Balancing Soundtracks with Visual Storytelling in Trailers
Music is an essential part of your trailer videos. It sets the tone of the entire presentation and helps create a lasting impact on audiences. Not giving any priority to music can be a common mistake for marketers who naturally place more importance on content. Sometimes, these mistakes can cause time constraints and even cost money. Here’s how you can find the right paid and free trailer music for your ventures.
Part 1. How to choose the background music for the trailer?
Establish A Clear Schedule
While music may appear to be a minimal point in your trailer, it can be more impactful than you think. Tone and effects aside, music is highly associated with perception and observation. This means that things like up and down and lilts in the sound can affect different kinds of emotions in your video.
Because of that, you must time your video content according to those factors. Maximize the emotional impact in your videos by perfectly timing your content and matching the music’s pace. Pick your music early on in the project and match your content accordingly to avoid time and budget constraints.
Consider the Setting
When presenting the story, you want to tell in your film, the feelings and meanings expressed in your music are an important consideration. Make sure what you intend to communicate to your audience is clear. Do you like to teach people or perhaps share a particular tale with them? Is the tone light-hearted, sad, or grave? Consider these goals and use them as a guide while selecting the music.
It is recommended to avoid relying on simple tags like “trailer music” or “trailer background songs”, as these usually show generic results that do not factor in tone and setting. Think outside the box instead and search for music that you associate with your story. Take advantage of tags and keywords to find a song that works best for you.
Test With Watermarked Tracks
Many websites may require you to pay for tracks before you can test them out in your video. That means spending on several music files that you may not even get to use soon.
Luckily, some websites let users download free vocal-watermarked versions of their music. With these tracks, you can test the files on your video editor so you can check for tone and timing without spending unnecessarily.
Part 2. Best Free Websites for Downloading Trailer Music
Licensed and mainstream media music can be costly and inaccessible to many, which is why it is common to opt for public domain music or creative commons music. This music is completely free to use and comes from legal sources.
It is important to note that some creative commons music may require certain actions like attribution or giving credit to creators. Some files prohibit modifications in the material. If you are interested in the perks of free music, make sure to read up on different kinds of licenses to avoid legal sanctions.
With that said, here are some of the best sources of free music files for your trailer:
SoundCloud is one of the most popular and widely utilized audio sources in the world. The music-sharing website boasts a library of over 200 million tracks, allowing you to freely choose from a wide selection of music that is right for your project. SoundCloud is very easy to explore and is accessible even to beginners.
You can look for music through the search bar and filters, and you can even specify your preferred license type to quickly get to your desired results. Creative Commons also has its profile on the website so you can easily access a wide array of free music.
Title: [New] Balancing Soundtracks with Visual Storytelling in Trailers