In the first article of our three-part series All About Music, we talked about the importance of using music or sound effects in your live show, and how to select good ones. In this second article, we want to share with you when you should use music/sound effects during your live show, so that you can better deliver your message and emotion, capture your audience's attention and engage with them, and ultimately increase the overall watch time.

There are various moments when you can use music and sounds in your live show. Here are a few popular and time-tested ones.

❶ Warm up/countdown

Inviting your audience to your show with bubbly music is like giving candies to kids on Halloween - both your audience and kids will feel happy and welcomed. It also sets a good tone for your show and will make people excited about what's coming.

❷ Talk about important messages

With the right music or sounds, you can not only capture people's attention, but also deliver your messages more effectively.

Paul Andre de Vera, founder and host of the SEO Video Show on YouTube, is a master at utilizing various sound effects to spice up his show. His signature sound effect is the knowledge bomb effect — a sound that would be triggered when a guest says something that gives people the aha moment. This exemplifies the use of sound effect to accentuate the insights, as well as to engage with the audience.

❸ New superchat/subscription

Every superchat and subscription from your audience is a huge moment worth celebration, and many live streaming creators, especially Twitch live streamers, are already using the alerts bot to do so. Playing sound effects (and even showing some exciting visual effects) when you receive a superchat or have a new subscription is not a great way to thank your audience and celebrate the moment, more importantly, it will encourage more audiences to gift and subscribe, which will help with your monetization.

❹ When you notice engagement slows down

People do not always watch live shows with full attention, and it's easy for them to treat live shows as background sound. When you notice that engagement slows down, playing some unexpected (but still pleasant) music or sound effects can help draw people's attention back to your show.

❺ Transitions

Playing music and sounds at scene transitions is a great way for people to ...Whether you are transitioning from intro to guest talk, or from emotional story sharing to exciting giveaway, you can always add an extra layer of polish to your live show with transition music.

❻ BRB/Intermission Scenes

Whether you need to take a quick break or you end your stream, music and sounds can help you create a stream that looks and sounds professional.

❼ End of a presentation

You can use sound effects to end a presentation with a bang, literally and figuratively. It gives you a more professional feel on your live show and shows your viewers that you know what you’re doing.

No matter what style of music or sound you choose, it should be another language that you speak to add more flair to your show and engage better with your audience, and if done right, it can even boost your monetization!

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