Cut on the beat. Not on every beat.
Tap the tempo or let it find it in your track. Get beat and bar lengths in seconds and frames, and a cut plan that speeds up into your payoff, lands it on a big beat and holds it.
1. Find the tempo
Play your track and tap on every beat, on the button or with the space bar. Pause for two seconds to start over.
Track libraries usually list the BPM. Slow songs sit around 60 to 80, walking pace is 100 to 120, dance music 120 to 130.
It’s analyzed right here in your browser. Your track never leaves your device.
2. Your video
Frame rate (what you filmed at)
Beats in a bar
Pace
Cut on strong beats
- Cuts on the beat feel intentional. Cuts between beats feel sloppy, unless that’s the point.
- Not every beat. Mix one, two and four-beat shots, and hold one through several beats.
- Biggest moment, biggest beat. Line the reveal or punchline up with the drop.
- Hold the payoff two or three seconds longer than feels comfortable.
Line up the shapes
- Intro under the setup.
- The build under rising trouble, with shots getting shorter.
- A held pause, then the drop on the payoff.
- The outro under a calm ending. Talking over it? Pick an instrumental and keep it under your voice.
How it works
Give it the tempo (tap along, type it, or load your track and let it listen). It works out how long a beat and a bar last, in seconds and in frames at your frame rate, because editing apps snap cuts to frames.
Then it plans your cuts the way the book suggests: on strong beats but never on every one, speeding up into the big moment, landing it on a bar line and holding it. Pick a calmer pace for recipes and explainers, or the roller coaster for reveals. Copy the list, download it as a spreadsheet, or print it next to your editor.
Common questions
Should I cut on every beat?
No. Cutting on every beat gets monotonous fast. Cut on strong beats, mix shots of one, two and four beats, and hold one shot through several beats for the payoff. Fast only feels fast next to slow.
What is BPM?
Beats per minute: how fast the music goes. At 120 BPM a beat lasts half a second, so a bar of four beats lasts two seconds.
How does it find the tempo of my track?
It listens for the moments the sound gets suddenly louder (drum hits, mostly), then finds the steady pulse that lines up with the most of them. It works best on music with a clear beat. If it’s off, tap along to check, or halve or double it.
Is my music uploaded anywhere?
No. The track is decoded and analyzed in your browser, and it never leaves your device. Only your settings are saved, in My Studio.
Why does it show frames?
Editing apps snap cuts to frames, not to exact milliseconds. At 30 fps a frame is a thirtieth of a second, so a beat at 120 BPM is exactly 15 frames. Matching the frame rate you filmed at keeps every cut on the beat.
Chapter 39 of Worth Watching covers music: finding tracks you can use, planning around the music and cutting on the beat. Chapter 46 covers rhythm, pace and timing, including the roller coaster and the hush moment.
Read the free sample →