{
 "slug": "music-under-voice",
 "name": "Music bed under the voice",
 "category": "sound",
 "group": "Music and mix",
 "media": [
  "video"
 ],
 "checked": "2026-11-13",
 "effect": "Carries the mood without costing a word.",
 "use_when": "Stories, diaries and ads; often left out of teaching videos.",
 "phrase": "an instrumental bed under the voice, lowered whenever she speaks",
 "pitfalls": [
  {
   "text": "Three of the nine measured reference edits have clean silences between the words, a sound floor under -48 dBFS, so no continuous bed. They are the three teaching boards.",
   "evidence": "measured",
   "source": "Director Chair measurements of published shorts (nine entries, measured 22 and 23 Oct 2026)"
  },
  {
   "text": "The framework's rule of thumb is music at 10 to 15 percent of the voice. Our editor starts the bed at -18 dB and ducks it under the voice.",
   "evidence": "practitioner",
   "source": "The Director Chair hook framework (our 2026 synthesis of @marco.thecreative's TikTok series, OpusClip's hook formulas, a Brandefy article, Meta retention research and a Gemini research report) and Director Chair field notes on editing"
  },
  {
   "text": "Music only with a licence for the platform it goes to.",
   "evidence": "practitioner",
   "source": "Director Chair field notes on editing"
  }
 ],
 "per_model": [],
 "external_refs": [],
 "licensed": [],
 "site_names": [],
 "related": [
  "loudness-target",
  "cut-on-the-beat",
  "format-broll-voiceover"
 ],
 "rights": "own-work",
 "evidence": "measured",
 "source": {
  "url": null,
  "note": "Own words from Director Chair field notes on editing and our measurements of published shorts"
 },
 "body": "",
 "shown_with": null,
 "url": "https://directorchair.ai/sound/music-under-voice",
 "markdown": "https://directorchair.ai/sound/music-under-voice.md",
 "prompts": {
  "chat": "Give me a sound brief: what to record or pick, where it sits on the timeline, the levels, and what to check before export, for a short video about [your product], for [your audience]. The technique is music bed under the voice: carries the mood without costing a word. How it works: an instrumental bed under the voice, lowered whenever she speaks. It is right for: stories, diaries and ads; often left out of teaching videos. Three of the nine measured reference edits have clean silences between the words, a sound floor under -48 dBFS, so no continuous bed. The framework's rule of thumb is music at 10 to 15 percent of the voice. Be concrete: numbers, seconds and settings, no theory. Ask me one question first if something you need is missing."
 },
 "licence": {
  "code": "MIT",
  "text": "CC BY 4.0",
  "third_party": "Clips and card texts inside a \"licensed\" block belong to their makers and are shown with permission and credit."
 }
}