Our Audio

To determine the appropriate music for a video, the desired mood, purpose, and target audience of the video should be carefully balanced. For example, music for a tutorial video, in which many information is conveyed through speech, should be calm, quiet, and only play in the background as accompaniment. Music for WAGO videos should not contain singing or vocals. Only instrumental tracks should be used. Refrain from using music that is too fast, too loud, and does not match the brand archetype, such as Techno, 80’s beats, Hip Hop, etc.

In WAGO videos, the use of contextless sound effects should generally be avoided. Please also avoid using sound effects like “swooshes” (a soft rushing or whooshing sound often used in motion design or presentations) or similar sounds. However, sound effects that naturally support the video are allowed, such as the sound of a cup being placed on a table, the engine of a passing car, or ambient sounds (Foley).

Spoken words and their intelligibility should always take precedence over the volume of the music, with the exception of background conversations and ambient sounds. Voices should always be recorded in the best possible quality. Therefore, recording in very noisy environments or using only internal camera microphones should be avoided. To meet our quality standards, high-quality microphone technology should always be used. More information on volume can be found under “Technical Aspects”.

To reproduce voices as naturally as possible, care should be taken during recording to ensure the cleanest and most interference-free sound quality. Filters such as compressors, limiters, de-essers, and noise reduction are generally allowed, but they must be used in a way that retains the naturalness of the voice and ensures it does not sound artificial or distorted.

AI tools for voice generation, speech synthesis, and ensuring lip synchronization can already be used at WAGO under certain conditions. Voiceovers (where the speaker is not visible on-screen) may be used in both internal and external videos. It must be ensured that the voices and speaking style sound natural and not artificial or AI-generated. It is particularly important for the voice delivery to be free of dialects and to have a natural flow. Additionally, care must be taken to ensure that translations accurately convey the content without errors. There is a duty of care for the correct and flawless reproduction of proper names, such as WAGO products. The use of synthesized translations with visible speakers on-screen is currently only permitted for internal videos, as sufficient lip synchronization cannot yet be guaranteed.

Further information on the topic of AI can be found in our AI Guideline.

WAGO videos should follow basic technical principles: Audio should always be exported in stereo format. The maximum peak should not exceed -3 dBFS. The volume of foreground voices should ideally range between -9 dBFS and -6 dBFS, with the maximum peak not exceeding -3 dBFS. The volume of background music when foreground speech is present should be leveled between -30 dBFS and -20 dBFS.