It’s hard to grab attention. Here’s how with audio.
In this world, everyone is constantly vying for attention. It seems the gambit is never ending, with one trick after the other employed to gain your eyes, ears, and thoughts. Social media is leading the game, with people all over the world volunteering to this barrage. People around the world are searching for new ideas, new things to grab their attention, new content.
Your content.
It’s not so hard to get your efforts to reach a crowd. Whether on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok, there are ways to create that attention-grabbing, innovative content.
One way is to make sure that you’ve got quality music and sound. A video or display can become lifeless fast if there’s no sound. Just watch some of your favorite videos on mute and see what difference it can make. The sound pumps up the energy, propelling the audience forward through transitions, scenes, dialogues, and so on, giving the audience audio cues on what to expect next.
It’s not about loudness. It’s about getting the right context.
Copyright
A quick note on copyright: You must always make sure that you have royalty free content. With music from Smartsound Cloud, it’s always royalty free and you never have to worry. But with pop music, it’s not so simple. If you’re music is directly from Instagram for example, then that’s fine as it’s been licensed. But you then can’t share that video on any other medium (like YouTube), as it hasn’t been licensed elsewhere.
If you’re only using one platform, then that’s fine. But if you’re trying to do cross-platform campaigns, this is where you need to strongly consider a stock music like Smartsound Cloud.
5 Innovative Ways to Add Audio and Grab Attention
Use custom stock music
If you want to add rhythm and feel to your video, you need a soundtrack. Your video editor might have some music on offer, or you might take the selection directly from Instagram or another service. But everyone uses music from video editors, and if you get your music on one platform like Instagram it’s only licensed for that one platform.
People are searching for videos that stand out. They’re not looking for the same old thing. With highly customizable stock music from Smartsound Cloud, you never have this problem. It always stands out because it always fits your project perfectly.
How does it customize? You can change the length and watch the music automatically change the intro, verses and choruses, and outro as if it was written that way to begin with. You can also change the variation and the mix. If you only want certain instruments, no problem, you can do that with a click.
Use variations
Good shows often have good themes – music that is somehow different throughout but allows a thematic coherency in the project. A theme gives your project a certain style, rhythm, and feel.
The same is also true for the sounds you pick and use.
You want the colors, shapes, and fonts you use for your website or graphics to be cohesive and fit together. It’s the same with the music and the sounds. You want them to fit together like an audio mosaic.
With Smartsound Cloud, this is easy to do. You can use variations to create different tracks for different segments. You can also use the mixer to drop out different instruments, or only use one or two (maybe just the drum and bass for a segment, or just the piano?). The opportunities here are endless.
Add audio to your transitions
Transitions are a common tool in video editing. We cut, we slide, and we do all sorts of fun and interesting tricks to make transitions seem either natural or jarring. One such trick is to add a sound effect. Whether it’s the shuffle of clothes, a cartoony blip, a static blast, the sound effect can add to that sense.
Smartsound Cloud offers a variety of sound effects that can be used for transitions. Just check out the FX section to get you started.
Further, if you’re following along with the advice from part 1, you can shorten any track to just a few sections and often you’ll find a hit from an instrument used in the track. These can also be great to use in transitions.
Go ahead and try it!
Add complexity with layers
Using two or three sounds at once can sweeten any sound. With the added complexity of layers, sounds become ear candy, with additional unforeseen qualities. One easy example is how deep thuds are often added to punches to create a larger sense of impact.
Smartsound Cloud’s sounds are often already designed with that added oomph. But for the ones that aren’t quite fitting how you’d like, experiment. The system allows for several layers, which means you can experiment adding various and perhaps seemingly unrelated sounds until you get just the right combination. You’d be surprised how many explosions might actually be made up of smashing glass, swishing cloth, and burps.
Even without advanced audio skills, using added layers can really gloss up a sound.
Use ambient sounds to add to the experience
If you’re new to the audio world, you might be surprised to find how important audio sounds are. There is a whole science to it, which we cover a bit in our blog on film underscore. But composed content aside, we also need the sounds of the world to make a fully immersive experience. In any scene in life, there isn’t just the sound of two people talking like they’re on a sound stage. There are also cars driving, birds singing, planes flying, children playing, and so on.
Professionals add in these audio effects to create an additional layer of realism. Just about every sound you hear on a film has been added in. Smartsound Cloud’s FX library is stocked full of useful ambient sounds, from the clip clop of a person’s high heels to the rustle of leaves in the wind.
Summary
Your content deserves to shine.
Stand out from the competition. Use high-quality audio from Smartsound Cloud. Follow these tips and create innovative and viral content that sets the conversation.
Audio doesn’t need to be hard.
Smartsound Cloud makes it quick and easy for you to have quick, excellent stock music custom-tailored to your project. Try it out today!
