How to pick perfect music for video editing using 5 pro steps

How do professional video editors pick perfect music for any video?

Professional video editors follow a five-step system: define the target emotion, select the musical style, choose instrumentation, match tempo to the scene's rhythm, and adjust the number of instruments to fit the energy.

The mistake that wastes hours of music searching

Do you spend hours searching for a music track to turn your edit into an emotion-driven masterpiece only to end up feeling stuck and frustrated? The biggest mistake editors make is diving in without a plan.

Early in my career, I lacked patience as an editor — that translated into a lack of preparation. When it came to selecting music, I'd waste hours going down rabbit holes only to end up with nothing to show for those hours of work.

The best editors, like those on Guardians of the Galaxy, start by getting clear on the emotion they want the music to evoke in the audience. Whether it was classic pop, a country tune, or orchestral score, every track was a perfect fit because they had an emotional plan.

Step 1: Define your target emotion

Before you start your music search, take five minutes to decide what emotion you want your audience to feel in the scene you're working on and write it down.

When I started doing this, not only did searches go way faster, but the tracks fit so much better. Emotion really is everything when it comes to editing — that's why it's first in the five editing criteria that professional editors use.

Having an emotional target transforms your music search from random browsing into focused hunting. You'll eliminate tracks instantly if they don't serve your emotional goal.

If you want to learn the complete system professional editors use to create emotionally-impactful edits, download the Think Like A Broadcast Editor guide to discover all five criteria top editors use.

Step 2: Choose the musical style that fits your emotion

Once you have your target emotion, you need to pick a style or genre of music. To illustrate this, I'll use a broadcast TV commercial I cut about superheroes sitting through a boring HR meeting. I wanted the audience to feel excited with a sense of drama.

Let's see how different styles work for the same emotion:

Hard rock might work better in an action scene or training montage. Solo piano evokes romance or introspective moments — not the drama I was after. Folk music feels light-hearted, better suited for a travel scene.

But orchestral music? Perfect. I wanted the audience to feel like they'd stepped right into a superhero movie with drama and tension. Orchestral music fit that emotion exactly.

For step two, ask yourself: what style of music best fits the emotion of this scene?

Step 3: Select instrumentation within your chosen style

You have a target emotion and selected a style. Now think about instrumentation. Most styles of music are made up of many instruments.

Take rock — is it guitar-based or keyboard-based? Are there vocals or no vocals? Folk music could use acoustic guitar or banjo, violin, harmonica, or light percussion. Orchestral music has strings, brass, woodwinds, and percussion.

Each instrument brings its own flavor and emotion. A French horn might feel heroic, while a solo piano can feel more intimate or reflective. This is more art than science, but it always helps to return to that target emotion.

For step three, ask yourself: what instrumentation within the style I've chosen best hits that target emotion?

Step 4: Match tempo to your scene's rhythm

You selected a target emotion, musical style, and instrumentation, but your track can still be way off. The next step is tempo.

In music, tempo is measured in beats per minute. A slow track might be around 60 BPM, medium around 100, and fast could be 120 BPM or higher.

If I wanted a high-energy opening and I'm using a super slow song, it feels off. That's because the tempo doesn't match the rhythm of the edit. The tempo of the song needs to match the rhythm of your scene.

For step four, ask yourself: what tempo or speed of track fits best with my scene and the emotion I'm targeting?

Step 5: Adjust the number of instruments to match energy

Just like tempo needs to match the rhythm of your edit, the number of instruments needs to match the energy of your edit.

Fewer instruments usually means a more subdued feel. More instruments can make things feel bigger and more energetic.

Imagine an orchestral piece at the perfect tempo — one has 30 violins that feels epic and grand, the other just has one violin that sounds intimate. You have to ask: which version best brings out that target emotion?

Modern music libraries make this easy with stems — separate audio files for each instrument. If a certain instrument isn't fitting, you can mute it. For my superhero commercial, if the track had a French horn, I'd probably mute it because that sound doesn't evoke the emotion I was after. I wanted more strings and percussion to drive the song.

For step five, ask yourself: what amount of instruments in my track best evokes the target emotion I'm going for?

Now you have the five-step system professional broadcast editors use to quickly find music tracks that evoke the exact emotion you want. Stop wasting hours searching and start creating emotionally-impactful edits with the complete professional editing system.