---
title: "Add voiceover, music, sound effects and captions"
sidebarTitle: "Voice, music and captions"
description: "Ask for narration, music, sound effects and captions in plain words: what's free, what HeyGen adds, and how to check the mix."
---
import { DocsVideo } from "/snippets/docs-video.jsx";
Ask for sound the way you'd brief an editor. The agent finds or makes each piece, places it on the timeline and
mixes it, with the music dipping under the voice.
*Sound on: narration, the music ducking under it, and effects landing with the action.*
## Ask for it
In the Studio app or your own agent, in one message or one at a time:
```text
Add a warm, unhurried narration of this script: [paste script]
Put a calm piano bed under it, quieter while she speaks.
A soft whoosh on each scene change, nothing else.
Captions: two lines at most, key words in the brand color.
```
Quote the script when the words are approved; otherwise give the points and let the agent write it. Name what you
don't want, too: "no music" and "no sound effects" are followed exactly.
## Free, or HeyGen quality
| | Free, on your computer | With HeyGen |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Voice** | Kokoro voices, in several languages | HeyGen voices and your own cloned voice |
| **Music** | Tracks you add, or local generation if you install it | A 10,000-track catalog |
| **Sound effects** | A bundled set, plus Openverse | The same |
| **Captions** | Local transcription with your own agent (Parakeet or Whisper) | The Studio app transcribes through HeyGen |
The Studio app uses HeyGen when you add a HeyGen API key (Home says **Add a HeyGen API key to make voiceovers, avatars
and clips**), and a local voice when you don't. With your own agent, sign in to the HeyGen CLI or set an API key. The
words to use for each are on [Voice, music and sound](/prompting/media-and-audio).
## Use your own recording
Add the file and say what it is ("this is the narration", "keep the interview audio"). To get timed words from it
yourself, transcription runs locally and costs nothing:
```bash
npx hyperframes transcribe interview.mp4 --language es
```
Pass `--language` when the speech isn't English. It also imports an existing `.srt` or `.vtt`. For a talking-head clip that needs
captions or a tighter cut, see [Captions and recuts](/guides/captions-and-recuts).
## Get captions right
Read the transcript before it goes on screen: names, product terms and numbers are where recognition slips. Keep
lines short and broken on meaning, keep them off faces and buttons, and emphasize the two or three words that carry
the point. To adjust them by hand, open [Captions](/studio/assets-and-blocks#edit-captions) in the browser editor.
## Repeat music inside a slot
Use the native `loop` attribute to repeat a short track for a longer slot:
```html
```
The track repeats until the 30-second slot ends in preview and export. If you
set `data-media-start`, every repeat starts at that source in-point. Playback
speed and rate automation apply to the repeated audio. Looping videos with
`data-has-audio="true"` repeat their sound too, including any silence before
the next cycle.
## Check the mix
Watch once with sound and once muted, then listen once without watching.
- The voice stays clear through the loudest part of the music.
- Each effect lands with the thing it belongs to.
- Nothing cuts off a word or a breath at a scene change.
- The music ends on purpose, not at the end of the file.
To dip the music only where the voice sits instead of turning it all down, use a
[voiceover carve](/studio/audio-effects#make-music-sit-under-narration).
Music can start after narration begins: the dip then starts at the right level for that moment, and speech that has
already ended doesn't make a new dip.
## Related topics
- [Add captions to a video with AI](/guides/captions-and-recuts)
- [Make a video to music](/guides/music-to-video)
- [Voice, music and sound: the words to use](/prompting/media-and-audio)