How Do I Add Music and Art to My Videos

Nosotros all know that the music used in a video or film plays a meaning role in determining the feel. Different songs can turn the aforementioned video from a horror scene into a comedy . If yous know your audition and have found only the correct song , it tin elevate your video to new heights. Yous need to add a song to your video that fits the brand you lot are promoting, while at the same fourth dimension connecting with the sensibilities of the audience. Merely picking the song is just the beginning. Yous nonetheless demand to edit it to fit your video.

When you add together audio to a video, chances are the song y'all picked is non the exact length of your video. Furthermore, y'all will need to adjust book throughout the length of the song to adjust for the dialog and voice-over in your video (for simplicity, I will use dialog and voice-over interchangeably. Just know that technically speaking, dialog requires two or more people speaking to one another).

What I program to bear witness you in this postal service is how to add music to your video in a fashion that makes information technology feel equally if the vocal was made just for your video. These techniques will work regardless of what video editing software you lot use.

Lyrics vs Instrumentals

One decision I practice want to specifically address is whether or non information technology's all-time to use a song with lyrics or strictly utilise an instrumental song. It all depends. Over the nearly 20 years I've produced videos professionally, I've used both. The tricky thing with using songs that take lyrics is that the words in the song could compete with the words in the video if you lot have a voice-over or talking-head interviews with dialog.  But the benefit of adding songs with lyrics to your video is that sometimes the music fits the mood of the video simply the lyrics don't.

The skilful news is that you don't necessarily accept to choose ane over the other. In most cases, if there is a song with lyrics, there'due south normally also an instrumental version of that song likewise. So it's merely a thing of editing the ii songs and then that the instrumental version is used during the parts of the video with dialog or voice-over, and then switch to the version with lyrics for pacing breaks.

What to Keep in Mind When You Add Sound to Video

The bulk of what I want to cover relates to how to edit the vocal so that it feels like it was made merely for the video. At that place are three things to keep in mind.

1. 1. The beginning: the beginning of the video and the outset of the song should feel similar a natural fit. What I mean by that is, however the song starts, its pacing should match that of the video. If the video starts slow and steady, so should your song.
   2. The middle: regardless of whether or not your video has a vocalism-over, you desire to ensure that the audio levels of your soundtrack aren't too loud. If yous do accept dialog or vocalisation-over, you want to adjust the music accordingly so it doesn't drown out or fight with the dialog (I'll be roofing this beneath.)
   3. The finish: last, and certainly not least, the end of the song should ideally have some kind of beat out or kicker that feels like an ending (as opposed to trailing off). I don't want to be besides strict with this proposition. Information technology's not a hard and fast rule. Just generally speaking, short videos that have a potent musical ending are more aesthetically pleasing than ones that but fade off.

A Quick Music Lesson

If y'all remember your childhood music lessons, songs are broken into phrases and "bars." For nearly songs, each bar is made up of four beats. And then if you lot're counting the beats in a song, you'd count one,two,iii,4 (start bar); two, 2, 3, 4 (second bar); 3, ii, iii, 4 (tertiary bar); and 4, ii, 3,4 (fourth bar). You'll notice that at the beginning of every 4-count, I incremented the first number. That merely makes it easier to keep track of the bars every bit you count through them.

In near songs, four bars will make a phrase, and that'due south where you'll often see a shift in the music. There may exist a bridge to a completely different sounding part of the song; or there may be a new instrument added. In either instance, this is where you'll notice some kind of modify.

That area between the two arrows is the bridge. The song used is Continent by ANBR.

The reason I mention all of this is that we'll use this data later when making decisions on where to cutting the music. If yous want to get an excellent primer on music timing, I recommend this video. The video is aimed at aspiring music DJs, only all the concepts he's instruction are applicable to editing (e.g. instead of doing a DJ music drib "on the 1," you lot may cut your video on the 1, etc.)

Now that nosotros've covered some music basics, allow's now see how nosotros will use this knowledge to make a better edit.

Editing the Song to Fit the Video

Let's address the specific ways you can brand your chosen vocal fit the video, regardless of the length of either.

Adjusting the Length

Perhaps the most challenging job will involve changing the length of the song to match the video. Unless y'all are specifically making a xxx- or threescore-second TV spot or web promo, where there are already cut-down versions of a vocal for those pop lengths, you will have to practice some creative editing to make the song fit. This is where our music noesis comes in handy.

There are 2 ways you can approach the addition of music. The first is to edit all the dialog and sound effects (if applicable). In my stance, whenever editing a video based on interviews or a VO script,  it's always all-time to edit all the VO down first, then that you have a foundation for the full video. Remember, it's the data in the video that people demand.

Bold y'all have chosen your song, yous will then lay downwards the music track beneath. This is where y'all will begin moving the video and audio clips around to match with the music. Every bit much as possible, y'all want the audio (and to some extent, some of the visuals) to fit inside the bars and phrases of the song. That means doing things similar:

• Cut "on the 1"
• Having groups of like visual elements all fit inside a stage—e.yard. during the showtime two bars you may show b-curlicue in the office, and so during the next bar (four beats) you lot'll testify a talking head; then on the side by side bar you cut to more than b-coil, etc.
• Using fades and transitions that friction match the rhythm of the vocal

Nigh importantly, you want the cease of the vocal and video to be synched in such a style that any final downbeat of the song comes afterwards all the dialog. This is where you may need to either cut out a large chunk (or chunks) of the song, or you may need to loop some parts to brand information technology longer.

Equally you lot've probably already determined, the place where you lot cutting the song (either to take a section out or to loop a section) will exist right before the "1" beat, ideally afterward a full phrase. The reason is that subconsciously, nosotros're used to hearing music in phrases (groups of 4 and eight bars at a time). Whenever you cutting a vocal in the center of a phrase, it "feels" off. I'm certain you lot've noticed it whenever a music station plays a shorter version of a song, and they've done a poor job at cutting information technology down. The same thing goes if you loop office of a song to brand it longer. As much as possible, loop an unabridged phrase (eight bars), or half a phrase (four confined).

In the epitome higher up, each of the eight sections represents a bar (four beats.) All eight confined represent a phrase. This particular song is comprised of four phrases separated by a span in the eye (run into to a higher place). Information technology would be very easy to loop this song by copying and pasting either these starting time 4 bars or the whole phrase. The first phase starts at about the 19-second mark and goes to about the 32-2nd marker. At that point, you'll discover a new string instrument is introduced.

What I like to do is make cuts in the music alee of fourth dimension, adding a slice at every bar or phrase. This is where it comes in handy to know the central commands for your respective NLE. I edit in Last Cut Pro Ten, and the primal commands to brand a cut is CMD-B. So all I do is permit the music play, keeping my finger on the CMD cardinal. Then every time the music hits the "1" at the end of a bar (or phrase) I tap the B primal (keeping CMD pressed) to brand the cut. I and so practice this throughout the entire song. Sometimes I need to tweak a few of the cuts if they're off by a beat. But for the most function, this gives me a nicely cutting song.

You'll notice in the video above each of the dotted lines represents where I hitting CMD-B to brand a cut. It volition at present exist easy for me to grat chunks of the song to re-create and paste where needed to extend the song or cut out to shorten information technology.

For the most office, every bit long as I tin connect the beginning and stop of phrases, the music should catamenia naturally. Ane caveat is that sometimes, there are transitional beats joining to song phrases that might not cut well together. For instance, let'due south say a song has eight phrases (i.e. sixteen bars of four beats/bar). And let'south say you lot want to cut out the two middle phrases (phrases iv and 5). The stop of phrase iii might not cut perfectly with the beginning of phrase 6. Sometimes songs will have an additional instrument added afterward that is non in the beginning. And then phrases v - viii might have a kick drum whereas phrases 1- four don't. When you endeavour to connect phrases 3 and vi, the boot drum in phrase half dozen may audio awkward coming in from phrase 3. My recommendation for such a state of affairs is to make certain that part of the vocal is underneath the dialog. If it'south not as well drastic a modify, it will most likely be unnoticeable.

Pacing the Song

One time the vocal is the appropriate length, yous can outset moving the dialog to lucifer up with the parts of the song that will let your video to "breathe." What I mean by that is this: give your video spaces and pauses, if possible. Instead of having dialog all the way from get-go to finish, inject breaks in the dialog that allow for the music to come through. At that place are four main reasons to practice this:

1. Pacing: a nicely paced video is more enjoyable to watch. Think about a roller coaster that has big dips and long climbs. Imagine if y'all rode a coaster that was but one drop after another. The excitement of the drop is gone if at that place was no build-upwards for each drib.
2. Let a point sink in: someone may make a point in your video that you lot desire the viewer to ponder for a few beats. Maybe it'southward some important information yous want them to remember. Or information technology could exist a sad role of a video raising coin for baby seals, and yous want to give people time to get emotional and cry. Or maybe it's a funny joke and y'all want to give them time to laugh.
3. Let the song shine: sometimes you just desire the song to play through because the lyrics are intriguing and fit the theme of the video. Or perchance the vanquish and melody are emotional, and y'all want to kick up the book.
4. Large finish: lastly, hopefully, you picked a song that has a strong ending to add to your video. Patently, the term "potent ending" is subjective. But typically, it'south something like a crescendo that builds upwardly towards the end then ends with a hard crush driblet.

Whatsoever the reason, information technology's always a skilful idea, whenever possible, to have a video paced well with appropriate places for the music to shine.

Mixing Vocal and Instrumental Versions

Earlier I mentioned that at that place are times when you may desire to use both versions of a vocal—i with vocals and i without. This is all-time washed when you've added to your video a song with lyrics that chronicle to the theme. Using the methods I described in a higher place, all y'all have to exercise is lay both versions down making sure the two songs are in sync. Then cut the sections of the song that accept lyrics and supercede them with the corresponding section in the instrumental version.

Melding the Cuts

The last technique I want to share is quick and simple. Information technology's a trick I learned near 20 years ago for quickly ducking audio or connecting 2 audio clips.

Ducking and Boosting Audio

If y'all're using a rail-based NLE, the intuitive way to arrange the level of music to allow the dialog to be heard is to use four keyframes:

• The first 1 placed where you want the music to first lowering/raising
• The second one set to the new lower/college sound level
• The third one ready where you want the music to outset raising/lowering
• And the fourth i where the music returns to the previous level

The trick I learned years ago that makes this process much simpler is to cut the sound at the places where you desire the music to change, then add together a crossfade.

As a Terminal Cut Pro X user, I don't do either of those anymore. In FCP Ten, all you lot have to do is highlight the surface area of the audio where you desire the audio to change. This will create audio grab handles that yous tin can then adjust upward or downward. Every bit you do this, the keyframes are automatically created.

What Tips Do You Have?

Lastly, I want to say that in that location is no right or wrong way to edit music to fit your video. Much of it is subjective in terms of what people notice pleasing. And there are many different ways to do the things I mentioned above. We want to hear from you. What tips do you have for adding music to your videos?

Author Bio

For well-nigh twenty years, Ron has been a professional video producer, content marketer, and influencer in the visual arts industry. Most recently was managing editor of the Frame.io blog and currently managing editor of Picture show Anarchism. He helps brands and creative artists tell their stories using video, content, and words. Yous can learn more almost him at https://bladeronner.media.

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Source: https://artlist.io/blog/how-to-add-music-to-a-video/

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