In After Furnishings, yous can catechumen sound into a visual element by turning dialogue or music into a waveform visualization.

In the by few years, YouTube and Netflix have seen the ascent of explainer videos that aim to break down complex topics through simple, engaging graphics. If you've ever watched ane of these videos, yous've probably seen an animated soundwave. It'south a mutual blitheness technique used to fill space when a journalist calls a source over the phone and doesn't have any visuals to accompany their vocalism on-screen. And using Adobe After Effects, you tin can use it in your videos, besides!

The audio wave effect works with whatever audio elements, then y'all can employ information technology with dialogue, music tracks, or sound furnishings. Just drag the audio into your Subsequently Effects composition to begin.

How to Create a Sound Moving ridge

  1. Press the "L" key twice to see your audio waveform.

    In the timeline window, printing "LL" on your audio file. This shortcut allows you to run across the audio level at every fourth dimension over the course of a video. In the areas where the wave is high, you have more sound—so these areas volition work well when creating the sound wave blitheness.

    How to Create a Sound Wave in After Effects

    Looking at the audio waveform, yous might notice the sound does not start until a couple seconds into the composition. Drag the audio file back and forth in the timeline until it begins at the correct point. For this tutorial, I made sure the sound started correct at the get-go of the timeline.

  2. Create a new solid.

    The color doesn't affair! This layer will get invisible when we apply the consequence in the next step.

  3. In the Furnishings and Presets window, employ the Generate > Sound Spectrum event to your solid layer.

    Drag this effect onto your solid layer in the timeline. In the "Consequence Controls," set the "audio layer" to the name of your sound file.

    Image
  4. Dispense the settings until you lot create something y'all like.

    In the effect controls, you lot can change the color of the wave, too as its roundness, length, pinnacle, and diverse other settings. "Frequency bands" refers to the number of bars that the spectrum creates. "Softness" refers to the blurriness of the exterior color y'all choose. Below, I used a lighter blueish shade for the "inside color" and a darker blue shade for the "outside color." Using 50% softness, this gives the entire waveform a glow result.

    Sound Wave Animation

With your cursor in the timeline, printing the spacebar to play your composition back and encounter how the sound wave looks in movement! (And to learn more about the other effects you can generate in After Effects, run into the full list here.)

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