How to Add Multiple Songs on TikTok

Thinking about adding a second song to your TikTok videos to really make them pop? You're in the right place. While TikTok doesn't have a big, shiny add two songs button, savvy creators have found clever ways to combine multiple audio clips, create killer song mashups, and craft the perfect atmosphere for their content. This guide provides a full walkthrough of professional and in-app methods for layering and sequencing sounds, giving you exactly what you need to create more dynamic videos.

Why Bother Adding More Than One Song?

In the fast-paced world of TikTok, audio is everything. The right sound can turn a simple video into a viral sensation. Using multiple songs isn’t just a gimmick, it’s a powerful creative tool for storytelling and engagement. By combining sounds, you can:

• Create Dramatic Story Arcs: A stark transition from a sad, slow song to an upbeat, energetic track can completely change the emotional impact of a reveal, transformation, or "before and after" video.
• Craft Unique Song Mashups: Blend two trending sounds together to create an original remix that catches the viewer's ear and makes them stop scrolling. It’s an effective way to participate in multiple trends at once.
• Layer Music and Sound Effects: You can add a background music track for ambience and layer specific sound effects (like a camera shutter, a gasp, or a custom voiceover) over it to highlight key moments.
• Heighten Comedic Timing: Abruptly cutting off a dramatic song with a funny, goofy track is a classic way to land a joke and surprise your audience.

Mastering this technique gives you more control over the "feel" of your content, helping your videos stand out and resonate more deeply with your viewers.

Method 1: The Professional Way for Complete Control (Using a Video Editor)

If you want to truly layer two songs so they play at the same time or create a seamless and professional-sounding transition, a third-party video editing app is your best friend. This method offers the most flexibility and is how most professional creators and social media managers build complex videos. CapCut is an excellent choice because it's free, powerful, and made by the same parent company as TikTok, making integration smooth.

Here’s the step-by-step breakdown using CapCut as an example (the process is very similar on other apps like InShot, Splice, or VN Video Editor).

Step 1: Get Your Tracks Ready

Before you start editing, you need the audio files. If you're using songs from the TikTok library, you'll need to save them. You can use a screen recorder to capture a video that has the sound you want and then extract the audio in CapCut. If you are using your own music or royalty-free tracks, simply download the MP3 files to your phone.

Step 2: Start a New Project and Add Your Video

Open CapCut and tap "New project." Select the video clip (or clips) you plan to use and add them to your timeline. Once they're imported, tap on the main video track itself. From the bottom menu, find and tap the "Volume" icon and drag the slider down to zero. This mutes the original audio so it doesn't interfere with the new music you're adding.

Step 3: Add Your First Song

Now it's time to add your base audio track. Tap the "Add audio" button located below your main video timeline. From there, you can choose several options:

• Sounds: Connect your TikTok account to access your saved sounds and other recommended tracks.
• Extracted: This option allows you to select a video from your phone, and CapCut will pull the audio from it. This is perfect for using sounds you’ve screen-recorded from TikTok.
• From device: Use this to access MP3 files you've saved directly to your phone.

Select your first song. It will appear as a new layer on the timeline beneath your video.

Step 4: Add Your Second Song and Start Layering

To add the second sound, simply repeat the process. Tap "Add audio" again. Select your second track, and it will appear on a new, separate audio layer right below the first one. You can now see both audio tracks and your main video on the timeline.

Step 5: Edit, Mix, and Trim Your Audio

With both tracks on the timeline, you can now become a DJ. Tap on either audio track to edit it. You can:

• Trim it: Drag the ends of the audio clip to shorten it or use the "Split" tool to cut it into pieces.
• Adjust Volume: Tap on an audio track and select "Volume." For layered sounds, a common practice is to keep the main song around 70-100% volume and use the second track as a quieter, atmospheric element around 10-30% volume.
• Fade In/Out: Under the "Fade" option, you can add fade-in and fade-out effects. This is fantastic for smooth transitions between two different songs. For example, you can fade out your first song as your second song begins to fade in.

Play with the positioning and volume of each track until you get the perfect mix.

Step 6: Export and Upload to TikTok (with an Algorithm Boost)

Once you’re happy with your video, export it from CapCut in high resolution (1080p is great for TikTok). Then, open TikTok and upload the video you just created.

Here’s a crucial final tip for visibility: Add a trending TikTok sound but hide it. After uploading your video, tap "Add sound," choose any popular or trending sound, and add it to your video. Now, tap the "Volume" button on the right side options. You’ll see two sliders: "Original sound" and "Added sound." Turn the "Added sound" volume all the way down to 0 or 1%, and keep your "Original sound" (your custom mix from CapCut) at 100%.

This little trick helps the TikTok algorithm categorize your video with a trending sound, potentially boosting its reach without compromising the custom audio you worked hard to create.

Method 2: The Quick and Easy In-App Way for Sequential Music

What if you don't want to layer sounds but simply want one song to play in the first part of your video and a different song to play in the second? You can easily do this right inside the TikTok app without needing any extra tools. It’s perfect for viral trends that involve a sudden beat drop or mood shift.

Here's How to Do It:

1. Upload All of Your Video Clips
   Start by opening TikTok and tapping the "+“ icon. Upload all the video clips you want to use for your video from your camera roll. Make sure they are in the correct order.
2. Open the Multi-Track Editor
   After selecting your clips, tap "Next." Instead of adding a sound right away, look for the "Edit" option in the top-right corner of the screen. Tapping this opens TikTok's video editor, which looks similar to CapCut's timeline.
3. Replace the Sound for Each Clip
   You'll see your video clips lined up in order on the timeline. Tap on the first video clip. A white box should highlight it. Now, look at the menu at the bottom of the screen, scroll to the right, and tap "Replace sound."
4. Choose and Trim Your First Song
   Find the song you want for your first clip. After selecting it, TikTok lets you trim a specific portion of the song. Choose the part you want to play during that first clip and hit "Confirm."
5. Repeat for the Second Clip
   Go back to the timeline and now tap on your second video clip. Once it's highlighted, tap "Replace sound" again and choose your second song. Trim it as needed.

That's it! You now have a video where different songs play during different segments, creating a seamless musical transition that was done entirely within the app.

Best Practices for Mixing Audio on TikTok

Whether you're using an external app or the in-app editor, keep a couple of things in mind to make sure your video sounds clean and professional.

A Note on Copyright

TikTok has agreements with music labels for the songs in its official library. If you upload a video containing copyrighted music that isn't from the library (your "Original Sound"), the audio may get muted, or the video could be taken down. To stay safe, prioritize using sounds from TikTok's Commercial Music Library for branded content or rely on royalty-free music platforms if you need something specific.

Match Audio Cuts to Visual Cuts

The most effective multi-song videos are those where the sound changes right at the moment a visual change happens. Does the song transition happen when you snap your fingers? When the scene changes? Timing this sync-up makes your video feel clean, intentional, and really satisfying for the viewer.

Watch Your Volume Levels

When layering sound, make sure your audio isn’t "clipping" or sounding distorted. If you're mixing a louder sound with a quieter one, play back on your phone speakers to ensure they're balanced. Nothing makes viewers swipe away faster than jarring, poorly mixed audio.

Final Thoughts

Learning how to add multiple songs on TikTok is a fantastic way to elevate your content, offering you more creative freedom to tell engaging stories. While the professional method of using an editor like CapCut gives you the ultimate control over layering and mixing, the in-app workaround for sequential sounds provides a quick and powerful tool for creating transition videos.

Creating standout content with custom audio takes time, and you want to ensure your hard work pays off when it comes time to post. As people who manage multiple video-heavy accounts, we found that planning our content on a visual calendar and knowing our posts will publish reliably lets us focus more on the fun stuff, like editing that perfect song mashup. We built Postbase to do just that - it’s a simple, video-first tool that helps us schedule Short-Form videos across all platforms and see our whole strategy at a glance, without the clunky feeling of a legacy platform.