Sound & music

Videos are silent unless you ask. Any video can carry a music bed — and once there is music, the cuts should land on it.

A music bed

Give the agent a path to an audio file. It has to know the track before it times anything, because the tempo decides how long each scene is.

Cutting to the beat

Reely measures the track — tempo, where the first beat lands, and where the drop is — and then times scenes in beats rather than seconds. Every cut lands on the music instead of near it.

You wantSay
Cuts on the beat“Cut every scene on the beat.”
The reveal on the drop“Land the product reveal on the drop.”
Faster cutting“Two beats per scene instead of four.”
The action on a beat“Make the tap land on a beat.”

Bring your own licensed track. Reely does not supply music.

Transition sound effects

Screen changes can carry a short effect — a whoosh, a whip, or a ding. Off unless you ask, because they date a video fast.

Volume and ducking

  • “Bring the music down — it is fighting the captions.”
  • “Mute the music for the last scene.”
  • “Fade the track out over the final two seconds.”