The Audio Paradox: Why Sound Quality Still Matters in a Silent Social Media World

We’re living in a strange era for video creators. On one hand, social platforms are going increasingly silent - 85% of videos on Facebook are watched with the sound off. TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts all reward fast, punchy visual content that can be consumed without headphones, in public, on mute.

And yet, sound still matters more than ever.

Welcome to what I call The Audio Paradox.

How I Got Here (And Maybe You Did Too)

Me rocking out on stage back in the day...

Before I was a filmmaker, I was a musician. I picked up a guitar at 13 and that was it - music became the thing. Everything else took a back seat. I dropped out of school after grade 10 to study at The National School of Arts in Johannesburg, South Africa. If you were in the contemporary music department, you had to take sound engineering. And I loved it. So much so that I ended up majoring in it.

I did a short internship with Openroom Productions at SABC (South Africa’s national broadcaster), working with an engineer named Darryl Torr. We recorded live bands, mixed studio sessions, learned the ropes. But that was just the beginning.

Later, I got a job at a church - not your average Sunday morning setup. We made TV shows, music videos, commercials, short films, full-blown stage productions with SFX. And it was there, under the mentorship of Andrew Williams, that I learned filmmaking.

But the real foundation? Still sound.

Sound-First Filmmakers: Why Are There So Many of Us?

This weekend, I met another filmmaker at an event. His reel was solid - tight edits, beautiful composition. I asked about his background. You guessed it: sound engineering. It’s a common story. Musicians and audio engineers moving into video - not because they stopped caring about sound, but because they understood its role beneath everything.

It’s funny, right? In a visual medium, it’s sound that makes or breaks the experience. A viewer might tolerate shaky footage or a grainy image. But bad audio? Static? Hissing? Clipping? They’ll bounce. Immediately.

The Psychology of Sound vs. Silence

Studies back this up. Poor audio quality increases cognitive load, disrupts emotional engagement, and kills credibility. Clean, clear audio - even if the visuals are minimal - builds trust. It keeps people locked in.

Meanwhile, creators like BuzzFeed’s Tasty or Glam, Inc.’s “100 Years of…” series have cracked the code of silent video. They use captions, rhythmic cuts, and expressive visuals to tell stories without words. And they do it well.

So what gives? If we can communicate everything through visuals alone, why is audio still so important? Because people don’t just want to watch. They want to feel. And nothing transmits emotion like sound.

The Breakthrough That Changed Everything for Me

Let me tell you a story. Back at the church, I was tasked with creating a video ad for an upcoming event. I had nothing. No visual concept. No script. Just a short VO my friend Karabo recorded to help me get started.

The day dragged on. Everyone went home. The deadline was tomorrow. And then…I stumbled on a random sound effect - a turntable scratch from an old radio sting. That one sound triggered a full concept in my mind. I decided to treat the ad like a high-energy radio spot.

I chopped up the VO, built a rhythm, added sound design layers, and suddenly the visuals wrote themselves. I stayed up until 4 AM, and when I watched the final cut… I knew it was special. The response I got from the team confirmed it.

That was the moment I realized: When I build a video around audio, it works. When I build around visuals, it just looks good, but it doesn’t breathe.

Building for Both: The New Rules of Engagement

In today’s content landscape, you need to plan for both audiences:

The silent scrollers, watching with the sound off, reading your captions.
The headphone tribe, tuning in for the music, the message, the emotion.

And here’s the thing: Your sound design still matters for both.

If your VO isn't clear, it won't translate well to auto-captions. If your music's overpowering, people will mute it before they get the message. If your speaker’s mic is full of room noise, you'll lose trust before you've even said anything important.

Best Practices for Today’s Audio-Visual World

Invest in audio first. A cheap mic is more damaging than a cheap camera.
Edit to sound, not just picture. Let your pacing, rhythm, and flow come from the audio bed.
Use accurate captions. Tools like Descript or AI transcription services make it easy.
Think globally. Audio AI like ElevenLabs lets you translate and clone voices across languages. Use it.
Design for small speakers. Compression ruins audio clarity - plan accordingly.

Final Word: Audio Isn’t Dead - It’s Just Hiding

The world is never going back. Scrollable, sound-off media is where it's at, and it’s tempting to deprioritize audio. But that’s a mistake.

The paradox is this: The more we design for silence, the more intentional our sound design must become. Because the people who do listen? They're your most loyal, most engaged, and most influenced audience.

So let’s stop thinking of audio as secondary. It's not a layer on top. It's the foundation. If audio isn't driving the cut, we're not telling a story - we're just lining up pretty shots.