I haven't quite got my head round After Effects entirely yet, but is it possible to lock an effect attribute (such as brightness) to the sound level? For example, on a music clip as the sound peaks can the brightness flare out? It's probably a job for meticulous keyframing, but before I launch into that I'm just checking if there's any shortcuts. Cheers.

You'll have to just time your effect to the music. AE is pretty flexible, though - you just have to tell it to brighten at the same time the music starts to flare up, and you should get the result you want. If the brighten is more of an animation - as in it will automatically get brighter and brighter without you doing anything - you can just start it at the same time, and then you won't have to do all those painstaking keyframes .

Keyframes are easy when you get used to them - but they start out as a major pain in the you-know-where

Good luck.

Sony TRV950