Each slice is crafted by the filling within and around the cake. The mood of the cake is created by the type of frosting used. Your cake can be dark and luxurious or bright and filled with fun and excitement. Add some sprinkles and your cake comes alive! Without the icing it's just a triangle of spongy loaf.

Your video is very much the same as a wonderful cake. You baked it to be terrific, right? So now you need the right frosting to blend your cake together and create the perfect mood it should convey. It all starts in the mixing bowl.

Carbon Copy or Pizzazz?

When you begin creating your video, you need to have an idea about what the final product will look like, just as you need to know how your cake will come together. It's good to have a library of music you can pool from as you mix your creation. Knowing what music will fill the gaps in your video will help you to make it flow and tell your story.

When you have your video mixed up just right you should already be thinking of the music and where you will add it. All too often videographers will just use the same old music they use every time. And each video they bake looks just like the last one. Where's the pizzazz in that?

It should go without saying that you should never copy any music that is not legal for you to use. This includes popular music or any recordings not licensed to you. Think about how you'd feel if you discovered someone on the internet "stole" your precious footage to use in their commercial. Music Copyright protection goes both ways.

So, back to your cake - ask yourself, will my video have swirls and patterns? Or will it be slick and smooth? Do you want to jazz up the cake or underscore it with straight lines and perfect borders? It's your cake and it will reflect the mood you intend to mix into it. Music is the bond that holds your production together and adds to the story you are telling. It's the punctuation on your program, the beat of your banter. In fact, it is about 60% of your whole creation. It is the icing on the cake!

What to Look For

There are different ways to approach your music selections. You can purchase morsels specifically for one production, or invest in a library of tunes to have on hand and select from. In any case you need the right music for each individual video you make. Some videographers make their own music from scratch. That's great if you know how and have the time to do it. However, many editors are on a deadline and need to have ready-made melodies on stand-by to finish off a beautiful creation. Music libraries are the ticket here. You can have short or long cuts, tunes with vocals and even loops and rifts. In fact your library is a frosting-making kit. Just mix and match to make a melody! So what should you look for in a music library?

Choosing a Library

To get the perfect flavor of your creation you will need to select a library that is versatile. Cuts of different lengths and styles are a necessity. Some libraries come with software that will allow you to select specific instruments as well, such as the Digital Juice 'Juicer'. This can be a life saver if you need tracks and an underscore of the same music but need to add or lessen instruments or sound.

Traditionally, cuts will be 30 and 60 seconds, and full length. Many libraries will also offer ten and 15-second cuts, as well as odd length cuts. The shorter cuts are great for stingers and transitions. The library should be organized well with cuts within themes or sets and the dark and foreboding tracks separate from the lively tunes.

Avoid free music when you can. Why? Because everyone has it and everyone uses it. That free track may sound good, and even better because it was free, but keep in mind that it is not special and probably has been spread across many videos like yours. The last thing you want is for someone to associate your video with some other program they remember the music from. When an audience views your video you want the music to attach itself to your creation and always be a reminder of your production.