Music & SFX for video production

The role of Music & SFX

Music and SFX are an important part of filmmaking. Learn how they can improve your next video project.

The importance of Music

Music is a vital element of the video editing process. For social media video, the most common is to establish the mood or tone of a scene, or in some cases, the overall video. The right audio track will help the audience understand and feel what the presenter is trying to say. It is important to make an emotional connection with your viewer. For example, if you are promoting a service which aims to help other businesses, upbeat and positive music is ideal. You want to make the view excited and interested in the services on offer. Music can also be used to grab the viewer’s attention. Using a strong and impactful soundtrack helps to make a lasting impression.

Sound editing

Choosing the right song

Choosing the right song for your video can be difficult. There are no shortcuts for this. The best way to go about finding the right song for your film is to think about how you want the audience to feel. What song would compliment the footage? You want the track to emphasize what is already being shown with the footage. Spend as much time as it takes listening to online libraries until you find something that might work. Then, import that song and play it with your video. Ask yourself, does this track feel right? Does it have the right mood, rhythm, tempo? If yes, great! Continue editing and incorporate the song into your video. If not, keep looking.

Audio equipment

What is SFX?

SFX, or sound effects, is a noise that was made artificially for a video or film. This sound effect could be one that you recorded in a sound studio, or found online by another artist. An example of a sound effect could be a person’s footsteps walking down a hallway, a bird chirping, a car horn, the sound of waves crashing on the beach, the blow of a whistle. Any sound that was not made by a person speaking or a musical track, has the potential to be a sound effect.

Sound board

When to use Sound Effects

Sound effects can be used at any time in a video. The best time to use them would be to emphasize something. This tells the audience that what is being talked about or shown in the video is important. For example, a sound effect could be added to your business’s animated logo. This will draw people’s attention to the logo and your brand.

Microphones

Where to look…

Previously it was very difficult to find music for videos. Unless you had a big budget and were able to pay for the rights to the song you wanted, there weren’t many options. Copyright free music was not as widely available. Thankfully this has changed. Video creators have access to thousands of songs and sound effects. For a subscription fee, online libraries such as MusicBed and StoryBlocks give people access to their entire collection.

Sound editing equipment

Next Steps

Music and SFX play an important role in filmmaking. They help to establish the mood of your video, communicate ideas, and leave a lasting impression with your audience. Keep reading for details on Sound Mixing. Click here to return to the Video Production Process page.