How to make a lyric video in Afterimage

Bring the recording and its actual lyrics

Afterimage is for a song-led lyric video. Open it with Essential access, bring the recording you intend to use and supply its exact lyric sheet. Work from material you have permission to publish.

Check repeated lines, spelling and the song's actual performance. A written verse and the recorded vocal can differ. Keeping the source lyrics correct saves time when you start placing them against the audio.

Place each line against the performance

Align the lyrics with the recording and refine their timing in the editor. Preview a phrase, check when it becomes readable and when it leaves, then continue through the verse and chorus.

Listen for the vocal rather than assuming every line lands on the same beat. Pauses, pickups and held words can need different timing. The Music map also lets you correct BPM and the beat-grid start when the guide needs adjustment.

Choose a visual system that supports the song

Pick a visual system, then direct the cut around the track. Check the amount of text on screen and its contrast against the image. Longer lines may need more time to read than short hooks.

Preview the chorus, a quiet section and the busiest section before committing to the full render. A treatment that looks good for one phrase can become tiring over an entire song. Use those sections to judge rhythm and readability.

Review the cut before rendering

Play through the complete edit. Check that the lyrics remain in order, punctuation reads naturally and transitions do not obscure important words. Choose the output offered by the editor for the place where you will publish the video.

Render in the browser and inspect the finished video, including its first and last frames. Audio analysis, project storage and encoding run on your device; browser and device capabilities affect the render. The song is not sent to a remote render server by this workflow.

Save the project you can reopen

Export an .afterimage project copy so you can keep or move the cut, including its song and edit. Working projects expire 24 hours after their last save, so the working copy is not a permanent archive.

Use Aftertext when the job is a typographic title, announcement or timed text cut without the song-and-lyrics workflow. Both apps render in the browser, but they start from different creative jobs.

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