Three steps to a video.
SoundCloud style
The scrolling waveform everyone recognises, moving past a fixed playhead as the track plays. Set how many seconds are on screen at once, and colour it with hot, teal, monochrome, or your own two colours.
iPhone style overlay
A clean rounded pill holding the waveform and your cover art, the way a track looks when it is playing on a phone. Pill or rounded container, circular, rounded, or square artwork.
Your artwork or video behind
Drop your cover art in as a full-frame backdrop, or put your own video behind the waveform so it plays underneath. This is what stops a waveform post looking like everybody else's waveform post.
Why the backdrop matters more than the waveform
A waveform on a black background is a screenshot. The same waveform over your own footage is a post.
The waveform is not the differentiator
Waveforms all look broadly alike, because they are drawings of the same thing. Yours will look much like the next producer's, and no amount of colour tweaking changes that.
Which is fine, because the recognisability is the point. It reads instantly as music. But it does mean that if the waveform is the only thing in frame, the post has nothing in it that belongs to you.
What to put behind it
The backdrop is where a waveform post either becomes yours or stays generic:
- Your cover art, full frame. The simplest option, and it ties the clip to the release it is promoting.
- Your own video. Studio footage, a live clip, anything you have shot. The waveform sits over the top and the footage does the talking.
- A flat colour with your accent. Clean and deliberate, and it works when the artwork is not finished yet.
Which style for which post
The scrolling SoundCloud-style waveform is the more informative one. It shows what has just played and what is coming, so it suits a longer look at a track and reads well to other producers.
The iPhone-style overlay is the more designed one. Because it is compact and sits in a pill with your artwork, it leaves most of the frame free, which is exactly what you want when there is footage behind it. If you are putting your own video in, start with the overlay.
BeatVisualiser vs Basic waveform tools
Same output. A fraction of the time.
| Feature | BeatVisualiser | Basic waveform tools |
|---|---|---|
| Your video as a backdrop | Rarely | |
| Cover art behind the wave | Sometimes | |
| Colour control | Full | Fixed palette |
| Export quality | 1080p 60fps | 720p typical |
| Watermark | Never | On free tiers |
What is a waveform visualizer?+
Can I get the SoundCloud-style waveform?+
Can I get the iPhone-style now-playing look?+
Can I put my own video behind the waveform?+
Can I use my cover art as the background?+
Can I change the waveform colours?+
How much of the track is visible at once?+
What does it export?+
Your track deserves a better visual than a waveform screenshot.
Drop your audio. Have a video ready to post in under a minute.
Build your waveform