Cut a Tiny Desk AI Performance for Reels, TikTok or Shorts

Crop to the lead and check the band cut

Use a clean performance from Tiny Desk AI. For a vertical crop, check both the singer’s close-up and the widest band view. If the cut loses the instrument that answers the singer, use a wider inset or cut to a short instrument close-up instead of tracking wildly left and right.

Compare the example clips before you generate

Open the Tiny Desk examples and scrub through the clips at the approximate size your audience will see. Take a still at the opening, one at the handoff or gesture, and one near the end. Those three stills make a more useful editing plan than a cover image. The dimensions and times below describe the preview files.

The All-Loss Band (540 × 960, 20 seconds)

A team jersey can identify the lead quickly even when you have to crop for phone. Keep the first line away from the face. For your opening, look for the lead making sense at phone width. Put your own source beside the preview at phone width and check the lead’s face and the instrument reply. If the main detail is already hard to pick out in a still, compare another source or a preview with more separation before generating.

Family Band (540 × 960, 13.4 seconds)

Family Band provides another way to place the instrument in the reply shot. Try a wider picture only where the extra frame space matters. To plan the instrument reply during a vertical crop, check the frames just before and after the corresponding movement. Note which object or part of the subject first approaches the crop. Keep the last usable frame on either side as a potential trim point.

Seventies Soul (540 × 960, 18.7 seconds)

Use the seventies setup to check color under the destination app's controls. Keep the framing consistent when you switch back to the singer. Work backward from a clean export ready for separate platform audio. Find a frame that could serve as the cover or the start of the next shot. Check it at the intended viewing size. If the important detail disappears there, test the crop in the edit first.

Make the premise clear without audio

Use a short opener that identifies the group joke, then leave space around the lead’s face. Add captions only where the performance is hard to understand. Check the file with headphones for audio changes between the performance and any real reactions or voice notes you add.

Build the phone edit around the visible action

Set up a draft at the size you intend to publish. Play it once with the destination app’s controls in mind. A face can survive a center crop while the hand or prop that explains the scene falls underneath the caption or outside the frame. Put text and graphics on separate layers so you can move them without rebuilding the video. Keep a clean export in addition to the posting draft.

Try a centered close shot for the singer and an inset from the wider clip for the instrument reply. Use the same caption baseline in both. Watch without audio to check that the cut goes to the person making the next visible move, rather than a face whose role is unclear.

For this scene, make the lead’s face and the instrument reply your first check. Open the file at the same width as your draft and see which part of that detail remains clear. If the sample and your source make that check difficult, try a wider inset at the band beat and a stable caption position. Choose material you have permission to use for the finished audience. With two people in an edit, approve the sources separately and identify which shot introduces each person.

Make a vertical cut that keeps the band joke

1. Mark the first good view of the lead, the instrument reply and the last phrase. Preview the wide export before making a crop, so you know what the original edit contains.
2. Center the lead in the closest frame. At the band reply, try a wider inset or a short cutaway. Keep the caption in a stable area so it does not jump across the performer’s face.
3. Give the caption a role, such as naming the group joke or the occasion. Review the exported edit without audio and remove text that repeats what the picture already shows.
4. Save the clean file and preview it in each destination app. Confirm the music you can use, check AI disclosure and play back the handoff with the app’s overlay visible.

Two briefs you can paste into your edit notes

Use these as shot notes. For a generation, carry over the part that describes one visible action and match it to the scene already selected. Keep your text cards, edit points and soundtrack on separate tracks. This makes it easy to compare a tighter cut or a different ending without asking the model to rebuild material that already works.

First pass

Start with a clear lead at phone width. Open the crop for the instrument reply, then return to the lead. Keep the caption above the controls.

Put the first shot and its reply next to each other on the timeline. Watch until you can tell who is acting and what the other shot adds. When you have a clear sequence, bring in a line of text or the permitted audio. Set the picture rhythm first so there is room to reposition the caption later.

One focused revision

Use the same caption position in the wide reply and lead close-up. Leave room for the instrument without shrinking the singer through the entire clip.

When a narrow crop hides the instrument that answers the singer, build a second draft around a wider inset at the band beat and a stable caption position. Keep the strongest opening. Cut to a separate response or a simple end frame where the original action stops being useful. Play both drafts side by side and see which one would make sense to someone who never saw the example.

Publish from a clean export

Keep a version without a platform track so you can choose permitted audio separately for each upload. Review disclosure settings for a realistic AI performance, including TikTok’s AI guidance, Meta’s labels, and YouTube’s AI disclosure guidance.

If your funniest moment is the sax reply, keep it visible even when you crop for the singer. One edit is a centered lead close-up followed by the wider band in a vertical canvas. Check that the switch does not move the caption over the lead’s face.

What to check at the opening, action and ending

Before the action

Use the lead making sense at phone width to check the lead’s face and the instrument reply. Compare the generated frame with your source at the same viewing size. Check that the feature you care about is visible before the subject turns, the camera moves or a prop enters. If it is already missing, work on the input or framing first. A later adjustment has more to build on when the opening already looks right.

At the main beat

Around the instrument reply during a vertical crop, watch once with the picture filling the intended screen and once with a wider crop. If a narrow crop hides the instrument that answers the singer, try a wider inset at the band beat and a stable caption position. Mark the end of the useful action and see if the next shot still follows naturally. An edit can solve a timing or framing problem while preserving a performance that already works.

After the move

Find a clean export ready for separate platform audio and decide whether it is a usable final frame or a cut point. Play the full clip at normal speed with the sound muted, then turn the sound back on and play it again. The first pass tells you whether the picture explains the action. The second pass lets you hear whether music or dialogue arrives early enough to make sense without masking the reply. If an action only looks awkward when stepped through frame by frame, judge it in the actual export before rebuilding the shot.

Check the quote and prepare the finished cut

Open the Tiny Desk editor, choose the actual scene and settings, and read the quote shown before submitting. You can check Pavo AI Video pricing for plan details. After submission, use the task state to find the result. Review a completed take before starting another one. If you do need another attempt, write down the one change you are testing.

Keep a copy of the clean file, then make a posting or delivery version. Add any date, reply action or dedication as text you can move independently. Preview it on the destination screen. If the message has to travel outside the video as well, send the relevant details in the accompanying text so viewers can find them after playback.

Give the exported file one last check for the lead’s face and the instrument reply. If the shot needs another pass, keep the exported baseline so the next change is easy to judge. For a separate worked example or a more focused workflow, read Make a Tiny Desk AI Performance With Your Photo.

Common questions

Should I crop every Tiny Desk shot to 9:16?

Use a full vertical crop when the lead and important action fit. A wide inset inside a vertical canvas preserves a band reveal or instrument reply when a narrow crop would cut it out.

Which scene should I post first?

Choose the version with the clearest opening for the intended audience. A familiar group can read quickly in a simple setup. For viewers who need context, add one short opener before the performance.