In short: voice on top, music under it, effects only where something happens on screen, ambience to glue it together. Duck music under speech, fade every edge, and check on phone speakers.
The four layers
- Dialogue — the voice: your clips' sound, recorded voiceovers or AI voiceovers. Always the priority.
- Music — sets mood and pace.
- Sound effects — accents that make on-screen events feel physical: whooshes, pops, clicks.
- Ambience — the room tone or outdoor atmosphere that makes cuts feel continuous. Usually your clips' own background sound, kept low.
In VDOAPP, the Mixer in the Audio tab gives each group of sounds its own level and mute button — clip sound, PiP overlay sound, voiceovers and sound effects — plus a master level; music has its own volume slider under Background music.
Sound effects that help
The Audio tab's Sound effects library includes Whoosh, Swish, Pop, Click, Ding, Chime, Success, Error, Boom, Riser, Typing, Camera, Glitch and Heartbeat. They're generated by the editor itself (synthesised, not recorded), so there are no licensing questions. Pair each with a visual event:
| On screen | Sound |
|---|---|
| Text or sticker appears | Pop or Click |
| Slide, whip pan or zoom transition | Whoosh or Swish |
| Tip, correct answer, completed task | Ding, Chime or Success |
| Mistake, "don't do this" | Error |
| Build-up before a reveal | Riser, ending exactly on the cut |
| Big reveal, title card | Boom |
| Screenshot, freeze frame | Camera |
The rule: every effect needs a reason on screen. Effects without a visual cause feel random; too many feel like a children's cartoon. A 60-second video usually needs no more than five to eight.
Setting levels
Mixing is about relative loudness. A practical starting point:
- Voice at 100% (or whatever makes it clear and unclipped).
- Music 15–20 dB below the voice while someone talks — often 10–25% on the music slider — and higher (40–60%) when nobody is talking.
- Effects just loud enough to notice; noticeably quieter than the voice.
- Ambience barely audible.
Ducking and fades
Ducking automatically lowers music while speech plays. Tick Lower other sound under voiceovers in the Audio tab and music dips under every voiceover, recorded or AI-generated.
Fades remove the clicks and jolts that make edits feel amateur. Use the music's Fade in and Fade out (1–3 s), and short fades (0.1–0.3 s) on clips whose sound starts or ends abruptly. For clips, a volume keyframe lets you ride the level up and down within a clip.
A 10-minute mix
- Mute music; set each clip's voice to a similar level.
- Bring music in and lower it until every word is easy to follow.
- Turn on ducking if you have voiceovers.
- Add sound effects at the playhead for the key visual moments.
- Add fades at the start, end and any abrupt cuts.
Listening checks
- Phone speaker — where most viewers hear it. Is every word clear?
- Headphones — for clicks, hum and harsh effects.
- Low volume — turn it right down. If you can still follow the speech, the mix is good.
Frequently asked questions
Can I import my own sound effects?
You can add any audio file as background music, or add a video clip containing the sound. The built-in library covers the most common interface and transition sounds.
Why does my music drown out the voice on phones?
Phone speakers emphasise the mid frequencies where both voices and many instruments sit. Lower the music further, or choose calmer, instrumental tracks.
Should every video have music?
No. Interviews and serious topics often work better with just ambience. Music should support the mood, not fill silence by default.