How Do You Trim A Sound When Making A TikTok Video?

TikTok sounds aren’t just instrumental in making a more entertaining, more compelling video. If you use the right trending music, you can give your TikTok posts a better shot at gaining a large audience.

Inserting generic sounds into the video you create is easy in the TikTok editor; you just tap the “Add sound” button at the top of the app’s Create screen and choose the song you want to use.

But what if your chosen sound doesn’t match the action in the video? That can be a big problem, particularly for the social media platform’s popular lip-sync and dance content. Not to worry; TikTok’s “trim” feature has you covered.

Trimming a Sound in TikTok Before Recording

If you’re making a video and only want to use part of a song, or need to choose an exact segment that’s easy to lip-sync to, you can trim the TikTok song before you start recording.

1. Click the “+” button to open TikTok’s Create screen and select the length of your video.
2. Tap “Add sound” to access the app’s Sounds library.
3. Choose the song you want to use and then click the scissors icon next to its title.
4. The song will play with its audio waveform shown at the bottom of the screen. Drag the waveform so the desired part of the song lines up with the video length you’ve chosen.
5. Click “Done” and you’ve trimmed the sound to your desired length.

Trimming a Sound in TikTok After Recording

This one requires a little more work.

1. Tap the “+” button to get to the Create screen.
2. Choose a length for your video and then choose a sound by clicking the “Add sound” button and picking the song you want to use.
3. Record your video by hitting the red Record button.
4. Tap the checkmark to move to the editing screen.
5. Open the editor by tapping the “Edit” icon (a device screen) at the top of the right-hand menu.
6. You’ll see your video timeline in the bottom right corner. Tap the name of your sound.
7. Click the “Adjust” icon (device screen) at the bottom, and use the handles on the audio track to select and move the track as desired to match the video.
8. Click “Save” to return to the editor, make any other changes you’d like, and hit the red arrow at the top to move to the post screen.

You can do much more in the editor; the more you play around and learn its various features, the more your videos will match your creative vision.