel’s feed to select the moment at which to place the effect.

Make your selection from the options above the slider. You can place more than one effect on your Reel. Alternatively, you can press on the Back button to remove an effect.

Once you’re satisfied with your creation, press the “Done” button.
Press “Done” again to be taken to the posting area.

How to Add Captions to Your Reels

For those Reels with voice, Instagram also lets you add auto-generated captions to them. These subtitles will help your viewers understand you better, so they are quite handy.

Open or create a Reel with spoken audio background.
Go to the Preview screen.
Tap on the Sticker icon at the top.

Select the Captions option.

The sticker will immediately start to generate the captions based on what is said in the video.
You can go on and add voice and sound effect to this Reel, for a more interesting result.
Once you’re done with everything, simply press “Done” and head to the posting screen so that you can unleash the video into the wild.

Also read: What Are Instagram Highlights and How to Use Them on Your Profile

How to Mute Your Reel’s Default Camera Audio

While recording a Reel, the app will automatically capture your ambient sounds in the background and will label it as “original audio.” If you don’t like what you hear, know that you can easily mute the default camera audio and perhaps replace it with music.

Open a Reel or create one on the spot using the Instagram app.
Go to the Preview page.
Select the musical note button.

Drag the vertical slider pertaining to “Camera audio” all the way to the bottom.

The audio is now silenced.

How to Turn Reel Sound Off While Browsing

Instagram lets you silence Reels while browsing. Just tap on the Reel tab at the bottom in Instagram to start browsing, then tap again to silence all upcoming Reels. It’s that easy and super convenient.

When you want sound again, simply tap on the Reel you’re currently watching. In contrast, TikTok doesn’t let you do that. It only allows you to silence individual TikToks.

Also read: How to Delete One Photo from a Carousel Post or Stories on Instagram

Frequently Asked Questions

1. I’m not able to take advantage of the text-to-speech and captions options. What can I do?

Although released for both Android and iOS, it seems like at this moment, these features aren’t widely available. If you’re in Europe, chances are you’re not going to be able to take advantage of them at this point. What you can do is make sure your Instagram app is up to date. Additionally, restart your phone after you’ve updated the app, then open Instagram again and try finding the options. If you still can’t seem them, you will have to wait. Check back in a few weeks or wait for the next update. While you wait, you can turn to a third-party video editor to help you edit your Reel the way you want.

2. Can I add audio effects to Reels from my computer?

While you can upload Reels from your computer using the Chrome extension INSSIST, you can’t customize your clip as you would using the Instagram app. You can, however, use a video-editing program such as Kapwing to add various audio effects, then upload the Reel from your PC. In addition, you can use the same software to manually generate your captions. It’s a bit more work than using Instagram’s own auto-generating tool, but it’s a solution if you want to upload the content form your PC.

3. Can I also add music to my Reels?

The answer is yes. You can do that before you’ve even shot your Reel by pressing the Audio (music note) button on the right side of the display. Alternatively, once you’ve captured or uploaded your clip, press the same musical note icon at the top and select “Music.” Search Instagram’s music library for a tune you’d like to add to your miniclip.

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Alexandra Arici –
Staff Writer

Alexandra is passionate about mobile tech and can be often found fiddling with a smartphone from some obscure company. She kick-started her career in tech journalism in 2013, after working a few years as a middle-school teacher. Constantly driven by curiosity, Alexandra likes to know how things work and to share that knowledge with everyone.

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