Academy / Edit video in Design
Lesson 4 of 6 · 5 min
Music and cutting to the beat
Quick recallHow do you change the order of the pages?Think of your answer, then open.
Drag a tile left or right on the timeline. Dragging a tile moves the page, and the film closes up by itself.
When the cuts land on the beat, even simple clips feel made with care.
Add a song
- Press Add music under the timeline.
- Search, or pick a tab. Your audio has the songs in Media. Press Upload music there to add an mp3, m4a, aac or wav file of up to 25 MB. Trending and Original audio are songs from Instagram, which adds the song when it posts the Reel. Press the plus to put a song in your video, or the bookmark to keep it under Saved.
- Set where in the film it starts, where in the song it starts, the volume, and a fade in and out of up to 5 seconds.
You can also drag the music under the timeline. Use music you have the right to use. Keep the clip's sound in the Clip panel mixes the clip's own sound with the music. Press M to mute the preview. The saved video keeps its sound.
Sync to beat
Postfjord listens to the song and marks each beat with a small tick.
- Open the Music panel and turn on Sync to beat.
- Every page change moves to the nearest beat. The film keeps its length, and the last page takes up the difference.
- Turn on Layers too to make words that come in later start on a beat as well.
Go further
Cut clips on the beat makes every page end on a beat, also when the beat is far away. Your film can end up a little shorter, but no page gets shorter than a second. Turn Sync to beat off to get your own lengths back, or press Cmd+Z (Ctrl+Z on Windows) to undo it all in one step.
A spoken track has no steady beat, and the panel says so. Pick a song with a clear drum.
Match the song to the job. A calm morning at Bean There wants a slow, warm song. A busy Friday rush wants a faster song and shorter pages, a new one every 2 to 3 seconds.
Do it
- Add a song to your film.
- Turn on Sync to beat and press Play.
- Try Cut clips on the beat and listen again. Keep the version you like.
Quick check · 3 questions
Check what stuck
You turned on Sync to beat. What moves?
Show the answer
Each page change, to the nearest beat. Page changes move to the nearest beat. Your film keeps its length.
A friend says Sync to beat does nothing on their spoken track. Why?
Show the answer
A spoken track has no steady beat, so there is nothing to sync to. The panel says so when the music has no steady beat. Pick a song with a clear drum.
How do you undo Sync to beat in one step?
Show the answer
Press Cmd+Z (Ctrl+Z on Windows). One undo takes back the whole sync.
In this course
- 1Start a filmPick a video template or your own clips, read the timeline, and know the limits. · 4 min
- 2Trim, split and speedKeep the best seconds of a clip, cut it in two, and make it faster or slower. · 5 min
- 3Order, length and stock videoPut pages in story order, set how long each shows, add a transition, and use free stock video. · 5 min
- 4Music and cutting to the beatAdd a song, set its start and volume, and let Postfjord move your cuts onto the beat. · 5 min
- 5Words, a voice and clean soundAdd captions so the film works with the sound off, put a voice on it, and clean up noise. · 5 min
- 6Export the video and post itPick a cover, export the film as an MP4, and send it to a new post. · 4 min