How to make a lyric video that makes you proud
This will probably come as a surprise, but it's not uncommon that lyric videos are more popular than their music video counterparts on YouTube.
This is likely due to many factors, the major two being (1) people like seeing the lyrics as they listen to a song and (2) the algorithm is having an easier time finding a lyric video whenever someone searches for a phrase rather than a song name. Whether you’re releasing your own music or managing a music channel, you'd do well to consider lyric videos. The biggest hurdle in making them is the enormous amount of time and software savvy it takes to make something that doesn't look like it's from 2008.
Videobolt helps you overcome this hurdle and create absolutely engrossing lyric videos in half an hour, right from your browser without any other software. In this guide I'll show you the entire process of how to quickly make a stunningly animated lyric video which stands well above the majority of the videos you may have come across on YouTube.
Pick a template
The first thing to do is pick one of the many templates our top-notch designers developed to suit your music. I'll be using Universe Lyrics - Horizontal matched with the song Golden by Outwild and She Is Jules, a NoCopyrightSounds release. By default, Universe Lyrics' background is dark blue-green space, though something with a more golden, amber color would fit the song better. I could adjust the space colorization manually, though I'll just head into themes in the sidebar and pick "Helix" by clicking "Apply".
Upload your song and create lyrics
Now that I have my template and picked my preferred visual theme, I should go ahead and upload my song and make the lyrics. You're unlikely to have a timestamped .srt lyrics file on hand, and neither do I, but I do have the lyrics to the song and I can time that easily from inside the Videobolt editor.
First add the song by clicking the Track placeholder and selecting an import option, I'll get it directly from SoundCloud by pasting the song link. Now I can click "Add lyrics" to do exactly that. With just the lyrics on hand, I'll click “Create lyrics”, though the other options let me use an .srt file or lyrics I've previously made on my Videobolt account. The text box which appears is where you paste the lyrics and click the button to get started.
Now you should see the Lyric Editor with all the lines of your lyrics on the left-hand side and a timeline on the right. All the lyrics are placed in the second half of the song (you can see them by zooming out the timeline with the scroll wheel). This is done to make it easier to synchronize the lyrics as you listen to the song. This is the perfect time to introduce you to 2 lifesaving keyboard shortcuts "Q" and "E". Pressing "Q" will bring the next line of lyrics to the current time, while pressing "E" will move the end of a selected line to current time. Using the pair of them, you can sit back, listen to your song and hit "Q" every time a line of lyrics comes in, and then hit "E" when that line ends. Check out the screen recording below to see it in action.
Now that I've set up the initial timings I should save my work so it doesn't get lost accidentally due to a page refresh or browser crash. When saving the file you'll be prompted to name it, I'll just use the name of my song and artist.
After saving I can do another pass to fix any minor inconsistencies and add additional emphasis by separating lines or words. To help me with this I have two options in my toolbar, separate by word and separate by line. You can see them in action below.
With everything well set up, it's time to save again. Since the lyrics file already exists in my "Media Library", I'm asked if I want to create a new file or overwrite the existing one. In this case I'll go with “Overwrite”. After saving you can close the Lyric Editor, check the preview and finalize the video.
Check the preview and format text
Preview videos are generated automatically when you make a change, so there should be a preview in-progress as you close the lyric editor. Once the preview is done check the result to make sure everything is the way you intended. Looking at my preview, I would like to change the text font and increase its size. In order to change the font and text size:
- Head over to the “Customize” tab in the sidebar
- Change the font by clicking the “Font” placeholder. Choose between Google fonts or something custom you have on your computer. I’ll go with a Google font, Bungee Shade.
- Set “Font Size” to 128px. The default is 64px so this is double the size. You can try out any size you like, behind-the-scenes the system makes sure text never grows outside the screen.
Additionally, I’d like to change the font color to a gradient between white and gold so it matches the theme of the song. In order to change the font color:
- Switch to “Advanced Controls” and expand the “Text Formatting” folder.
- Click “Text Color Mode” and switch the dropdown to “Gradient”
- Set “Text Color End” to gold (HEX: #FFD700) Note: “Text Color Start” sets the other color in the gradient, though I’ll leave it as is since white is the default.
Produce high resolution video
With one last check of the preview I’m ready to render my final high resolution video by clicking “Produce & Download”. This template has a lot of complex calculations in the background, so the rendering process will take some time, but you can always close the tab and you’ll get an email when the video is done. Additionally, you can find the video on the “My Videos” page.
BONUS: Combine with a visualizer
Now that the lyric video is done, you can easily take it one step further and combine it with one of Videobolt’s music visualizers to get additional elements on screen which react to the music. It’s really easy to do:
- Find a visualizer you’d like to use, it needs to have a video placeholder (you can search for “video background” to find all such templates)
- Click the “Background Media” placeholder
- Click “Add media” and select “My Videos”
- Click “Import” underneath your lyric video thumbnail.
If needed, you can go to “Customize” to increase background opacity or remove any tint or blur effects.
I combined my “Golden” lyric video with Ripped Cover Visualizer and here’s the result. Not the generic lyric video we’re all used to, right?
I hope this guide helps you make an awesome lyric video. We'd love to feature the best vids on our social pages, feel free to leave a link to your video on Twitter @videoboltnet.
Stay tuned for further tips, tricks and other Videobolt news. Have a great day, see you soon!