How to Shorten a Song for Your Video: A Step-by-Step Guide
Published: 2023-07-15
When it comes to creating engaging videos, music plays a crucial role in setting the mood and enhancing the overall impact. However, there may be instances where the original length of a song doesn’t align perfectly with your video’s timing or desired flow. Whether you’re creating a montage, a promotional video, or any other type of visual content, being able to shorten a song can be a valuable skill to have.
In this step-by-step guide, we’ll take you through two ways to shortening a song. The first is using Audacity, a widely-used and free audio editing software. The second is using Mofi, a free online website to shorten songs. Either approach provides a user-friendly interface and powerful editing capabilities, which will allow you to trim down songs to the desired length, seamlessly blending them with your video footage.
So, let’s dive in and learn how to take control of your music and create a captivating audio experience for your videos!
Disclaimer: Before we proceed, it’s important to note that while you can shorten songs for personal use or non-commercial projects, it’s essential to respect copyright laws and obtain the necessary permissions when using copyrighted music for public or commercial purposes.
Option 1: Using Audacity
Let’s start with the steps involved in shortening a song using Audacity, a popular audio editing software, Audacity, which is free and widely available. Here’s how you can shorten a song for a video using Audacity:
Download and install Audacity: Visit the Audacity website and download the software appropriate for your operating system. Install it following the provided instructions.
Import the song: Launch Audacity and go to “File” > “Import” > “Audio.” Locate and select the song file you want to shorten from your computer’s files and click “Open.” The song will appear as a waveform in Audacity.
Select the section to remove: Use the selection tool (looks like an “I”) from the toolbar at the top of the screen to highlight the section of the song you want to remove. You can drag the ends of the selection to adjust its size.
Find the section to remove: Listen to the song a couple of times and notice any repetitive parts, then write down the locations to use them in the next step. You will need to do the math to figure out how much to remove to get the exact length.
Cut the selected section: Once you have the desired section selected, click “Edit” > “Cut” or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + X (or Command + X on Mac) to remove the selected portion from the song. The section will be removed, and the remaining parts will be joined.
Export the shortened song: Go to “File” > “Export” > “Export as [audio format].” Choose the desired audio format for your shortened song, such as MP3 or WAV, and specify the file name and location to save the file. Click “Save” to export the shortened song.
Option 2: Using Mofi
Open Mofi: Open the Mofi website in your browser, you can create an account if you like, but it’s not needed to shorten your song.
Import the song: Scroll down (or click “New” in the top navigation) and drag and drop or select your file. You can also paste a website URL if you don’t have the file right now. The song will process (should take less than a minute) and then be shown as waveform on the next screen.
Set the target length: In the time text box, type in how long you want your new song to be and press enter. The results below the waveform will update to match your new length.
If you have parts of the song you like or don’t like: Select the part by dragging with the mouse, then select “prefer” or “avoid” in the menu that opens.
Export the shortened song: Listen to results shown in the bottom half of the page and find the one you like the most. You can use your mouse to jump to different parts of the song. Click “Export” next to the one you want and then choose the desired audio format (such as MP3 and WAV) to download.
That’s it! You now have a shortened version of the song that you can use for your video. Remember to comply with any applicable copyright laws when using copyrighted songs in your videos.
