Thumbnails for Audio
A thumbnail is a picture of an audio or video file that appears in the media player before it is played. Once the audio or video file has been uploaded, the thumbnail often represents it in the object panel and in the browsing and search sections of the album. Photos in JPG or PNG format can be posted, or a frame from a video file can be used as a thumbnail. Thumbnails may be imported and configured as defaults or removed (if there are more than one).
I have found that audio thumbnails are a great strategy to make that one first impression about your content. I recommend that if want your blog, article or campaign to be understood in tone and make your message very clear this is one of the best ways to go about.
The following steps are on how I personally make my audio thumbnails to make my content catchy and actually listened to:
STEP 1: You firstly need to create a background image relating to your topic. Canva is a great place to create it from scratch to make it more personalised and use your creativity. You can create an image background with all the image, shapes, lines, colour and text elements or find a solid background that Canva provides.
Pexels is also another amazing platform that I use. This platform has quality photographic images that you can use as background that you can also download for free.
STEP 2: Create your audio script based on the topic you will be talking about.
STEP 3: Record your audio either on your phone or, if you have quality recording equipment that you can use, that’s perfect. You would want to record to record in a noise free area, so there can be less background noises. Your audio can be 60 seconds to 3 minutes long, this should depend on your topic and what what you want to emphasize on your audio.
STEP 4: Once audio is recorded, you can use various audio editing tools to remove certain noises like clicks, hisses, mouth noises or background that you may pick up as you listen to your audio. There are various tools and softwares that you an use such as:
Software to manipulate audio
-Reaper (trail, no restrictions)
-Pro Tools | First
-Cubase Elemets
-Audacity
-Ableton Live 10 Lite (esp. music production)
Tools such as Gate and noise removal software work well to remove unwanted noise from your audio.
STEP 5: Convert your audio to an MP3 or MP4 file. This is done for uploading purposes. Depending on where you will be uploading your audio thumbnail, some platforms do not encourage M4A or WAV or other certain files.
I use Cloudconvert, it is a good tool to convert any file and it’s easy to use.
STEP 6: Once your background thumbnail image and audio are ready, throw them to Headliner to create a Waveform from your audio. This platform is one of the best for podcast purposes but for Youtube thumbnail, video transcripts and more.
Click on Audiogram Wizard box once you have entered Headliner and follow instructions where your recorded audio and thumbnail background image will be uploaded to create your waveform. Choose and select the waveform of your chose and save. Headliner will make its make it’s magic to combine your work into a short video with a waveform. In a few seconds, you will be notified that your thumbnail is ready for download.
STEP 7: This is the part were we add sound to your thumbnail to make it a final product. you can find your own ways the vest suit you on how to add music. Canva is a highly recommended to create anything for your socials and professional work.
Clashing music and poor music choice
Intelligibility is the ability to understand information. Most speech falls into the 1kHz – 4kHz range. Music with high frequency elements can interfere with intelligibility. Choose qaulity music that fits the style or theme – imagine yourself as a client that values professionalism.
FINAL STEP: Download and save your final piece to post later when you’re ready to show case your work. Be sure to play, watch your video and listen to your audio to make sure that you’re satisfied with what has come out as a final product.
Check out some of my audio thumbnails right here to learn more.
References
-Fr... ( select CC0 when searching)
-https://support.forum.jstor.org/hc/en-us/articles/360033530574-Thumbnails-and-Captions-for-Audio-and-Video
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