A good video soundtrack helps us make an emotional connection with our audience. The greater the emotional connection, the greater the video’s effectiveness. A good soundtrack gives our videos a personality and sets the mood and tone. Is the video serious? Funny? Informative? Often, it’s a combination of several moods. Music is a good way to reinforce them and tie them together.
The challenge with soundtracks is to engage viewers without overwhelming the video’s message. Here are five keys to effective soundtracks.
(1) Pay special attention to the beginning and ending music. As in any form of marketing or communication, we have just seconds to grab our viewer both visually and emotionally. The soundtrack’s beginning will set the tone and emotion and pull the viewer into the video. A proper ending gives the viewer a sense of completion.
(2) The soundtrack should relate to the target audience as well as to the subject matter. For example, using classical music may not be right for a product aimed at a street/hip-hop market segment but it may be perfect for a documentary.
(3) Don’t drown out the voice over, if there is one. This should be obvious but there are subtleties beyond simply the volume level. Physics and neuroscience studies show us that we have very real physical and psychological responses to music. With that in mind, we want to be careful about the tones and frequencies we use.
The frequency of the musical instruments should not be the same as the voice over. And the music’s complexity should be inversely proportional to the amount of voice-over. It’s important that we do all we can to make sure the voice over is clear and intelligible.
(4) Be careful about using current “hits” or popular music for the soundtrack. It may initially draw viewers to the video but they may focus so much attention on the music that they totally miss the message. That said, a subtle yet catchy tune can become associated with a brand or product and subconsciously stay with the viewer. It would be best to use an original subtle, catchy tune.
(5) Use custom music whenever possible. It seems easy to use canned and stock music especially since there is so much of it available. But is your video and its message canned or stock? I doubt it. Beyond cost factors (royalties for stock music can be expensive) there are other good reasons to use custom music. Custom music provides 100% of what is needed. It will be more effective because it will have been composed specifically for the video’s the message. And custom music may be the only option if the video has more than one mood – image trying to find canned or stock music that adapts to those mood changes.
A good soundtrack keeps the visual experience in our viewer’s head. It sets the video’s mood and tone, making the all-important emotional connection.
Following the five key points above will keep our soundtracks on track.
© 2019 David Biagini, All rights reserved.
