Editing - Importance of music
Music (part 1) - Where do we get music from?
Mannnn, music is so important! The music sets the video's tone, giving you something to edit to. Whilst the storyline is probably the heart of the edit, the music is like the blood flowing through it. Damn, that’s a quote.
Music sets the mood, creates emotion, and adds an extra layer of depth to the visuals. The right music can enhance the story and make it more impactful, while the wrong music can detract from it. It's important to choose music that fits the tone and message of your video.
Depending on what it is I’m making, if it’s like a bigger commercial job, I would find the music first and do what I like to call, a ‘block edit’, before filming. I will explain what a ‘block edit’ is in two lessons time, so don’t panic. But it’s basically an “Offline Edit” - I’ll get on to all that.
But for most of my videos, I will film with the energy of the edit in mind, and then find a good track before I start the edit. And then edit to that track. Which is exactly what I’ve done for my film I’m making, I have not shot any of this, with any particular track in mind.
So that all sounds great, but where can we get music from? Music is a piece of art that’s owned by the creator, just like your videos. So if you want to use someone else's music for your video, you need to make sure the music is licensed properly for use in your video. Now luckily for us creators, there’s a bunch of companies that have put together libraries of music that we can use on our videos, assuming we have a subscription to their website.
So, what sites can you use to license your music?
New music licensing sites come up all the time, and I’ve tried and used a lot. I don’t think any particular site “has the best music” - I think they all offer slightly different vibes, so depending on the content, I’ll go to a different site.
All of these sites have a monthly or annual subscription model. Some of them have lifetime options too, which, if you’re in this content creator world for a while, could be a good investment.
Companies can change branding, and change names. I’ll try and keep this as up to date as I can, but apologies if these don’t exist as they look here.
- Number 1: ‘Uppbeat’. I quite like simple beats and tracks without too much melody or overwhelming sounds in them. That’s a big deal for me. I personally don’t like tracks that are too over the top, with huge choruses or massive guitar solos. Most of the time, I want a solid beat with a simple melody line, and my style of editing is often reliant on hi-hats / snare hits, so usually, something with a nice beat is good for me. A hi-hat is basically a closed cymbal sound on a drum kit, and it’s a very sharp sound, so often these are helpful for making timed cuts in your videos. And a snare is a less frequent sound that is usually hit on an off-beat - also a very sharp definitive sound.
- Number 2, PremiumBeat. PremiumBeat does, to be fair, have premium beats on it. I would usually opt for this site for commercial projects where you have a decent budget and the client expects a good track. I might still argue that many of the tracks here are almost too ‘big sounding’ for a lot of the YouTube videos I do. I personally like simple-sounding stuff - but there are some on here, you just have to find them.
- Number 3, Artlist.io - Daymm! Yeah, they have some excellent tracks, and a good variety, I’d say. And not gonna lie, their videos/ads are really good. The negative with these guys is that they’re so popular, you often end up hearing the same track on a few different videos.
- Number 4, Epidemic Sound, is another good one. I don’t use this one as much, but not really for any particular reason, but I get the feeling they do more tension-building drama sort of tracks. The one thing I do really love about Epidemic is the fact you can download the stems to the tracks - so if there’s a particular sound you really don’t like, you can easily take it out. I sometimes find tracks I like on Epidemic, and then just use the drum and bass tracks from the song. Drum / Bass sounds are great because they’re subtle, but give the video a good vibe.
- Number 5, Audiio - Full disclosure, I worked with these guys quite a lot over the years. They do have some absolute bangers on here. I’d say, generally, the music is like a mix between Artlist and Epidemic. The music on Audiio feels more like real music with stories from real artists - whereas some of the other sites can have a slightly computer produced sound to them. Because I know these guys, I might be able to get you some sort of deal, but I don’t know yet, if I have managed to, I’ll overlay it, and put a link down below.
- Finally, Number 6, Track Club. These guys are pretty new, but I wanted to talk about them because their whole thing is that you can use their ‘MixLab’ to remix a number of stems in the track, which is quite cool.
I would advise checking them all out and probably having a subscription to a number of them. I usually visit 3-4 of them when finding a track for a video. I will try my best to provide some kind of discount links for you guys, if I manage it, they will be below somewhere in the description.
Remember music licensing is really just about having permission from the original creator to use the track that they’ve made. If you go onto SoundCloud, you could just message someone on there, “hey I like your tracks, can I use them in my video?” - that’s allowed. I did that in my film ‘Practice’.
Another option could be to ask someone to create something from scratch for exclusive rights in your film. Keep in mind that could be a lot of work for a musician, but hey if you have a budget and you want something bespoke, it’s something to consider.
I hope there was useful information in this lesson, so by all means mark it as complete, and move on to the next lesson where I’m going to go through some music theory, and how we actually work with music in the edit.
Next class
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