There is nothing more compelling than a great video matched with even better music. However, music tends to be an afterthought in the editing process, making that perfect audio/visual match near impossible to obtain. This is often because the rhythm of the music doesn’t match the rhythm of the cuts.

A typical solution would be to compromise your initial vision for the piece and scour your music library for a song that does the job well enough. A better solution would be place your audio track in the timeline before you begin cutting your video. By viewing the audio waveform as you edit, you will have a clear-as-day blueprint for your cuts.

By cutting to your soundtrack, you are insuring both rhythms, audio and visual, are in perfect synchronization. This will not only make your videos look more professional, but they will be more compelling and emotionally charged.

For more tips on editing with audio check out Computer Editing: Editing Audio First.