In this tutorial, we’re going to take a look at how to create an audio reacting spectrum effect inside After Effects. This technique is perfect for audio visualization, whether its for your own band, or just some nice visuals for your animations. We’ll be using mostly built-in plugins for the spectrum, and will explore some basic expression techniques on extracting audio information and using the data to synchronization our effect parameters to audio. In this particular tutorial, we’ll sync up Trapcode Particular‘s velocity parameter, but you could apply the same technique to pretty much any parameter, including CC Particle World for those who don’t have Particular.

Tutorial Preview:

You can get some interesting results by playing with Particular’s settings, such as the Fractal Field or Spherical parameters. I also encourage everyone to try to modify the expression and apply it to 2D or even 3D parameters to get interesting results, such as the Scale or Position parameters. Lastly, the stylization effects is what really makes the spectrum unique.  I used Red Giant Universe to add some distortion, but you can try my Dojo Glitch script (which is “Name Your Own Price”) to get similar results.

Overall, this is a pretty basic technique to start visualizing audio, but it should give you a general idea on how to start syncing up your audio to animation using the amplitude data. Try it out, and if you guys create anything cool, please do share it down below!