Smule Video Etiquette – 3 tips for better Sing! videos

Don’t finish Smule video OCs early

If a community songbook song ends with 10 seconds of silence, then by all means: cut if off! But don’t cut off your OC early just because your singing part has ended. If you are “on stage” with another person, you shouldn’t just run off at some point, surprising the person who has joined you. Whether they stay there alone until the end or cut if off as well—both options kind of ruin the duet. It’s not a complete presentable video anymore and the person joining might have hoped for that. So please stick around until the music has come to end. And if you really don’t want to do that—for example because the outro is just too long—then open an audio-only version instead.  

Check the cover image and change it if necessary

The automatic cover images for video duets are rarely good. But if you open a song, only you have the power to change the cover image. So do the people joining a favor and pay attention to the cover image. Does it seem like the person joining might not like how he or she looks in that image? Then change it and pick a different frame from the video. It’s easy and can be done quickly. 

Put a shirt on! Or “respecting the person opening the song”

Some duets are literally just 3 minutes of fun. People open songs while walking, cooking, cleaning and so on. That’s perfectly fine! Not every Smule duet needs to be perfect. And people opening songs don’t expect you to be a professional singer. In fact, I would encourage people to join better singers – it’s how you can get better. 

But as a rule of thumb: at least try to match the effort of the person opening the song has put into it. If ifs a flawless OC, don’t put your headphones in while your already recording. If the people opening the songs are singing fully dressed in their living room, they might not want to see you joining the OC shirtless in bed. And so on. 

Do you agree? Do you have other tips or pet peeves? Let us know in the comments.