- How you guys use music in your YouTube videos
is so important
especially for you narrative based content channels
like Uvloggers for example,
it holds people's attention longer.
It gets you more watch time to your videos
start performing better.
It helps you set the mood and establish
what your viewers should be feeling.
And it makes people feel way more favorable
toward your content,
love your stories even better
and want to engage with your channel
over and over and over again.
The way you use music and have
a huge impact on the growth of your channel.
But perhaps, you're like me when I first started out
using music, I would just take
"this sounds nice" and I would just put it on there
and then let's let it play for a few minutes
underneath the story
not really knowing when to cut to the next track,
what to do with this music versus that music
and use it strategically to hook my viewer
and keep their attention
and help them want to engage in future content.
It wasn't actually until more recently
when I started working with a video editor
on our family's YouTube channel
over at YouTube.com/Schmovies
and she started using music beautifully,
amazing that I enjoyed my own videos more
because of it.
It turns out that all of the music she uses
in our family's vlog
actually comes from a website called soundstripe.com
and they were cool enough to sponsor this video.
So I can tell you guys about them
and give you a special discount code
which I'll share with you guys at the end of this video.
But first,
Christina's going to come here
and share with you guys the principles that she uses
for deciding when to use music
and what music to use and how to use it properly
so that you engage your audience,
you hook their attention,
you elicit a reaction and emotion from your viewer
and have a better more engaging story overall.
Here's Christina.
- Thanks for having me Tim.
I'm Christina and I own a video production company.
But I also do some video editing
for some families here on YouTube.
If you already use music in your videos
then you know when to use it
can be a little bit on the subjective side.
But I have a couple of tips and suggestions to consider
before using music in your videos.
The first suggestion is to use music in the same place
every time in every video.
So this could be an intro or an outro for a segment,
maybe you have a particular segment or particular topic
that you talk about in every video,
and if you use the same music during that segment
then it will also remind the viewer
that they are watching your particular segment.
Another thing that I think about
when I'm deciding when to use music
is if there is a lull in the video.
So maybe the pace doesn't just
feel fast enough.
The video is not progressing at a quick enough place
and it kind of feels stagnant.
A really good fast paced, energetic song
can pick up the pace
so that it tricks the viewer into thinking that
the video is a lot shorter than it actually is.
Another great opportunity to place a song
is when you want the viewer to feel the emotion
that you might be feeling
whether it be happy, sad, angry,
frantic, quick, depressing, calm
select a song that matches that mood
and use it at the right opportunity
so that the viewer can feel what you're feeling
or even evoke an emotion that you want them to feel.
Now that you've discovered some places
to use music in your videos,
how do you know which song to pick?
Maybe you are a business channel
and you need a little bit more of a professional feel
in your videos
or maybe you're an action, sports channel
and you need some fast, driving music
to really feel the action happening.
So take some time to recognize the tone
that you are trying to portray.
Whether it be your whole entire video
or maybe just a small section of your video.
And then match your song selection to that tone
so that your viewer can feel it too.
The great thing about editing your videos
is that you can try multiple songs
until you find the right one.
So don't be afraid to gather a couple of songs
and try them over your videos
to see if they work or don't work.
You might be surprised.
And speaking of surprise,
my other suggestion is to try the unexpected.
For instance, in Tim's family channel Schmovies,
there was a scene
where he was driving through the countryside
going to his farm and doing some fishing.
The expected song for this video
would probably be maybe something a little bit
on the Country side right?
(country instrumental)
But what if we mix it up a little bit
and tried something a little bit on the unexpected side?
(eclectic 70s rock music)
It changed it up a bit right?
So feel free to experiment with different genres.
Some that you probably wouldn't have tried
because you might be really really surprised
at the result and like it even more.
I also wanted to give you a few tips
if you're just starting out
with adding music to your videos.
The first tip is keeping the music level
just slightly below the speaking of voices.
So if you have somebody speaking
and you have the music,
keep that volume just under
so that way they don't compete with one another
and you can hear both clearly.
Otherwise you might end up with a very very
distracting video where your viewer can't distinguish
which thing they're going to listen to
and they might click off your video.
And you definitely don't want that.
The next easy tip is to ease in the music
very slowly at the beginning
and at the end for a very smooth transition.
Some songs do this already
so you don't have to worry about it too much.
But other times,
it can be very abrupt for songs to start and end suddenly.
Unless you are trying to put an emphasis
on the start and end of the music.
In which case, feel free to experiment with that as well.
You can also experiment with how much you use music
in your videos.
You don't have to play a song all the way through.
Actually that could be a little tiring
depending on the video to your viewer's ears.
So try segmenting your music
and try placing them in different scenes.
For example, with Tim's Schmovies,
he had a gardening scene with his family
which was great to put music over
but then the next scene, they were cooking in the kitchen.
So I eased up the music after they gardened
and it signified to the viewer that this scene is ending
and now we're starting with a new scene.
- [Woman] Go gather some cilantro for us.
- Okay!
(upbeat music)
(kid mumbling)
Mom!
This is all of our cilantro in the garden.
- It's a great way to break it up
and it also keeps your viewer interested.
With all of these great tips,
you're off to a great start in adding music to your videos.
Your viewers are going to enjoy watching more
and you're gonna get more watch time and more views.
- Thank you Christina.
That was amazing.
Thank you so much for sharing that.
The rest of you guys,
if you want to use music more effectively in your videos,
I highly recommend that you guys check out soundstripe.com.
There's a link to them in the description below
along with a promo code
VIDEOCREATORS all caps.
You guys can use to get 10% off
either one month membership
or a one year membership.
Christina has been using them exclusively
for all of the music in my videos
for the past four, five months
and we haven't had any problems with them at all
in the YouTube content ID system or anything
and I love the website because it's easy to navigate,
easy to find the exact type of music that we want
whether by beat, by tempo, by mood
by genre by playlist
anything.
There's lots of options that will find the perfect track
that goes along with your video.
And the best part is that all the music on their website
is royalty free.
Meaning there's no additional fees
or hidden charges you have to worry about.
You don't have to give attribution
or give credit to the composer if you don't want to.
You have unlimited access to their entire library
and you can download as much as you'd like.
There's no limit each month.
And one of the things I appreciate most about it
is that it is high quality music.
Not like
keyboard demo type music that you might find in some places.
So go check them out, link to them
and the promo code exclusive for you guys
it's in the description of this video
and I would love to hear from you
in the comments of this video down below
what other tips, advice, ideas would you recommend
for how to best use music in your videos
to engage that audience, to hook their attention
to keep them watching, to elicit emotions
and reactions from them.
How do you use music to do all that.
Leave your tips on that.
Let's learn from each other.
And if this is your first time here at VideoCreators,
I would love to have you subscribe
this channel's all about
helping you guys grow a YouTube audience
so you can spread a message that reaches people
and ultimately changes their life.
So thank you for letting me and Christina
and soundstripe all be a small part of that
for you on your channel.
Subscribe and I'll see you guys again next week
for another YouTube training video.
See you then, bye.