How to edit audio with Hilite’s multitrack timeline

Hilite’s multitrack timeline gives you room to combine the main voice recording with music, introductions, outros, ambience, and other sound layers. Each element sits on its own track so you can position and adjust it independently.

This guide shows how to understand the timeline controls, add media, arrange intro and outro music, balance volume, create fades, layer a soundscape, review the complete mix, and export it.

Play the existing recording once before adding new layers. This gives you a clear sense of its pacing, beginning, ending, and the spaces where music or sound design could help.

Use the transport controls to play, pause, move backward, and move forward. Lock a track when you want to protect its position from accidental changes, and unlock it before moving or editing its clips.

Open the Music or Media library and choose the audio you want to add. Preview options when available so the mood and tempo support the voice recording.

Drag the selected file from the library onto an open track in the timeline. Place an intro near the beginning of the episode and make sure the destination track is unlocked.

Move the intro clip to the beginning of the recording and play across the transition into the speaker’s voice.

For a consistent ending, add the same piece of music—or a complementary outro—to another point in the timeline and place it beneath the final section of the voice track.

Lower the music until it supports the episode without overpowering the speaker. Play the music and voice together rather than judging either track in isolation.

Check the voice level as well. Make small adjustments, replay the same passage, and repeat until every spoken word remains easy to understand.

Use fade controls to bring music in gradually or lower it smoothly as the voice begins. A fade-out can also make the ending feel intentional instead of stopping abruptly.

Adjust the timing of each fade and replay the transition. The fade should support the pacing of the episode without drawing attention away from the content.

To create a stronger sense of place, drag an ambience or sound-effect clip—such as rain—onto another open track.

Position it beneath the relevant section and lower its volume so it creates atmosphere without competing with the speaker. Add layers deliberately; every sound should contribute to the intended experience.

Play the episode from beginning to end with every track active. Listen for sudden level changes, music that masks speech, clips that begin too early, gaps, and transitions that need a longer fade.

When the voice, music, and soundscape work together, save your changes and choose Export to create the finished audio.