I learned this firsthand working in trailers, watching veteran editors spend hours perusing music for spots and adding sound effects to projects that appeared finished at first glance. But even in much less stylized media, a piece usually feels more professionally crafted after even a light sound design pass. From my perspective, audio serves to unify the footage used in your cut, and a bit of sound design emulates what we expect sonically from projects with massive audio budgets.

The good news is that augmenting your own projects with purposeful sound design or music doesn’t require a lot of money or mastery of complex techniques. All it takes is remembering a few basic concepts and learning a bit of audio terminology to dramatically increase the quality of your project:

The Basics of Sound Design

Let music drive the cut. I find it far easier to make picture fit to music instead of adding a cue after everything is laid in. Unless you’re using an ambient cue that can drift in and out whenever you need it to, the musical structure of a song won’t automatically match the visuals. Re-editing a song to make sense musically and fit your cut is a painstaking and often avoidable process.

“Sweeten” the sounds you already have. There are often subtle ways to augment recorded or foley sound with additional effects. For example, adding a deep thud effect beneath a punching sound makes the impact look and feel more intense.

Use soundscapes if music distracts from content. Professionally produced music greatly adds to a project’s feeling of polish and quality. But there are often moments where sound effects like drones, atmospheres, and pulses can lend themselves to the tone of your piece without distracting from the content the way melodic music does. These more minimal tracks are also sometimes less expensive to license than music, as they are often considered sound effects by music libraries.

Add sound to motion, especially for graphics. Animated media has far more impact with a bit of sound design. Visual elements appearing on screen, moving, disappearing, or changing are often good places to add subtle sound effects.

Use sound effects as auditory punctuation. Visual edits often feel fuller and more purposeful with a little added sound. A boom punctuating a cut to black, a transitional whoosh between two vastly different visuals to suggest a scene change, or a rise to build tension at the end of a music track are all examples. It’s not an exact science.

Pay attention to your mix. Sound effects are generally subtle and should not overwhelm either music or speaking in your piece. It often helps to listen to your audio mix on multiple outputs (i.e., headphones, built-in phone speakers, earbuds, desktop speakers) to make sure it sounds right no matter where the video will ultimately be seen.

Sound Design Terminology and Uses

Much like genres of music, there are different categories of sound effects. Knowing what to ask or search for makes the process of sound designing a project much easier.

Whooshes: Exactly what they sound like. Good to add for elements flying in or out of frame, or transitioning to a new scene.

Booms: Another onomatopoeia. These low-pitched sounds add emphasis to landing graphics, abrupt cuts, title cards and smashing to black.

Hits and Impacts: Less low-pitched than booms, these are other sound effects that serve to punctuate action or graphics. Often, they correspond with title cards or full-screen text graphics appearing in frame.

Glitches: Think the sound of electronic devices malfunctioning. Glitches often serve to augment the appearance of any futuristic graphics or graphic design.

Rises: Imagine that scary orchestral or violin sound getting louder and louder as something bad is about to happen. That’s an extreme example of this kind of effect, but there is a wide range of rises in varying intensities to suit every project where you need a sonic build for a dramatic moment.

Drones: A sustained tone or sound without melody that can underscore a scene. Depending on the style, a drone can add a sense of dread, tension, or a more positive ethereal atmosphere.

Pulses: Another ambient piece of sound design with more dynamic musical elements than drones.

Once you begin thinking about sound design, even at a basic level, you’ll notice it in the media that surrounds us every day: A logo sweeping into frame at the end of a commercial, title cards slamming into movie trailers, a synth drone adding tension to conversation on reality TV. These elements often go unrecognized, but they make an immense impact on the finished product. Fine-tuning the audio of your own projects with music and sound design is an easy, cost-effective way to increase the quality of the work regardless of budget.

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From dystopian underscores and intimate chamber orchestras to ethereal electronic cues and apocalyptic rock anthems, Alibi’s debuting production music will serve a wide range of projects.

As always, the new albums also include stems, alt versions and cut-downs, making this music highly customizable, and all tracks are specially structured for syncing to video:

Electro Action Underscores 
Cyberpunk dystopian underscores featuring driving, pulsing synth basses, distorted industrial drums and layers of brooding, ominous soundscapes.

Contemporary Chamber Strings and Contemporary Chamber Strings 2
Dramatic and evocative tracks composed for small, intimate chamber orchestras. Featuring solo cellos, violas and violins, these cues span a large emotional range from tender and pensive to mischievous and playful through to gothic and gloomy.

Futuristic Branding IDs
Slick audio logos and mnemonics, perfect for technology expos, television network branding, game and console splash screens and even computer/system startup effects for sci-fi movies.

Atmospheric Indie EDM
Deep, minimal and ethereal electronic cues. Drawing influence from house and dance music, each of these tracks has a lush and ethereal vibe, evoking imagery of sun-kissed beaches, Balearic after-parties and high-fashion catwalk events.

Carefree Hip Pop
Blissful dreamy tracks with influences ranging from hip hop and chill hop to tropical chillout. With a distinctly hazy, summery vibe, this album features lo-fi chopped samples, uplifting plucked synths, rich deep sub bass and modern punchy drums.

Dark Rock
Brooding, sinister and apocalyptic rock anthems featuring complete male and female vocal performances set to crunchy distorted guitar riffs and edgy rock drums.

Light Hearted Orchestral
Magical and welcoming cues featuring harp glisses, staccato woodwinds and strings and delicate twinkling mallets such as glockenspiels and marimbas.

Minimal Storytelling
Light and delicate organic cues featuring lightly strummed acoustic guitars, upright bass, spellbinding bells and mallets and soothing brushed drums holding up the rhythm section.

Modern Brand IDs
Versatile audio logo mnemonics centered around warm ethereal swooshes, elegant dreamy strings, piano pings and lush synth pads.

Recent syncs for Alibi Music include the season launch trailer for TNT’s “Snowpiercer,” the NBA’s tribute spot for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and the official feature film trailer for “American Siege,” among numerous others.

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The deal includes a worldwide, excluding the United States, representation of the Ah2 Filtered Music production music catalog, and the addition of Lippencott, Williams, and the Ah2 team to the BMG Bespoke in-house composer offering.

Ah2 boasts music across some 22,000 episodes of television, including some of the best-known global franchises and hit shows. The duo also created the Ah2 Filtered Music production music catalog in 2013.

The multi-genre catalog consists of some 6,500 unique compositions, encompassing 42,000 total recordings. The Ah2 Filtered Music compositions have been crafted to be editor-friendly and can easily be tailored to any multimedia need.

“We describe our music as ‘compositions within compositions’. Through decades working with film and TV creatives, we’ve learned that, on top of providing quality music choices, these teams need to quickly and efficiently work various shapes and layers of musical sounds into their productions. We’re proud to provide our label Ah2 Filtered Music via BMGPM with carefully considered options to ensure that working with us has both artistic integrity and ease of practical application,” said Jeff Lippencott, composer and co-founder of Ah2 Music.

“We found immediate synergy with BMGPM and look forward to navigating the vision for our business with the BMGPM team as an extension to what Jeff and I have built over the last two decades. Their expertise and global reach in the production music space is highly impressive and this partnership provides a great home as we look to increase the exposure of our work,” said Mark T. Williams, composer and co-founder of Ah2 Music.

“Jeff and Mark have crafted a brilliant collection of music with Ah2 and Filtered. Partnering with them sees their expertise strengthen the BMGPM offering to clients, including exploring new creative and commercial opportunities with BMG artists and our extensive media partner network. Joining together our collective enthusiasm and high-caliber product, we aim to continue to build on their existing success,” said Amberly Crouse, BMGPM, VP Creative Licensing US.

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The company notes each feature an inspiring, high-energy vibe and are structured to sync with a wide range of film, TV, streaming, commercial and game projects, including trailers, promos and content.

Electro RnB
A soulful collection of empowering and sensual tracks built around funky grooving bass lines, driving pacing drums and neo-soul infused synth chords. With full vocal performances, each of these authentic cues features hand claps, wonky shuffling percussion and infectious chord progressions with a deep, serious and adult vibe.

Uplifting EDM
A youthful and sunny collection of bouncy dance and house-infused tracks that perfectly capture tropical summer vibes. Featuring deep, soulful vocal chops, percussive piano stabs and driving pacing drums, with every track sitting between 122 and 124bpm.

Empowering Female Pop
A defiant and triumphant collection of inspiring pop songs inspired by some of the biggest female artists. Blending rocky grit and attitude with hope, empowerment and motivation, each of these tracks has a positive lyrical message backed up by powerful arrangements and instrumentation, including acoustic and distorted guitars, pounding pop drums, stomps and claps and pulsing basses. Inspired by the likes of P!nk, Olivia Holt, Sara Barielles, Rachel Platten and Sia.

Empowering Hip Hop
Empowering Hip Hop 2
Two collections of poignant, proud and inspiring tracks composed to evoke a sense of triumph, defiance and strength through powerful dramatic inspiration and full lyrical performances. Featuring emotive pianos, rousing strings and powerful staccato brass and horns, each track has lyrical male rap vocals with confident motivational lyrics.

Cheerleader Pop 3
A bold and lively collection of percussive-driven cues featuring popping brass, powerful stomps and energetic hand claps. Mixing the brass and horns style from ALIBI’s other Cheerleader Pop albums with modern trap and hip hop drum elements and tying them together with huge stomping taikos and toms, this album has a distinctly sporty vibe to it.

ALIBI’s modern pop production music has been used to promote such projects as TikTok for Business, HBO Max’s Sex Lives of College Girls and Netflix’s Cooking with Paris, among many others.

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Luminary Scores is to release 60 albums over the next year with an initial release of 15 production music albums ranging from spy and heists to exploration and swagger.

Joining Lazar are composers Nathan Barr, Jeff Cardoni, Sherri Chung, Ben Decter, Matt Koskenmaki, Richard Marvin, Tony Morales, Blake Neely, Nicholas Pike and Edward Rogers.

Lazar is known for his work on “An American Crime” and “Sex and the City,” along with BBC and National Geographic shows “Natural World” and “Swamp of the Baboons.”

Each Luminary Scores album is arranged by theme to allow for easy search.

“When I watch films and TV shows, the score is what animates me the most. So much of the emotional impact of stories come from the scores communicating as the language of emotion, tapping into the deep-felt parts of the human vision. A fantastic score can elevate any story, so with Luminary Scores I’m proud to present a best-in-class open treasure chest to be utilized and enjoyed,” said Lazar.

“Alan’s talent, knowledge and network in this space is exceptional. Through this collaboration, BMGPM’s repertoire is bolstered on a whole new level, expanding the choice of music solutions with access to premium score music from some of the best composers in this realm that have an intuition for crafting moments that seamlessly connect story, pace, plot, and character,” said John Clifford, EVP & global managing director at BMGPM.

“At BMGPM, we support composer talent – from undiscovered artists to established experts – and have a unique opportunity in the production music industry to come together as one team of ’Hidden Hit Makers’. We work behind the scenes to deliver a diverse selection of music that our clients and their audiences will connect with. We look forward to developing the Luminary Scores series with Alan, and attracting more exceptional talent from the international film and TV composer community to our roster,” said Dan Pounder, EVP & commercial director at BMGPM.

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The combined entity, which includes Universal Production Music and FirstCom Music, will be able to leverage the capabilities of both teams and provide new licensing opportunities for clients.

“The marriage of these two U.S.-based production music superstars highlights Universal Production Music’s place as the industry’s finest, truly global brand,” said Michael Sammis, president of Universal Production Music.

“Our newly combined U.S. team will partner with colleagues around the world to pursue new talent, develop innovative services, and use trend insights to benefit our customers’ projects. Together, they will continue to drive innovation while delivering superior music and services to our client base.”

In the United States market, Universal Production Music will operate under Noah Rubinstein, VP of sales & marketing, and Carl Peel, VP of repertoire.

“Combining our efforts offers clients a more expansive pool of artists, composers and producers to meet their real-time demands for compelling, new music,” said Peel. “This also creates more opportunities for our artist producers, as well as greater exposure for their music and access to more channels and client projects.”

“Current customers will continue to be supported by the same dedicated and knowledgeable account managers and search specialists whom they’ve trusted for years,” said Rubinstein. “We’ve brought the best of both worlds together and we’re now uniquely positioned to serve clients and prospective clients in every key vertical.”

The merged catalog is available through the Universal Production Music website, which has been updated with the music of FirstCom.

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Topping the organizational changes include a new Nashville location and, for the first time ever, a Los Angeles recording studio.

Warner Chappell Production Music opens new music production studios

On the web, WCPM has redeveloped its website from the ground up, including 135,000+ unique tracks with an advanced search and multiple download formats.

“We’re thrilled for the bright future ahead for WCPM and the opportunity to better serve our clients through unmatched service and a much-improved music search experience,” said Alec Sharpe of WCPM.

The site incorporates the new branding along with the sleek gold and black palette.

The updated logo, the company notes, pays homage to the signature gold ‘crown’ monogram of parent Warner Chappell Music, while the font’s distinctive script handwriting represents WCPM’s ingenuity and diversity of thought.

“It’s an exciting time to be with WCPM as we expand our custom music services, grow our production music catalog, and kick off the first projects in our new recording facilities,” said Pat Weaver of WCPM. “We’re looking forward to this next chapter.”

Warner Chappell Production Music also recently added French label Infini to its lineup along with artist-driven label Valo and is about to launch scoring label Scoremongers.

Minimal Music, meanwhile, has recently been rebranded as True Life Music.

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Each of the new albums includes specially structured tracks with natural starts, edit points and builds, as well as the stems, alt versions and cut-downs that enable editors to customize the music to their projects’ needs and distinct vibes.

Included in the lineup are:

Viral Vamps – A collection of fun and energetic pop cues with strong electronic and hip hop overtones designed for viral videos, challenges and dance crazes on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. 

Epic Eastern – A heroic and triumphant collection of trailer and cinematic cues drawing influence from the sounds of East Asia. These building and evolving arrangements are perfect for trailers, fantasy adventure films, historical documentaries and sporting events.

Lo-Fi Indie Grooves – A hazy, laid-back collection of summery jams with a cool, confident attitude. This unique blend of driving energy and dreamy, blissed-out atmospheres are ideal for high-fashion and technology ad campaigns, indie films, travel and world documentaries. 

60s Cinema – A slice of cinematic nostalgia taking inspiration from iconic TV and film from the 1960s and ideal for productions calling for far out grooves, wild go-go style pop rock or sophisticated international spy vibes. 

Rhythmic Jazz Grooves – A tribute to some of the most timeless Jazz classics from the likes of Nina Simone and Dave Brubeck, with organic elements like hand claps, finger snaps and clicks. Perfect for bohemian ‘60s productions and modern fashion and tech advertising. 

Dark Comedy – An elegant and dramatic collection of twisted, sinister and darkly comedic orchestral cues that make it perfect for everything from an “Addam’s Family” flick to true crime, murder mystery and epic fantasy adventure. 

Harpsichord Masterpieces – A focused collection of elegant, refined and sophisticated harpsichord works from the Baroque and Rennaissance era. Each track consists of a solo virtuoso performance well suited for historical docs, period dramas and more. 

Soul Funk 2 – Another collection of grooving, strutting tracks packed full of staccato horns, chicken-scratching wah guitars, clavinets and slap bass. Perfect for comedy, game shows, diegetic music in retro films and more. 

Vintage 50s – A trip down memory lane, each of these two albums – Vintage 50s Male (Listen) and Vintage 50s Female (Listen) – features 15 charming and nostalgic 1950s pop songs that are just as at home in a fresh summery advertising campaign as they are coming from a radio in a film or TV production.

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The new collection is created for television usage with underscores and beds for storytelling and scene-setting.

Megatrax notes the label is ready for usage in reality television, game shows, competition programming, investigative news and sports.

The initial release includes 16 albums ranging from R&B to tribal percussion beds.

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“Cinematic Pulses” comes in at 14 tracks with epic, evolving and tension-building cues, Alibi notes, with pounding, pulsing drums, synth bass, hybrid sound design and unique drums such as taikos.

“Cinematic Synth Textures,” meanwhile, includes lingering cues with deep, ethereal ambiance and atmospheric sound design.

Inspired by popular ambient music artists, the tracks range from serene and dreamy to introspective and reflective.

Alibi notes its crime-inspired music has been featured on projects including “Death Row Stories,” “Unmasking a Killer,” “Inside Evil with Chris Cuomo,” “How It Really Happened,” “Very Scary People” and “I Was a Teenage Felon,” among others.

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