Sound effect prompts: 12 recipes for editing with AI
Last updated 2026-10-20
A sound effect prompt names the sound, the moment and the level, for example: start fast-whoosh 0.2 seconds before the cut at 0:06, at 40% volume. Tie each sound to something visible, such as a cut, a title, a click or a picture landing. Keep sounds few and below the voice. Below are 12 recipes using sounds from Woven's library.
Four rules before the recipes
Sound design for a short video comes down to restraint. A sound is worth adding when it makes a visible event feel real.
- Few sounds. Most cuts stay silent. A sound on every cut stops meaning anything.
- Only for visible actions. Each recipe below has a trigger you can point to on screen. No trigger, no sound.
- Under the voice. Start near 40% volume and lower it if your loudest word gets covered.
- You check the timing. Woven's AI agent places a sound at the time you give. It sees stills and cannot hear, so play the reel and slide the sound until its hit meets the frame.
12 sound effect recipes
Each prompt uses a sound name exactly as Woven lists it. Swap the times for your own.
| Trigger on screen | Sound | Prompt to paste |
|---|---|---|
| A fast cut between two shots | Whoosh: fast-whoosh | Start fast-whoosh 0.2 seconds before the cut at 0:06, at 40% volume. |
| A card or picture sliding in | Whoosh: swish-whoosh-large | When the product card slides in at 0:09, play swish-whoosh-large at 35% volume. |
| One keyword flashing up as text | Pop: pop-hand | Play pop-hand on the word free when it appears at 0:14. Leave every other word silent. |
| A message screenshot appearing | Pop: message-pop-reply | Play message-pop-reply as the message screenshot appears at 0:11, at 35% volume. |
| A final result appearing | Ding: elevator-ding | Play elevator-ding when the final number appears at 0:21, at 30% volume. |
| Text typing out letter by letter | Typing: keyboard-typing-realistic | Under the Typewriter text at 0:03, play keyboard-typing-realistic and cut it to the length of the text. |
| A click in a screen recording | Click: mouse-click-2 | Play mouse-click-2 on the button presses at 0:09 and 0:12, at 40% volume. |
| A photo landing on screen | Shutter: camera-shutter-1-shot | Play camera-shutter-1-shot as the photo pops in at 0:16. |
| Three numbered items appearing | Tick: tick-sound | Play tick-sound as each of the three numbers appears, at 30% volume. |
| A price or savings figure appearing | Coins: several-coins | Play several-coins when the savings figure appears at 0:19, at 35% volume. |
| A Glitch effect on the picture | Glitch: glitch-logo | Add a Glitch effect at 0:24 and play glitch-logo with it, at 35% volume. |
| An abrupt cut to a reaction shot | Scratch: record-scratch | Play record-scratch on the cut to the reaction shot at 0:27 and add no other sound near it. |
What the library has
Woven's built-in panel is one searchable list sorted by name, with no categories. The public Woven SFX library at woven.video/sfx lists the same 35 names and tags them. The groups below follow those tags, simplified, so you know which sound types exist before you ask.
| Type | Sounds |
|---|---|
| Whoosh | deep-whoosh, fast-whoosh, swish-whoosh-large |
| Ding | airplane-ding, elevator-ding, notification-ding |
| Pop | pop-hand, message-pop-reply, camera-flash |
| Clicks and typing | mouse-click-1, mouse-click-2, tick-sound, beep-short, keyboard-typing, keyboard-typing-realistic |
| Camera | camera-analog, camera-shutter-1-shot, camera-shutter-8-shots, camera-shutter-release |
| Impact | base-drop, bass-impact, dull-thud, explosion |
| Glitch and scratch | glitch-logo, dj-scratch, record-scratch, record-needle-scratch, sideways-record-needle |
| Reaction | applause, cheers-and-applause, female-gasp, male-gasp |
| Other | several-coins, money-chalking, frog-ribbit |
Limits worth knowing
Woven's whoosh transition is silent, so recipe 1 adds the whoosh as its own sound. The agent cannot judge whether a sound feels right. It only puts the sound where you tell it to. If the library has nothing close, you can request a freshly generated sound in chat. That spends credits; pricing lists the rates. The recipes above stay inside the library.
Place sound effects in Woven
A sound from the panel starts at 45% volume on the "SFX" row. Through chat, the agent can place a library sound by file name, together with when it starts, how loud it is and, optionally, how long it plays. You can adjust any placed sound by hand afterwards.
Ask in chat
- List the sound effects you have, then suggest three for this reel.
- Set every sound effect to 35% volume.
- Shorten the typing sound so it stops when the text does.
- Remove the sound on the second cut.
Or do it by hand
- 1Find the moment. Use ← and → to step frame by frame, or ⇧← and ⇧→ to jump a second, until the playhead is on the trigger.
- 2Choose the sound. Choose "Add" › "Sound Effects", search for a name such as whoosh, and press "Play" beside a row to preview it.
- 3Add it. Press the + on its row, or drag the row down to the "SFX" track.
- 4Nudge the hit. Play the reel. A sound that arrives late needs dragging earlier, and a long quiet start needs trimming by its left edge.
- 5Set the level. With the sound selected, use "Volume" and keep it below the speech.
Common questions
A chat request that names a sound, the moment it plays and its level, such as: start fast-whoosh just before the cut at 0:06, at 40% volume.
It can place them at the times you give. Woven's AI agent puts a library sound where you say, but it cannot hear, so playback is your check.
Not louder than the voice. Effects are short, so they can sit a little above a quiet music bed. Set both by ear against your loudest line.
Begin it a touch ahead of the cut, so its loudest moment coincides with the opening frame of the new shot. Play it back and nudge it until it feels attached.
Yes. Describe it in chat, such as a soft paper rustle, and Woven's AI agent generates a new sound. Each new sound is paid from your credits.
Try Woven free for 3 days
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