Nobody wants poor audio ruining their outstanding footage. Here’s how to perfectly set audio levels for your YouTube video content!

Audio’s place within video content shifts. Sometimes it’s placed in the background as an accompanying element. Other times, it sits at the forefront, demanding the majority of a viewer’s focus. The difference between the audio levels of background music in videos and those of instructional narration, for example, is vast.

So, how do you make sure you’re setting the audio in your video so that it doesn’t leap out abrasively or get lost in the mix?

There are some universal things to pay attention to, regardless of what content you’re making. One example is avoiding distortion; you don’t want the audio to be too loud and clip.

For broadcasting, there is an industry standard level that should be aimed for. However, just ensuring your audio doesn’t exceed 0db is a safe bet. Many YouTubers set their audio to around -12db. If you have voice over, music and sound effects, some experimenting with what works well and creates a nice blend of audio is required.

Set Audio Levels in Premiere Pro

You would normally set audio levels for videos during the editing process. There are lots of video editing software available, but let’s look at Premiere Pro. The video below demonstrates how you can set your video’s audio levels within the software.

Avoid audio being too soft, or glaringly loud by getting to know the decibel levels you should be shooting for. This video helps to explain exactly how YouTube calculates loudness. A good thing to have a handle on, as YouTube will reduce the audio of videos if above a certain point.

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