Audio fade in on iMovie

Question

Im trying to start my movie with a black screen with text and have my audio from my first video clip start with that black screen as well, then fade into the video. how is this done?

Answer 1

First you need to enable the Advanced Tools in the Preferences, go to the iMovie menu > Preferences > Check Show Advanced Tools:
Try turning on the 'Waveform' button in the upper part of the iMovie window:
It sits right next to the zoom slider underneath the Project Browser in iMovie '11. And in this screenshot above it's colored in light blue when it is turned on, just click on it to toggle it on and off. Once it's turned on you'll see the audio waveform underneath your video clip like this:
In the blue area near the upper left and right corners are two little pointy 'handles' that designate how the 'fade in' and fade out rates occur. Drag the handle from the left corner towards the middle of the wave form. That will fade in the audio as the video clip is playing. But to have it 'fade in' underneath the video clip requires one more step and that requires the Precision Editor. <CTRL> + click on the video clip and choose Precision Editor.
In the lower half of the iMovie app window you'll see a timeline with the transition point between your black background and the video clip. Turn on the Audio waveform tool in this Editing window as well. In the video clip section drag the little audio offset bar in the 'waveform area' below the video clip to the left:
The amount you drag it to the left determines how quickly the audio starts while playing underneath the preceding black background you have placed on the timeline. So drag it as far as you would like. I don't know how well this will work if you have a 'cross-dissolve' transition placed between the black background and the video clip. This may not work for you if you are also using the cross dissolve to fade the video as well.