From the course: Premiere Pro Essential Training (2022–2024)

Audio editing: Building the soundtrack

From the course: Premiere Pro Essential Training (2022–2024)

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Audio editing: Building the soundtrack

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- It's through the art of video editing that you create those dynamic, cinematic experiences. But believe it or not, audio is often even more important than video. Sound has the ability to evoke more emotion than picture, reaching into viewers' subconscious to affect parts of the brain that viewing images can't. Whether the emotional response stems from happiness, fear, sadness, trepidation, bravery, or compassion, what we feel is largely informed by the sound. In video editing, there are three main types of audio, voice, sound effects, and music. The human voice most often includes onscreen dialogue or voiceover narration. These verbal elements inform much of the content and context for the storyline. Sound effects help to define setting and mood. Creating the soundscape for a busy city street (horns honking) is very different from a beach, (beach waves swooshing) or a jungle, (birds chirping) or a futuristic space environment. (machines humming) Each setting is very unique, and creates different oral styles and tones. Sound effects are nearly always used to compliment or enhance the viewing experience and not call attention to themselves, but we'll certainly know something is wrong if they're absent. Imagine a scene where two people are talking in a crowded coffee shop. The audience will likely focus on their conversation, not the sounds of the crowd, the clinking the coffee cups, (cups clinking) footsteps or the traffic outside. But if those sounds are missing and all we hear is the conversation. That's a very different reality. - That's unbelievable, really. - Yeah, but you know, I really should go, I just. - You take care of yourself, okay, Joe. - I will, thank you Sue. - See you. - Music by nature is highly emotional and is one of the easiest ways to set a film's mood. Music is made up of many unique characteristics such as tone, pacing, rhythm, and instrumentation. And these can have a dramatic effect on the feeling of a scene. Music can also provide information about things like character subtext, setting, culture, and more. It's interesting to see the same scene juxtaposed with different music tracks, because it really can create very different stylistic outcomes. (enchanted orchestral music) (soft piano music) (ominous music) I also want to mention silence. When an editor chooses to use silence, they can direct the viewer's attention or focus on a particular character or plot point, or signal that something important just happened, or is about to happen. (phone snaps) It's through the careful layering of these elements voice, sound effects, music, and silence that you're able to create powerful worlds defined by sound. Once these choices are made, it's important to mix the audio correctly adjusting the volume and clarity of each, so that every layered element works well with one another. This means that you need to ensure that the primary audio elements are dominant, and that the supplementary audio elements blend into the background. Studies have shown that if sound is clean, clear, and mixed correctly, the viewing experience can still be very positive even if the image quality is flawed. On the other hand, if the video quality is superior but the audio isn't up to snuff, the viewing experience is often quite negative. Spending the time to do this right will greatly affect your viewer's experience. Sound may be invisible, but it is an essential part of creating a rich, textured oral environment that tells the viewer how to feel.

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