Creating a video is pretty easy nowadays with all the different video editors available. If you have a smartphone or webcam, you can create visual content to share with friends or on multiple online video-sharing platforms.
But to make your video more captivating or to bring it to life, you need to add sound effects or a music score. A video editor with sound effects will allow you to do this effortlessly. Thankfully, there are plenty of options available, depending on which program you prefer.
Whether you choose a royalty-free music score or buy high-quality sound effects, the good news is that you can enhance your video’s sound atmosphere using the right effects.
Let’s go over the steps to add sound effects to your video. Note that the process is similar to almost all the video editors available.
How to Add Sound Effects to Your Videos
Step 1: Import Your Media
Start by importing your media into your video editor. Your media includes your video clips and audio files you have on your local hard drive. Make sure to choose the sound effect that best suits your video.
In most cases, you will only need to drag and drop the media into a project. But if your video editor with sound effects doesn’t allow you to drag and drop your media, you might need to import the files using the File menu (or an equivalent option).
All of your imported files (audio and video clips) will appear in the media library. This “holding area” allows you to quickly browse and access different clips without having to search for them on your hard drive each time you need to use them.
Step 2: Add the Video to Your Timeline
Next, you want to choose the video clips from the media library and add them to your timeline.
Drag and drop each video clip onto the timeline. You can drag a video file directly from a folder in your hard drive onto the timeline, but that is only possible if your video editor with sound effects supports it.
Step 3: Add the Audio Clip to Your Timeline
Follow the same procedure above to add your preferred audio clip to the timeline. Note that the track for adding sounds or music is different from a video track on the timeline.
Drag and drop the audio clip from the media library onto the music track. If you are not sure of the exact audio, you can preview it in your video editor. Simply click on any of the clips in the media library and press the play button to hear a short sample of the sound.
You can also preview the sound by pressing the spacebar in some video editors. Once you are satisfied, you can drag and drop the audio clip onto the music track timeline.
Step 4: Find the Correct Position for Your Audio
Next, you want to place the video and audio in the correct order on the timeline. This is easier than it sounds in reality.
Drag the different clips to the appropriate positions on their tracks. A simple method is to place the editor’s play-head at the exact spot in the video track where you want to add the sound effect and then drag the audio clip to that point.
Editing Sound Effects
You can tweak your audio clips a bit to create a more meaningful effect in your video. Typically, a video editing app with sound effects will come with plenty of editing tools that allow you to add special effects to your media.
One of these is the fade effect, which lets you adjust the sound volume at the beginning and end of your audio. Another useful tool is the auto trim tool that lets you adjust your audio length to match that of the video clip. Note that these terms might be slightly different, depending on the editing software.
To Add Fade Effects
- Make sure you add the correct audio clip from the media library onto the timeline
- Right-click the audio clip and select Fade-in (to adjust the beginning of the sound effect) or select Fade-out (to tweak the ending)
To Auto Trim Music
- Add the audio clip to the music track
- Place the sound clip in the correct position to match the video clip
- Click on the audio clip and drag the end handles to automatically adjust the length to match that of the video
Recommended Video Editor with Sound Effects
You can add sound effects to your videos using some of these excellent video editors. The best part is that these are all free tools and work with popular platforms, such as Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Blender
Initially developed as a 3D animation suite, Blender is an awesome video editor with nearly all the tools for performing basic editing tasks.
With Blender, simple tasks, such as splicing and cutting clips, are a walk in the park. But you can perform a few complex video editing tasks, too.
Although the editor is an open-source program designed with beginners in mind, you can make professional-quality videos with it, and that’s all thanks to the dedicated audio mixer.
Blender allows you to easily add transitions, keyframes, and several other features to make your video more realistic. It is available for Mac, Linux, and Windows users.
DaVinci Resolve
If you are an intermediate or experienced video editor, you might prefer working with the advanced features of DaVinci Resolve.
This is currently the only NLE video editor with sound effects that combines the power of 8K video editing, stunning visual effects, vibrant color correction tools, and audio post-production into one effective tool. It is compatible with both Mac and Windows platforms.
Shotcut
Shotcut is another free cross-platform video editor that integrates seamlessly with Mac, Windows, and Linux. Beginners are likely to find this an interesting option.
The editor comes with plenty of built-in and easy-to-use audio tools, such as a limiter, reverb, expander, and compressor. It comes with some pretty amazing filters, too.
