Most disappointing AI tracks come from prompts that describe a feeling but not a sound. "Something chill for my video" leaves the generator to guess genre, tempo, instruments and structure. A useful prompt answers those questions directly.
The five parts of a strong prompt
- Style. A genre or sub-genre, ideally with an era or region: "90s boom bap", "UK drill", "Chopin-style nocturne".
- Tempo and feel. A BPM number or a clear word: "at 84 BPM", "slow 6/8 sway", "half-time".
- Instruments and texture. Two to four named sounds: "dusty Rhodes, upright bass, brushed drums, vinyl crackle".
- Structure and timing. What happens when: "builds from 0:30, peak at 1:15, ends on a held chord".
- Purpose. Where it will be used: "under narration", "for a 15-second ad", "loops for a game menu".
You do not need all five every time, but each one you add removes a guess.
Rewrite examples
Weak: "happy music for a vlog"
Stronger: "Upbeat acoustic pop at 118 BPM, ukulele, hand claps and whistled melody, light and bouncy, background for a travel vlog with talking, 2 minutes"
Weak: "epic music"
Stronger: "Epic hybrid trailer cue, 90 seconds: quiet piano for 20 seconds, string ostinato builds, taiko and brass climax at 1:05, silence, then one final hit"
Words that change results the most
- Texture words such as warm, dusty, glassy, gritty, airy and muted shape the sound more than adjectives like nice or cool.
- Negative instructions are useful: "no vocals", "no drums for the first 30 seconds", "no trap hi-hats".
- Use-case words such as "under narration" or "background bed" usually lead to fewer lead melodies and steadier dynamics.
Iterate one change at a time
When a result is close, change one thing and generate again. If you change genre, tempo and instruments at once you will not know which edit helped. Keep a note of prompts that work; they become a style guide for your channel or brand.
Use the controls next to the prompt
Sonvela’s genre, mood and length controls add to your text. If they conflict with what you typed, for example a "Calm" mood with "aggressive drill" in the text, the result will be a compromise. Set the controls to "Any" when your text already says exactly what you want.
For hundreds of ready-made starting points, see our prompt examples or browse genre pages, each of which has prompts written for that style.
Written by the Sonvela editorial team with AI drafting assistance, then checked against the sources linked in the text. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will correct it.