# Music and sound effects

> Lay Muvomi's own music under your edit for free, or have a piece composed that follows your cuts and steps back under speech. Plus sound effects.

**Where:** Video editor › Music, or Home › Open a tool: Music · **Cost:** Built-in recordings free; a composed piece 20 credits

The Music tool lays music under your edit. Choose one of Muvomi’s own recordings for free, or have a piece **composed for this edit**: written from its titles, captions, cuts and length, and your own words if you give them. Either way, music fades in and out, and sits low under speech.

## Add a built-in recording

1.  In the video editor, press **Music** in the tool row (or ask the AI: *“Add calm music under it”*).

2.  Choose a **Recording**. Press play on each to hear it.

3.  Set the **Level**. It starts at 30%, or 12% when your edit has speech.

4.  Choose **Where it runs**: **Under the whole edit** or **From the playhead to the end**.

5.  Press **Add to the edit**.

| Recording | Feel |
| --- | --- |
| **Original score** | The cinematic score Muvomi’s own films are set to |
| **Quiet lift** | Warm keys and slowly opening strings |
| **Open horizon** | Airy chords and a gentle sense of momentum |
| **Human warmth** | Soft felt tones and intimate harmony |

Each recording is a minute long. Under a longer edit it continues in passes that cross into each other on a picture cut, so it never stops and restarts.

## Compose music for your edit

1.  In the **Music** tool, choose **Composed for this edit**.

2.  Optionally, describe it under **What it should feel like**, for example *“warm and slow, hopeful at the end.”* The panel shows the plan the piece will follow.

3.  Press **Compose for this edit**. A piece usually takes ten seconds to a minute.

The piece is laid under the whole edit and steps back under every spoken line. **Compose again** writes a new piece. A composed piece runs up to five minutes; on a longer edit the panel says which part it covers.

> **Tip:** Adding a voiceover lowers music that’s at its standard level to sit under the voice, in the same step. One **Undo** reverses both.

## Cost

Built-in recordings are free. A composed piece costs 20 credits, and a piece that fails is given back. Music composed by the [editor’s AI](https://docs.muvomi.com/edit/editor-ai/) is part of that request’s price, and music in an AI Product Director film or AI Short is included in its price.

## Sound effects

Sound effects are made for films, not added by hand in the video editor. [AI Product Director](https://docs.muvomi.com/create/ai-product-director/) films, [template](https://docs.muvomi.com/create/templates/) films and [AI Shorts](https://docs.muvomi.com/create/ai-shorts/) place real recorded effects on what happens on screen: a whoosh on a camera move, an impact on a reveal, a tap on an action, a sting on the brand. They’re kept out of the voice’s way and included in the film’s price.

Turn them on or off, and set their level, in each film’s sound settings:

-   **AI Product Director:** ask the chat, for example *“Turn the sound effects down.”*
-   **Templates:** **Sound effects** on the **Style** tab.
-   **AI Shorts:** **Sound effects** and **Sound effects level** on the **Sound** tab.

In the video editor, add your own sound effects as audio clips from your [Assets](https://docs.muvomi.com/workspace/media-library/).

## Troubleshooting

| You see | What to do |
| --- | --- |
| *At this level the music may compete with the speech.* | Lower the level to 20% or less. |
| *… is already under the whole edit.* | The same recording is never laid twice over the same stretch. Change its level instead. |
| *No music could be composed. Nothing was added.* | Try again. You weren’t charged. |
| *A piece is still being composed for this film.* | Wait for it to finish. |