How to Make a Video with Music in the Background

Creating a video with a musical backdrop can enhance the viewer’s experience, allowing emotions, themes, and messages to resonate more deeply. Whether you are crafting a video for personal use, a business promotion, or a creative project, knowing how to properly integrate music can be crucial. In this article, we will guide you through the steps and best practices on how to make a video with music in the background, ensuring that the end product is engaging, professional, and emotive.

1. Understanding the Importance of Music in Video

Before diving into the technicalities, it’s crucial to understand the value that music adds:

Emotional Resonance: Music has the innate ability to evoke a wide range of emotions — from joy, nostalgia, and inspiration to tension, sadness, and suspense. By selecting the right track, creators can enhance the emotional depth and resonance of the video, ensuring viewers feel the intended emotions.
Pacing and Rhythm: Music plays a vital role in setting the tempo and pacing of the video. Fast-paced tracks can accelerate the perceived action and energy, while slow-tempo music can impart a serene, contemplative, or somber mood. The rhythm can also guide edits and transitions, creating a harmonious interplay between visuals and sound.
Narrative Enhancement: Music can underscore pivotal moments in a storyline, heightening drama or emphasizing climaxes. In the absence of dialogue, music can also guide the narrative, telling a story through its progression.
Engagement and Retention: Background music can make videos more engaging, holding the viewer’s attention for longer periods. It fills gaps, prevents monotony, and can ensure that even silent portions of a video remain captivating.
Professionalism and Polish: Well-selected and appropriately mixed background music can lend a video a professional touch, making it feel polished and refined, which can be especially important for corporate presentations, advertisements, or branded content.
Cultural or Locational Context: Music can provide contextual cues about a video’s setting or cultural background. For instance, using traditional music can instantly signal that a scene is set in a particular country or cultural backdrop.
Branding: For businesses and brands, consistent use of particular musical themes or jingles can enhance brand recall. Over time, viewers can instantly recognize a brand just by hearing its signature tune.
Masking Background Noise: On a technical level, music can also help mask unwanted background noise in videos, ensuring clearer and cleaner audio quality.

2. Selecting the Right Music

Choosing a piece of music that complements the theme, emotion, and pace of your video is vital. Consider the following:

Genre & Mood: Determine the emotion you want to convey. Are you going for inspiring, melancholic, joyful, or tense? Your music choice should align.
Instrumentation: Some videos might benefit from instrumental tracks without lyrics to avoid clashing with dialogue or voiceovers. Others might use vocal tracks to amplify the message.
Licensing: Always make sure you have the right to use a particular song. There are several royalty-free music platforms like Epidemic Sound, Audiojungle, and Artlist, where you can find tracks for your projects without infringing copyright.

3. Preparing Your Video Content

Before adding music, ensure your video content is well-structured:

Storyboarding: Plot out the sequence of your video scenes. Knowing the flow can help in choosing where to place your music.
Editing: Use software like Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, or DaVinci Resolve to cut and arrange your footage. Clean edits make it easier to align with musical cues.

4. Adding Music to Your Video

Now, let’s get into the technical side of how to make a video with music in the background:

Importing Your Track: Open your video editing software and import the music track you’ve chosen. Most software will allow you to drag and drop both video and audio files into the project. In case your audio format is not supported by the program, you’ll need to convert your audio to a compatible format. The best option is to use an MP3 converter, since the MP3 format is widely supported.
Synchronizing Music with Footage: Place your music track on the timeline, ideally on a separate audio track below your video clips. This way, you can easily manipulate the music without affecting the video.
Adjusting Music Length: Often, the music track won’t perfectly fit the length of your video. You might need to trim, loop, or fade out the music. To trim, simply cut the unnecessary part. To loop, duplicate the desired segment. For fading, most software has easy drag-and-drop fade effects.
Balancing Audio Levels: If your video has dialogue or other significant sounds, you’ll need to ensure the background music doesn’t drown them out. Adjust the volume of the music track so it complements, not competes with, other audio elements.

5. Consider Transitions and Sound Effects

Transitions: If you’re using multiple tracks or shifting moods in your video, smooth transitions between different music pieces are essential. You can use crossfades or utilize moments of silence to transition.
Sound Effects: Sometimes, added sound effects like ambient noise, footsteps, or other contextual sounds can enhance the viewing experience. These can coexist with your background music but ensure they’re balanced and not overwhelming.

6. Review and Adjust

Always preview your video multiple times:

Consistency: Ensure the music remains consistent in volume and mood throughout.
Emotional Impact: Watch with a critical eye and feel the emotional journey. Does the music amplify the video’s message? If not, consider adjustments or even a different track.

7. Export and Share

Once satisfied, export your video in the desired format. Ensure the audio quality is set to high to retain the clarity of both the video’s original sound and the background music.

Now, with your video ready, you can share it on platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, or social media channels. Always remember, when uploading, to give proper credit if required by the music license.

Conclusion

Understanding how to make a video with music in the background is about more than just technical know-how. It’s an art form, blending visual storytelling with auditory enhancement. By following these steps and always keeping the viewer’s experience in mind, you can craft videos that not only look great but sound fantastic too. Whether you’re a budding filmmaker or a business trying to convey a message, the harmonious marriage of video and music can elevate your content to new heights.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is it important to add music to a video?

Music enhances the mood and emotion of the video, helping to convey the intended message more effectively. It also assists in pacing the video and highlighting key moments or transitions.

Can I use any song I want for my video?

No, you must have the proper licensing or permission to use a song in your video. Using copyrighted material without permission can lead to legal consequences or removal of your video from platforms.

What are royalty-free music platforms?

Royalty-free music platforms, such as Epidemic Sound, Audiojungle, and Artlist, provide tracks for creators to use without the worry of copyright infringement. These platforms often require a subscription or one-time payment for licensing.

Do I always need to credit the music I use in my video?

This depends on the licensing agreement. Some platforms or artists require attribution, while others do not. Always read the terms of the license carefully.

How do I choose the right music for my video?

Consider the emotion and message you want to convey, the pacing of your video, and whether lyrics might interfere with dialogue or voiceovers. Test multiple tracks against your footage to see which complements it best.

Are there free video editing software options available for adding music to videos?

Yes, there are several free video editing software options available, like iMovie for MacOS and DaVinci Resolve, which offers a free version for multiple platforms.

How do I balance the audio levels between my video’s original sound and the background music?

Most video editing software allows you to adjust individual audio track volumes. Ensure the background music complements the primary audio without overpowering it. Preview the video multiple times to achieve the right balance.

Can I use multiple music tracks in a single video?

Absolutely. If your video has different sections or moods, you can use different tracks. Just ensure smooth transitions between them to maintain viewer engagement.

How important are transitions and sound effects when editing?

Transitions provide a seamless flow between different segments or tracks, while sound effects can enhance realism and context. Both can significantly improve the viewer’s experience when used appropriately.

I’ve added music to my video, but it feels off. What should I do?

Review the pacing, mood, and overall feel. If something feels out of place, consider changing the track, adjusting its position, or modifying its volume. It’s essential to iterate and test until you achieve the desired effect.

Krystian Dziedzic

Chief Editor. video operator with 12 years of experience in commercial filming of advertising, TV series and short films. More than 5 years of experience in CGI and post-processing on AAA projects.

Contact me if you need help with a particular buying issue, haven’t found a product you’re interested in.