Aesthetics of Sound

The following are some tips to always ensure a positive aural experience for your audience:

1. Always have a mute button on every page that uses sound.

2. Do not loop a short sound endlessly. If you are constrained to file size and need to use a short background loop, fade it in and out. Give your audience's ears a break. Sometimes it is best to use the loop for a little while and fade it out without ever bringing it back in. Silence is not a bad thing. To say nothing at all is far better than to put your foot in your mouth and gag on it.

3. Effective music is always transparent unless otherwise intended. The music should support and heighten or strengthen the experience of the visuals.

4. If your presentation is better without music, then the music isn't working. Generally music is never neutral in a presentation. It either makes a positive or negative impact.

5. Unless otherwise intended, do not shock your audience with a blast of sound. Rather, fade in the music, especially background music, so that their ears gradually adjust to the volume. Another technique is to present some subtle and short sound effects before bringing in the music. This will allow your audience to adjust the volume on their speakers.

6. Silence is golden. Use it wisely. Silence can be just as effective and dramatic as sound if it is placed appropriately.

7. Less is more. Subtle is good. Don't force music or sound effects in your movie. Too many sound effects can render your movie ineffective or meaningless. Effects should seem natural and should fall in spaces that complement the visuals.

8. You can get extra mileage from your short, static background loops by using some of the effects provided in the software. Fading in or panning creates subtle changes. In order to keep your audience interested, a balance between familiarity and variety is required. This applies to both audio and visuals.

9. Set the volume of the entire audio at half-full volume. It is better to have your audience turn up the volume rather than turn it off.