SOUND DESIGN WILL TAKE YOUR YOUTUBE VIDEOS TO THE NEXT LEVEL
I’ve been creating YouTube videos since 2006. Eww, I can’t believe I just dated myself like that. Throughout the years videos have become more produced and professional. Now, YouTube is basically its own broadcast channel, with creators making millions of dollars posting high-quality content.
So, what does it really take to create professional looking videos on YouTube? What if I told you it starts with sound?
HOW SOUND CAN ELEVATE A VIDEO
Have you ever watched a scary movie on mute? Probably not, but if you have then you’d know that the scary scenes become a lot less frightening when you can’t hear them. That’s because sound has a way of manipulating our emotions, causing tension, and launching us into fight or flight mode.
When done right, sound design can make you feel like you are part of the visuals you are watching. It helps tell the story, build emotions, and immerse you into the world. Take the movie A Quite Place or example. The film uses the absence of sound to build tension. The audience can feel something is coming which triggers their flight or fight mode. Now they are part of the scene. When the loud jump-scare hits, their emotions are elevated and it becomes a lot more terrifying.
The same can be said about videos on the internet. A video that showcases a bunch of neat visuals can be elevated by sound. Later, I will share some incredible examples of strong sound design taking YouTube videos to the next level. For now, let’s check out a few articles that will help guide you on your own sound design adventure.
PRO-SOUNDING VOCALS AT HOME
Vocals can be a great addition to your content. Voice overs can carry a story forward and hook the audience immediately. This article gives you the best tips for recording strong vocals right at home.
While setup and equipment are important, you don’t need to spend millions of dollars. You can record great sound right from your own bedroom. Using blankets, pillows, and mattresses, you could makeshift your very own recording studio. This will help eliminate echoes and make your recording sound clean and professional.
How you position your microphone and set the levels will determine how good your unedited audio will sound. Positioning the microphone closer to you is ideal, but keep in mind what your levels are so your audio isn’t peaking or distorted.
It’s crucial to do several takes. Play with positioning and how you deliver your lines. Later in editing, you can determine which take is the best and focus on that.
When combining all the steps in the article, vocals seem a lot less scary to capture. Give it a shot and see how you sound!
EDITING SOUND FOR VIDEO
Recording sound is one thing, but editing sound is where the magic truly happens. This article does a great job explaining how to cut audio from start to finish. At the early stages of editing, the main goal is to build the story. Ignore the jump cuts and imperfections, just focus on that story. The article mentions a trick that I do when editing which is to close your eyes and listen to your first cut. Is the story coming across? Do you need to tighten up some music or fix transitions?
Building out audio first, in my opinion, is the best way to edit. The pictures will essentially edit themselves when using this method. Later, you can go back and clean things up but having that foundation of sound is key. Once your edit is laid out, then you can go back and add the “ear candy” (or the effects) needed to get your video sounding perfect.
When you combine your ability to record clean vocals with your editing skills, you can start creating content that immerses the audience in new ways. YouTube videos are a great way to test your skills. Here are some examples I pulled that show how powerful sound can be.
YOUTUBE VIDEOS WITH GREAT SOUND DESIGN
Proxy: A Slender Man Story (Horror Short Film)
Proxy is a short horror film about Slender Man, a tall figure with no face watching from the edge of every shadow. This short film utilizes sound to create an atmosphere of tension and uneasiness. The use of subtle background noises, eerie ambient sounds, and increasingly intense static and distortion builds suspense while making the supernatural elements feel more disturbing.
Sleder Man feels like a threat even when he’s not present on screen and that’s because of the sound design. The contrast between quiet moments and bursts of unsettling sounds keeps the audience on edge and immersed in the story, always wondering when Slender Man will make an appearance.
Star Wars: X-Wing | A Star Wars Fan Film
This fan made Star Wars video uses footage from the games to capture an immersive story in the Star Wars universe. This is one of my favorite uses of sound design as it highlights the effectiveness off layered sound.
The use of layered sound effects (like engine sounds, laser blasts, explosions, and radio communications) helps give each action weight and impact, making the dogfights feel chaotic, fast-paced, and dangerous. It feels like you are in the battle with the characters which can spike adrenaline and give the audience a rush.
Try watching this video without sound and see how different your emotions are when watching the scene. Suddenly, the action feels distant. I think this is one of the most fun ways to see how effective sound design is.
Musicless Musicvideo / DAVID BOWIE & MICK JAGGER – Dancing In The Street
The last video I wanted to highlight is a fun and humorous one that capitalized on trends for its time.
While this video is twelve years old, I think it still holds up and shows how sound can change and manipulate an entire edit. This creator took a popular music video, stripped the music entirely, and added natural sounds to make it seem like this is what the video sounds like in person. It completely changes the way the audience experiences the video.
The sound effects are carefully synchronized with the movements on screen, making the smallest gestures feel exaggerated and comical. This video shows how tone can shift by changing the intended sound track. It’s a great example of how important sound design is for interpreting the intentions of a video.
BRINGING IT BACK TO PODCASTING
Last week, I shared my plans for a podcast that I was recording. After recording clean vocals with my friends and adding some of my own sound design, I finally have a finished product I am very proud of. For recording, we used SM58 Shure microphones.
Check out my latest podcast episode that highlights The Egg by Andy Weir: