Sound is almost as important as the pictures in a video. Take away the sound and not many people will continue to watch the video. If the sound is soft enough to need turning up the volume and then loud enough to wake the dead, then the video will be ejected. So sound is very important!

I am really jumping many tutorials in both camera work and editing to give you this article - but am a firm believer in giving help with a subject when it is most needed.

Have you heard of "Sound Effects" sometimes written "SoundFX"? I have 17 CDs of different sounds ranging from bird song to atmosphere sounds of the sea (waves, wind, gulls), town (cars, trams, feet on pavements) and country (streams, waterfalls, domestic animals) and even sounds of burps, coughs and sneezes. These are all classed as "SoundFX".

SoundFX CDs are readily available at any music outlets. These discs can be really useful when the sound captured by the camera has been ruined with the roar of wind or the squealing of a bad tempered child. I find myself often searching my CD collection for sounds to add to my video. One thing I really do not like is a video that has had the entire soundtrack replaced with music. An exception to that is a video that has been edited to the rhythm of the music.

I also have a collection of sound effects that I have gathered myself. Whenever I am out and about with a camera I stop for a while with the camera on a tripod and take a long (sixty seconds) shot without touching the camera. The auto focus is off (the motor noise of the Auto setting might be picked up by the mic) and the accompanying picture (the camera does not move) tells me that the sound is what is important in this piece of video. The "ambience" of the area you are taking your video is unique and you would not find it on any CD.

Music selection

Any video is given a lift with the sensible use of music. When your video is for showing to your family, the music you use can come from your own private music collection - but beware of using music that is so well known that anyone watching the video will sing along with the melody. If the music draws the attention away from the video you have lost your audience.

If the video is to be shown in a competition or is one that is to be sold then the rules change for the music you can use. Either a music license has to be bought or else Copyright Free/Public Domain music must be purchased. When you buy this music you are paying for the license to use it. Credit to the musician must also be put in the credits at the end of the video.

I am assuming you are making your video as a hobby - so preferably select music that has no vocals and, if possible, find music that has not had a lot of radio time so it is not too distracting. The rhythm and pace of the music should complement the pace and rhythm of your video.

Commentary

There is a lot I could write about putting a commentary on a video but I will do that another day. Most videos do need a commentary - unless they are dramas or consist of interview only .

Some editing programs allow you to record directly to the computer as the timeline is playing. Since most people I have met have been atrocious at ad-libbing I would recommend writing your commentary down before recording it. I also suggest that you record your voice to an audio editor where you can be sure that you have the correct volume for the voice recording - and if not you can do something about it.

Balancing sound

I can really tell the people who do not use and audio editor to "normalize" their voice recording levels. They are the people who have a DVD that when put into the player need to have the volume adjusted up or down!

The voice recording needs to be "Normalized" to zero decibels. There is no excuse not to have an audio editor - there are free programs available from the 'net.

The music needs to be at a lower volume than the voice so that the voice is never swamped by the music. It is a good idea to fade the music even lower when the commentary is playing. The background sound needs to be even lower than the music, it should never dominate - and should there be music playing in the background fade out the background sound or fade out the music but do not have both playing at the same time.

Constant music is very tiring - so try to have patches in your video where the only sound is the background sound. But do not be tempted to bring that sound louder, keep it soft.

Having breaks in your music gives you a chance to change the tempo and style of the music to suit the next event in the video - and it also gives you that precious chance to use the "winding down" part of the music to put at the end of the video. The music must finish with the video and if the video fades out after all the credits the music should fade out at the same moment. Move the music along on the timeline so that it does!

Have fun with your video making hobby.

AJ

http://joanren.blogspot.com

By Joan Rennie

Joan Rennie is an amateur video enthusiast and guest writer for AusCam Online. She can be more widely read at http://joanren.blogspot.com