Creator workflows

Each guide below is a job creators do, with the Sonic Weaver tools that do it and, where one exists, the SW Agent chain that runs the steps for you. Everything runs in your browser and your files stay on your device unless you save or publish them.

SW Agent answers questions from these guides too, so you can ask it in your own words instead of reading them all.

• Open SW Agent

Before a song goes out, it should be as loud as the other songs on the platform without clipping, and you may want its parts separately for remixes, live sets or a karaoke version.

• Mastering evens the mix and sets its loudness, for example -14 LUFS for streaming.
• The Stem Splitter separates the vocals, drums, bass and the rest on your device.
• Ask SW Agent: "master this song and split its stems".

• Mastering
• Stem Splitter

A home studio needs a quiet room, one good microphone, headphones that do not leak into the mic, and a light you can repeat. Record a short test, listen back on headphones and on a phone, and fix the room before buying more gear.

Once a take is recorded, the same song drives every video you make from it here.

• Clean up a rough mix in Mastering before you build a video on it.
• Use Audio Effects for intros, risers and transitions you would otherwise record.

• Audio Effects
• Mastering

A podcast clip on video platforms needs something to watch: a visualizer that moves with the voices, the episode's title, and captions so it works with the sound off.

• Build a Waveform or Spectrum visualizer with the episode as the song and the title shown.
• Lyric Videos writes the words from the audio, so the clip has captions you can edit.
• Ask SW Agent: "make a waveform visualizer called "Episode 12"".

• Lyric Videos
• Templates

Decide the look, the frame shape and the pace first: which visualizer or scenes, vertical or widescreen, and whether the cuts follow the bars or the sections. Sketch the parts of the song (intro, verse, chorus, drop) and what changes at each.

• Make a Music Video builds a storyboard from your song: a shot for every part, cut on the bars.
• Templates shows every look with its frame shapes before you commit.

• Make a Music Video
• Templates

Finishing is the last pass: titles and an intro or outro card, transitions between parts, a watermark, then the export. Preview and export use the same renderer, so what you see is what you get.

• Intros and Outros adds a title card; Transitions sets how parts of the Timeline join; the Watermark Maker designs your mark.
• Export on your device: up to 4K on desktop, 1080p on phones.

• Intros and Outros
• Transitions
• Watermark Maker

Captions make a video work with the sound off and for viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing. Check every line by ear: an automatic transcript is a draft, not a finished caption file.

Where a video shows something the sound does not explain, say it in the description or in an on-screen line.

• Lyric Videos writes the words from your song in time; edit them, then export the lyric video or the caption file.
• Ask SW Agent: "make a 9:16 lyric video called "Song title" by Artist".

• Lyric Videos

The cheapest way to reach another language is captions: keep the same video and add a caption file per language, translated and checked by a speaker. On-screen titles need their own version of the project with the translated words.

• Duplicate the project, change the title and artist text, and export each version.
• Keep the caption files with the project so a fix in one language does not get lost.

• Lyric Videos

A short clip is not a crop of the long one: it needs a vertical frame, a hook in the first seconds, and a moment that stands on its own (the drop, the chorus). Make it from the project, not from the exported file, so it is sharp at 9:16.

• Make a Music Video's cut-downs make a vertical version and a Shorts hook from the same storyboard.
• Every frame shape builds the same look at 9:16, 1:1 and the rest.
• Ask SW Agent: "make the tunnel look in every frame shape".

• Make a Music Video
• Convert & Compress

After a stream, note the moments worth keeping (a reaction, a drop, a question answered) while they are fresh. Cut each to under a minute with a clear start, add a caption, and post it while the stream is still recent.

• Convert & Compress trims a recorded clip and converts it with a preset for each platform.
• The Stream studio's screens (starting soon, be right back, ending) make the stream itself look finished.

• Convert & Compress
• Stream

Each platform has its own frame, length and cover: YouTube is 16:9 with a thumbnail, Shorts and TikTok are 9:16, Instagram posts are 1:1 or 4:5. Build each version from the project in its own frame rather than stretching one file.

• Every frame shape gives one project per frame (16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 4:5, 4:3, 21:9) to export.
• The Thumbnail Maker's Every platform download makes each cover at its platform's size.
• Ask SW Agent: "give me every frame shape for my video".

• Thumbnail Maker
• Convert & Compress

A campaign is a few posts with one look, spread over the weeks around a release: a teaser, the release day, then clips of the best moments. Keep the colours, fonts and visualizer the same across them so people recognise the song.

• Save the project and start each post from a copy, so they share one look.
• Make the teaser and the clips in the same project with different frame shapes.
• Motion Graphics has designs to customise for announcements.

• Motion Graphics
• Templates

A thumbnail is read in a second at a small size: one subject, few words, strong contrast. Make two or three designs that differ in one thing (the words, the picture, the colour) and compare them, rather than three unrelated ideas.

• The Thumbnail Maker suggests frames from your song's strongest moments with layouts that leave room for a title.
• Change one thing at a time and keep each version in your library.
• Ask SW Agent: "make a thumbnail from this picture".

• Thumbnail Maker

Packaging is the title, the thumbnail and the first seconds working together: the title says what it is, the thumbnail shows it, and the opening proves it. Write the title for the person searching, then design the thumbnail to match it.

• The release thumbnail set gives the YouTube thumbnail, the Shorts cover, a square cover and the channel banner from one design.
• Ask SW Agent: "make a release thumbnail set from this picture".

• Thumbnail Maker
• Banner maker

Shorts are vertical, short, and decided in the first second. Start on the strongest moment of the song, keep the subject inside the safe area away from the buttons, and loop cleanly if you can.

• Build the visualizer at 9:16, or use a Shorts cut-down from Make a Music Video.
• Keep titles inside the frame's safe zone so the platform's buttons do not cover them.
• Ask SW Agent: "make a vertical lyric video for shorts".

• Make a Music Video
• Lyric Videos

A channel grows on a steady schedule and a recognisable look. Keep a banner, a watermark and a thumbnail style that match, and reuse your project templates so each upload takes less time than the last.

• The Banner maker makes the channel banner; the Watermark Maker makes the mark on every video.
• Playlist turns several songs into one long video, good for albums and mixes.
• Ask SW Agent: "make a playlist video from these songs".

• Banner maker
• Watermark Maker
• Playlist

A live stream needs screens for before, during a break, and after, plus a scene that moves with the music. Test the whole stream privately once before going live.

• The stream screens chain makes the starting soon, be right back and ending screens, each as an OBS browser source.
• Stream sends a project live from the browser.
• Ask SW Agent: "make stream screens with the headline "Live tonight"".

• Stream
• Overlays

Pictures for a release (covers, posts, banners) start from one strong image. Crop it for each frame instead of stretching it, and keep a copy of the original.

• The Image Editor sizes a picture for a thumbnail, a cover or a background, adjusts it and cuts out its background, on your device.
• Cover Art and Canvas makes the cover and a Spotify Canvas loop from it.
• Generate visualizer turns a picture into layers that move to the song.

• Image Editor
• Cover Art and Canvas
• Generate visualizer

A brand look is a short list you can follow: two or three colours, one or two fonts, a logo or watermark, and a visualizer style. Write it down and use it on every piece, so people know it is you before they read the name.

• Set your colours and fonts once in a project, save it, and start the next video from a copy.
• The Watermark Maker keeps your mark the same on every export.

• Watermark Maker
• Templates

A template saves the decisions you make every time: the look, the frame, the text styles and the layers. Make one per kind of video you post, and start each new video from it.

• Save a project and start the next one from a copy; the makers keep their designs in My library.
• SW Agent's chains are reusable too: Use as template puts a chain's message in the box to change and send.

• Templates
• Open SW Agent

3D draws the eye when it moves with the music and stays simple: one model, a clear light, motion on the beat.

• 3D Models makes a model move to your song and downloads it as GLB, OBJ or STL.
• Put a visualizer on your own website with Embed, as a box, a background or over a picture.

• 3D Models
• Embed on your website

Work back from the release date: the song mastered and the artwork done a few weeks before, the visuals and clips ready a week before, and posts planned for the days around it. Make every release picture from one design so they match.

• Master and split the song first; then the cover, the release thumbnail set and the clips.
• Ask SW Agent: "make a release thumbnail set from this picture called "Song title"".

• Mastering
• Cover Art and Canvas
• Thumbnail Maker

A press kit is what a writer or a playlist curator needs in one place: a short bio, the release details, links, a few photos, the cover, and a clip. Keep it short and current.

• Export stills and the cover at full size for the kit.
• Add one short visualizer clip of the best moment of the song.

• Cover Art and Canvas
• Thumbnail Maker

An email to fans works when it is short and has one thing to do: listen to the song, watch the video, come to the show. Send it on release day, with a still or a short loop that matches the release.

• Export a still from the video, or a short loop from Cover Art and Canvas, to put in the email.

• Cover Art and Canvas

Holidays and events bring people looking for matching music and visuals. Plan a few weeks ahead so a seasonal video is out before the day, not on it.

• The seasonal visualizers cover Halloween, Diwali, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year's Eve, Lunar New Year, Valentine's Day, Ramadan and Eid, Easter and more.
• Ask SW Agent: "find a christmas template".

• Templates

A calendar turns ideas into posts on time: one row per piece with its date, its frame shapes and what is left to do. Plan what you can finish, and batch similar work, for example every thumbnail for the month in one sitting.

• Batch with SW Agent's chains: one clip per country, every frame shape, a release thumbnail set.
• Ask SW Agent: "make one clip each for Japan, Brazil and Kenya in 9:16".

• Open SW Agent

Before you publish, know where every song, picture and font came from and what you may do with it. Keep the source and the licence with the project, and check them again before a paid use.

• The Asset Library shows the credit information for each free song, sound effect and background.
• Your own uploads stay on your device; publishing a project to the community shares only what you choose.

• Asset Library

A pack people want solves one job well: a set of matching looks, overlays or transitions for a kind of video. Test every piece in a real project, name them clearly, and show each in a short preview.

• Motion Graphics designs, overlays and transitions can each be customised and downloaded.
• Layer assets add pieces that react with your visualizer.

• Motion Graphics
• Overlays
• Background & Layer Assets

Merch artwork starts from the release artwork at a high resolution, simplified so it prints well: fewer colours, bold shapes, no fine text. Check every design at its real print size.

• Export the cover and stills at full size from Cover Art and Canvas or a project.
• Any print-on-demand store's own setup and fees are separate from Sonic Weaver.

• Cover Art and Canvas

A small tool (a generator, a calculator, an interactive visual) gives people a reason to come back. Keep it to one job, make it work on a phone, and say plainly what it does with their data.

• Embed a visualizer on your own website that plays with your settings.
• Make a screensaver turns your looks into a screensaver or live desktop background, exported for the desktop app.

• Embed on your website
• Screensaver

A tutorial teaches one result in steps a viewer can follow: show the finished thing first, then each step, then what to try next. Record the screen at a steady pace and caption it.

• Our own tutorials show the format, and SW Agent can quote any of them.
• Learn to script has the lessons behind formulas and scripts.

• Tutorials
• Learn to script