Shadowing Practice: You're using Music Wrong in your Videos (here’s how to fix it) - Learn English Speaking with Video

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I've been editing for over 15 years

and in this video I want to show you how I actually use music inside an edit

so it becomes much easier to choose the right track and make it work with your story.

And it all starts with one question I ask before I even start thinking about music.

So whenever I start looking for music the first question is usually very simple.

What do I want this part of the video to feel like?

Because the genre of the music is actually much less important than most people think

and what matters much more to me when I'm editing is the feeling

and the energy it gives in a scene

so maybe I'm opening a video with a question or a problem

so I will look at something slightly mysterious

that makes you wonder where this part of the story is actually going exactly what I'm doing now but

if the video starts right in the middle of the action

I will probably look for something with much more energy from the beginning

And I also try not to forget to look at what's happening in the footage already.

Because for example, in this shot, which is from my opening scene of my first YouTube video, my expression is already slightly quirky.

So if I put really playful music underneath it, it becomes too much.

Because now both the image and the music are feeling maybe a little bit too much of a joke.

And that's not what I want.

But a track

that is too dramatic is making the whole thing, well, too dramatic for this part i wanted something in between

so the moment still feels like action

but it still feels a little bit light as well sometimes it feels so close but other times not so much

so this is me a filmmaker from the netherlands who's just chasing his dream

and this isn't only useful when you're making something cinematic

because music can play a really big role in tutorials as well for example

when i'm explaining why something isn't working at the beginning of tutorial i might use music

that feels slightly more mysterious or a little bit more tense it just increases

that feeling of investigating something you know a little bit adventurous

maybe a little bit mysterious then once i get to the

solution i can change it to something lighter i feel a little bit more energetic

so that the audience also gets a feeling of release

so the information could be exactly the same

but the music can really help the viewer to feel

that we've moved from the problem into something positive

so before you start scrolling through an endless list of tracks decide what you actually want

that part of the video to feel like because

that already makes finding the music much much easier but even

when you know the feeling

that you want it can still be hard to know what

words to actually search for to find the right track

so i decided to create a free music search guide with different moods and keywords that you can search.

So hopefully this will help you to spend a lot less time on searching to get the right track.

You can download it for free through the link in the description

and I would love if you could let me know in the comments if it helps you.

But then even when we've got the right track we don't want the same feeling to continue for too long.

So that is why the next point is so important.

One of the biggest mistakes that I see is someone's finding a track

that works and then leaving it underneath the video for way too long.

And it's not really about if the song is good

or bad you know it could be something

that actually fits the scene perfectly but if the energy

and the feeling stay the same for too long the music slowly starts losing its effect

if everything is energetic eventually nothing feels energetic anymore

that is why i think so much about the contrast between different parts of the video

and sometimes the strongest contrast isn't adding in another song at all

but it's just taking the music away because there is music underneath me now

but if I suddenly want this next sentence to feel a little bit more important I can just remove it

and now when I bring the music back it suddenly feels much bigger

because we had

that little moment of silence a transition sound effect can really help you with this as well

but the important thing here is to notice what the contrast is doing the silence made the sentence stand out

and then the music coming back gives that next part more energy again

and of course to create those different feelings you first need to actually find the right music

so earlier I mentioned my free music search guide

and one of the things I show in there is to think about music as a combination of feeling energy and style

so instead of only searching for the feeling mysterious I can give it a much clearer direction adding the energy

so let's use subtle for an example

and then for the style let's use electronic and I found

that this actually works really well with the hans search tool

from audio who is a long time sponsor of my videos on this channel

so let's put it to the test with the mysterious subtle electronic song

that i want to look for now so hans is giving me options

that work really well already

but i can also keep refining the search by just talking to it

so maybe i listen to these tracks

and i think it should just be a little bit more tense

and have more beats in it

so i don't need to find perfect words immediately I can

just use the guides get in the right direction listen to what comes back

and then keep adjusting until i find something

that actually works with the footage so you can test out hans for free

and if you like it you can get 70 off audio pro the first year using my link

and discount code in the description

but finding the right track is only part of it

because i actually like bringing music into the process much earlier than you might expect

so most of the time i actually start working with music before i even filmed anything

and i create something that i call the audio blueprint basically once i have the script

or a part of the script i record a rough version of the voiceover

and i put that into my timeline in my editing program already then i start looking for music

that matches different sections and i place those tracks underneath the voiceover

so before i filmed anything i can already listen to the video

and i can already find out where i want the energy to go up

or when where i want to slow it down

or where i maybe even want to leave the music out

or even get new ideas for shots because the music inspires me so let me show you one example of this

so this is a sequence from one of my videos where i quickly go through a lot of different shots

but But before I knew exactly how I wanted to film that, this was basically what I had already.

I love creative shots.

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A top down, point of view, story cam, gimbal shots, touch angle, push out, smooth shots or handheld, low angle, high angle.

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You know, when I was looking for music, I already knew that I wanted this part of the video go pretty quickly.

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So when I found this song, the speed of it made me imagine the shots coming in much faster and in a much more playful way.

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So when I eventually filmed the sequence, I was already shooting for that rhythm i knew i needed really short shots

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and because everything was moving so fast i already knew that

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if i would suddenly remove all

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that energy the next moment would land much harder whoa okay well

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and there's another reason why i like working this way

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so much because

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when i listen to a track i pay attention to how the energy develops maybe more instruments come up

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or the song slowly builds toward a really big climax and

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if my scene needs to be built in a similar way that's usually a very good sign

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that the track could work really really well in my edit

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and you know the music can even affect the voiceover in

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that way because sometimes i will notice

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that a sentence is just a little too long

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and saying the same thing in fewer words suddenly makes

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that whole part flow much better within the track so

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that the voiceover works much better with the music together and

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that is really how you make a video flow better this might sound obvious

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but most people don't do this nearly enough

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because you don't have to use a song exactly the way

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it was made a song might have a 40 second build up

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and then two minutes where the energy stays roughly the same followed by a break

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and then finally a big climax in the end and

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that might work perfectly as a song great

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but let's say maybe the scene that i'm editing is only 40 seconds long

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so what i do then is i cut up the song to fit the scene exactly

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so maybe i will use eight seconds for the build -up

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and then eight seconds for the middle part then maybe four seconds for a short break

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and then jump straight into the biggest part of the song for the final section now the music still has

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that progression but it happens at the speed

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that my scene needs it another mistake

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that i see quite often is fading every song in

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and out and sometimes that works of course

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but it can also make every music change feel the same

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now to fix this for example you could use a reverb

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tail to make the music fade out much more naturally

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or what i like to do more is stop it abruptly with a transition sound

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if you want the change to feel stronger and these are sound effects

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that i use from my own sound effects pack so

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if you want to use those exact sounds as well just check out my sound pack

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because you might like it as well anyway whatever sounds you're using the bigger point is

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that the song itself is part of the edit and

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that you can reshape it to fit the scene that you're creating

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so if you want to make it easier to find the right songs download the free music search guide

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and then of course

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if you want to keep learning about editing here on youtube you can watch this video next

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because there i will teach you about the seven cuts

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that i actually use to make my edits flow and that's all

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that you want you want your videos to flow

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so go check it out

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or not then i'll see you in the next see you next time thank you for watching bye

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112 sentences

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “You're using Music Wrong in your Videos”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: track, song, feeling, energy, scene. This video has 152 sentences and 1931 words to shadow. The speech runs for 9:45. The speaker talks fast, about 198 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
mysterious adjective	/mɪˈstɪɹi.əs/	Of unknown origin.
underneath adverb	/ˌʌndɚˈniθ/	Below; in a place beneath.
energetic adjective	/ˌɛn.əɹˈdʒɛt.ɪk/	Possessing or pertaining to energy.
playful adjective	/ˈpleɪfl̩/	Enjoying play; sportive; prone to playing frequently, in the manner of a child or young pet (viz. puppy or kitten).
climax noun	/ˈklaɪ.mæks/	A rhetorical device in which a series is arranged in ascending order.
tutorial noun	/ˌtjuːˈtɔːɹɪəl/	A self-paced learning exercise; a lesson prepared so that a student can learn at their own speed or convenience.
fade verb	/feɪd/	To hit the ball with the shot called a fade.
tense noun	/tɛns/	The property of indicating the point in time at which an action or state of being occurs or exists.
subtle adjective	/ˈsʌtəl/	Of an action or movement: very delicate or slight, and thus barely noticeable; not obvious; inconspicuous, unintrusive.
adventurous adjective	/ædˈvɛn.t͡ʃɚ.əs/	Inclined to adventure; willing to take risks; prone to embark on hazardous enterprises; daring.
blueprint noun	/ˈbluːˌpɹɪnt/	A type of paper-based reproduction process producing white-on-blue images by means of a photosensitive ferric compound, used primarily for technical and…
gimbal noun	/ˈd͡ʒɪmbəl/	A device for suspending something, such as a ship's compass, so that it will remain level when its support is tipped.
keyword noun	/ˈkiː.wɜːd/	Any word used as the key to a code.
kinematic adjective	/kɪn.əˈmæt.ɪk/	Of or relating to motion or to kinematics.
refine verb	/ɹɪˈfaɪn/	To purify; reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; to free from impurities.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
build up verb	To erect; to construct.
come back verb	To return to a place.
check out verb	To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
come up verb	To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly.
cut up verb	To cut upward.
find out verb	To discover, as by asking or investigating.
get off verb	To move from being on top of (something) to not being on top of it.
go through verb	To travel from one end of something to the other.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 19 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, isn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/, rhythm /ˈɹɪð.əm/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: reshape /ɹiːˈʃeɪ̯p/, progression /pɹəˈɡɹɛʃən/, genre /ˈ(d)ʒɑnɹə/
Long words — get the stress right: mysterious /mɪˈstɪɹi.əs/, energetic /ˌɛn.əɹˈdʒɛt.ɪk/, adventurous /ædˈvɛn.t͡ʃɚ.əs/, kinematic /kɪn.əˈmæt.ɪk/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like mysterious, underneath, energetic.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: You're using Music Wrong in your Videos (here’s how to fix it) - Learn English Speaking with Video

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