How To Edit Music to Your Video (pt 1)
I made this big mistake when I was first starting out in the video production world.
It was early in my career and I hadn’t learned much about music or music editing.
I think we all know how much influence music has in films, including our own short films/videos. Music has such a power over our emotions and makes us feel things, and when you use that power in your own videos it can really create a big impact.
Butttt it’s not as simple as finding a great song and placing it on your timeline.
That’s what I used to do. I would find a song that fit the mood and tone of my video and place it under my video and when the song was too long I’d just fade it out at the end and called it good.
YIKES.
I’ve learned a ton and come a LONG way since then!!
Here’s why that’s not what you want to do:
Your story has it’s own flow and rhythm, let’s call it a structure wave. It goes up and down at different parts, it breathes, it builds up to an emotional climax and then falls back down and ends.
Soundtracks have their own already composed structure wave.. in fact the waveform of any soundtrack is a great visual way to understand how it builds and falls and breathes. But unless you have a composer that is writing music TO your story (hello big budget), you’re going to have to find a soundtrack that’s already been composed and fit it to your story narrative.
That’s where MUSIC EDITING comes in. And boy is this a skill you definitely want to learn!
TIP:
EDIT YOUR MUSIC TO COMPLEMENT AND ENHANCE YOUR STORY
I know it sounds simple and like we all should know this, right?
But I’m betting I’m not the only one out there that just placed a soundtrack and faded it out at the end. (No need to raise your hand, I see you.)
That story structure wave we talked about? We need to edit our music so it complements that same structure wave. Where the story builds, the music builds… where they’re a big story moment, there’s a big music cue (maybe a hit)…. where the story changes in tempo, the music should change….
And here is where we want to get into the “HOW” of it, and that’s why there’s a “PART 2” where I take you into my editing room and you can see how I do this! (You’re welcome! :D )
Showing is much easier than telling- so in the next couple days I will post a video where you can see my most recent project timeline in Premiere Pro and I’ll show you how I edited the soundtrack!