As TikTok continues to set the tone for the rest of social media apps to follow, it’s no wonder that the internet is beginning to revolve around the almighty audio. Since Instagram came out with its own TikTok-esque “Reels” platform in August 2020, it’s also mirrored TikTok’s emphasis on sounds. Just like TikTok, Reels trends often involve a shared viral sound — and, using a viral sound on Instagram Reels is a nearly surefire way to go viral yourself. Naturally, all of this hype around sounds might have you wondering how you can add music to your Instagram posts.
Perhaps you have a genius “As It Was”-inspired Reel idea, but aren’t sure how to sync the audio to clips of you growing older. Or, maybe you’ve been dying to show off your inner “material girl” with a live photo of you stepping out, but you know it needs the perfect soundtrack.
Even those who are pitch-perfect at adding music to their Instagram stories using stickers might be totally mystified when it comes to adding music to their posts. If this sounds like you, here’s everything you need to know about adding music to your Instagram video posts and Reels.
How To Add Music To An Instagram Post
If you want to add music to an Instagram post, you’ll need a video that you want to post to your feed. (You can’t add audio to a still photo.) Instagram only allows users to upload music to Reels and stories in-app, so if you’re hoping to add music to a video, you’ll have to do so on your own. Once quick fix if you don’t want to brush up on your video editing skills is to add a music sticker to your video in your story. Hide the music sticker by minimizing it and dragging it offscreen, and download the story. Then, you can upload the story as a video from your camera roll.
If your video isn’t the dimensions of a story, is longer than the length of one story slide, or your song of choice isn’t available on Instagram, then you’ll have to opt for a video editing app. One old reliable for iOS users is iMovie. The app is free and built into iPhones, so all you have to do is open the app and tap “Start New Project” to begin. You will be prompted to select a video, or multiple videos, from your camera roll, which you can check off before tapping “Create Movie.” Once you have your footage ready, tap the plus (+) sign from your menu, then tap Audio. You can choose from iMovie’s Soundtracks, or from your iTunes library by tapping “My Music.” Unlike Instagram’s free library of music clips, you’ll need to purchase a song in iTunes to use it in iMovie (and having an Apple Music subscription doesn’t count).
Another useful video editing app is Adobe Premiere Pro, which you can purchase or trial on any computer. Android users can also select from Google Play video editing apps like InShot, which functions similarly to iMovie by allowing you to add featured music or your own music to clips.
How To Add Music To An Instagram Reel
If you’ve ever added a sound to a TikTok, then adding music to an Instagram Reel will likely feel familiar to you. To start, draft a Reel like you normally would by opening your home tab, swiping to the right, and clicking on “REEL” in the bottom menu. Shoot footage in the window, or add clips from your camera roll in the bottom left corner. Once you have your footage ready, click “Next” in the bottom right corner to edit your Reel.
Once you open the editing screen, you will see a music symbol icon second to the left in your top menu. From here, click “Music” from the bottom menu of sound choices. You can either select a music clip from Instagram, or you can import your own music by clicking “Import” in the top right corner and selecting a video from your camera roll with the preferred music clip.
Once you’ve added your music, you can adjust the volume levels by dragging the “Camera audio” and music clip audio. So, if you want your own rendition of “As It Was” to be audible along with Harry’s, you can turn your camera audio volume all the way down.
