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Background Sounds

Add ambient audio layers that play behind your narration — rain, crowd noise, music, or anything that sets the mood.

Screenshot: Background sound library panel showing uploaded sounds

Why Background Sounds?

A great audiobook does more than read words aloud — it transports the listener. Background sounds let you drop your audience into the scene: the hum of a busy cafe, rain on a windowpane, crickets at midnight. Layer them behind your narration to create an immersive, cinematic listening experience — no post-production software required.

Your Sound Library

Every project has its own sound library. Upload audio files once, then reuse them across as many chapters and segments as you like.

Screenshot: Sound library with upload form and list of uploaded sounds
1

Open the Background Sounds panel

In the left sidebar, switch to the Sounds tab. This is where you manage your project's sound library.
2

Click "Upload Sound"

Give your sound a descriptive name (e.g. "Rainy street") and pick an audio file. MP3, WAV, and OGG formats are supported.
3

Preview your upload

Each sound in the library has a play button so you can audition it before placing it in your audiobook.
Keep sound names short and descriptive — you'll see them in the segment gutter, and long names get truncated.

Placing Background Tracks

Once you have sounds uploaded, you can place them on any range of segments within a chapter. Each placement is called a background track.

Screenshot: Segment editor with colored background track bars in the gutter
1

Add a background track

Click the Add background track button in the chapter header. A dialog opens where you configure the track.
2

Choose a sound

Pick from any sound in your library using the dropdown.
3

Set the range

Choose the start segment and end segment. The background audio will play behind everything between those two segments, inclusive.
4

Adjust volume

Use the volume slider to set how loud the background plays relative to the narration. A good starting point is around 20–30%.
5

Toggle looping

When Loop is on (the default), the sound repeats seamlessly if the narration runs longer than the clip. Turn it off for one-shot effects.
Screenshot: Background track dialog showing sound selector, segment range, volume slider, and loop toggle
You can place multiple background tracks on the same segments — layer rain with distant thunder, or crowd noise with background music. Each track appears as a colored bar in the gutter alongside your segments.

The Visual Gutter

Active background tracks appear as colored vertical bars next to your segments. Each bar spans the segments it covers, making it easy to see at a glance which parts of your chapter have ambient audio. Click any bar to edit or remove the track.

Playback

When you play a chapter, background tracks are mixed with the narration in real time. Tracks fade in and out smoothly so there are no jarring starts or stops.

Export

Background audio is automatically baked into your exported MP3 files — no extra steps needed. The final file sounds exactly like what you hear during playback, with background tracks mixed at the volume you set.

Background sounds work with all export modes: full audiobook, per-chapter, and ACX-compliant exports. Volume normalization is applied after mixing, so your levels stay consistent.

Managing Sounds & Tracks

  • Delete a sound — Click the trash icon next to any sound in the library. This also removes all tracks that use it.
  • Edit a track — Click the colored bar in the gutter to reopen the track dialog. Change the sound, range, volume, or loop setting.
  • Remove a track — Open the track dialog and click Remove. The sound stays in your library for future use.