How to add sound effects in DaVinci Resolve

1. Import the sound. Right click an empty area of the Media Pool and choose Import Media, or use File > Import > Media. Resolve reads WAV, Broadcast WAV, AIFF, MP3, AAC and CAF audio. The manual uses Mac keys; on Windows, Command is Ctrl and Option is Alt.
2. Add an audio track. Right click a track header in the timeline and choose Add Track to add one below it, or Add Tracks to choose how many, where they go and the audio track type.
3. Mark the frame where the sound lands. Park the playhead on the frame of the action and press M to add a marker. Press Command+M (Ctrl+M on Windows) if you want to add a note to it, such as which sound goes there.
4. Drag it in with snapping on. Turn on snapping with its toolbar button or N. Drag the sound from the Media Pool onto your audio track and its edge snaps to the marker or the playhead. Holding N while you drag turns snapping off for that move.
5. Or place it from the Sound Library. Open the Sound Library from the interface toolbar on the Edit or Fairlight page. Use Add Library to index a folder of sounds, then search (type *** to list everything). Set a Sync Point on the loudest moment of the sound, put the playhead on the hit, select a track and click Audition, then Confirm to keep it.
6. Nudge it a frame at a time. Select the clip and press comma or period to move it one frame left or right. Shift with comma or period moves it five frames, a step you can change in the User Preferences.
7. Set the volume. Change the clip’s level in the Inspector under Audio > Volume, or drag the volume line across the clip. Hold Option (Alt on Windows) and click the line to add keyframes; two or more keyframes let the level change over time.
8. Fade it in or out. Drag the fade handles at the edges of the clip, then drag the curve handle to shape the fade. For two sounds that overlap, select the edit and choose Timeline > Add Audio Only Transition (Shift+T) for a Cross Fade.

Blackmagic Design offers a royalty free collection of over 500 recorded foley sounds, the Fairlight Sound Library, which the manual says you can download directly from the Sound Library panel. It is built to work with the Foley Sampler in Fairlight FX. Any folder of WAV or MP3 files can be indexed the same way, including sounds you download from the Sonilo library.

Two details trip people up. The Sound Library shows nothing until you search, so an empty panel does not mean an empty library. And the Sync Point exists because the important moment of a sound is rarely its first frame: the manual’s own example is a door slam, placed by its slam rather than by the start of the file.

Drag a Fairlight FX effect from Effects Library > Audio FX onto a clip to treat it, for example with reverb to put a dry sound in the room. To pull music down automatically while someone speaks, the Ducker effect on the music track listens to the dialogue track. Sound effects that land on top of a line are better lowered by hand with keyframes, so the line stays clear and the hit still reads around it.

Any WAV or MP3 works in DaVinci Resolve. Three ways to get one from Sonilo:

• Download it free. The sound effects library has thousands of sounds by category, in MP3 and WAV, free for personal and commercial projects with no account and no credit needed. Take the WAV if you will edit or layer it.
• Describe it. If the library does not have the exact sound, describe it (the material, the action, how it ends) and the sound effects generator makes it in seconds. New accounts get free credits.
• Start from the video. Upload the clip and Sonilo generates sound effects timed to what happens on screen, so most of the placement in the steps above is done before the file reaches your timeline.

Commercial use of audio you generate on Sonilo needs Pro or above; library downloads are free for commercial use on any plan. See licensing for the details.