How's It Sounding?

We have been at a technological point in our history for some time now where anyone can make a video and upload it to video sharing sites like YouTube.  Many people have taken this opportunity to create “high quality” productions.  Many people spend so much time focusing on how good the video quality is, they forget about the audio!  I will now share with you what I find to be the top five audio mistakes for YouTube videos.

1.  Pops and Click During Transitions

This has to be one of the BIGGEST annoyances to me when it comes to video editing.  This happens all too frequently, even in big budgeted projects.  This is very over looked.  For the most part, the art of long continuous camera shots and single takes are gone.  Everything now is fast paced, and multi camera angles.  A common YouTube video format is harsh edit points that trim off every conceivable second of unimportant video.

When people do this, they forget to add some type of audio fade between clips.  Most video editing software allows a user to place an audio transition/crossfade right onto the end of an audio clip!  There is no excuse to ignore this easy step!  Not doing so will cause the audio waveform to be cut off in the middle of its data causing a very unprofessional pop or click. 

Think of it as running your finger over a smooth and jagged piece of metal: your finger will gently glide over the smooth piece and be pleasing to the senses, but run your finger over the “unfinished” jagged piece, and your senses will be shocked as it cuts into your skin!

I love post audio and sound design, but every now and then, I like making some music.  When I have the opportunity to fuse the two together, then what could be better?  A while back, Indaba Music offered up the opportunity to remix Young London’s “Let Me Go”.  I decided to give this song a whirl, and I gave it a different remix feel.  This is not my best work, but below is what I ended up with as my final product.