Sound changes how a video feels. Watch the same ten seconds of video three times: what changes each time?
It is a tram pulling away through the snow.
| Version 1: no sound | Version 2: with music | Version 3: with music and a voice |
|---|---|---|
| The picture on its own: a tram pulling away through the snow. | The same picture, with music under it. | The same picture and music, with a narrator speaking over them. |
Video: a tram in the snow, by Man59, via Pixabay. The narrator's line is invented.
Nothing on screen moved. The picture was identical every time. What changed was the sound, and with it the whole meaning.
Version 2 adds music, and version 3 adds a voice. Today you cut and fade a piece of music. Next lesson you record your own voice over music.
Download the practice audio file. It starts with a creaking door, which you will cut first.
Music: "horror drama song" by BurnerGRap, Freesound (CC0).
Most digital media uses three kinds of sound. You heard two of them on the first step: music in version 2, and music with a voiceover in version 3.
In the table, a loop is music that repeats and a promo is an advert.
| Kind | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Voiceover | Carries the information. | Someone explaining what you are looking at. |
| Sound effects | Make actions feel real. | A door creak, a notification ping, footsteps. |
| Music | Sets the mood before anyone has said a word. | Slow strings under bad news; a bright loop under a promo. |
The green shape you will edit is a waveform, a picture of the sound. Tall parts are loud and flat parts are quiet, and you edit by selecting part of it.
AudioMass runs in your browser, so there is nothing to install and no account to make. Open it at audiomass.co. Make sure it ends in .co, because audiomass.com is a different site full of adverts.
You will make two cuts. First take the creak off the start, and then cut the end so the whole clip is about thirty seconds long.
| Cut | Target |
|---|---|
| From the start | Remove the creaking door, about the first 8 seconds |
| Final length | About 30 seconds |
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