Should a product demo have background music?

Almost never. It carries no information, most viewers watch muted, and those who hear it are as likely to be irritated as charmed. The exception is a demo playing on a screen at an event, where ambient noise makes silence awkward.

When is narration worth adding?

For a flagship demo someone chose to sit through, and for training, where a voice explains what a caption cannot. Not for anything scanned, sent cold, or embedded -- nobody unmutes for a stranger.

Is a silent demo unfinished?

No. A well-captioned demo works in every context, is faster to make and is trivial to update. The feeling that it needs sound comes from comparing it to video, which is a different medium with different constraints.

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Should a Demo Have Sound?

August 25, 2026

Adding music feels like production value. It is worth starting from where a demo is actually watched: at a desk, often in an office, frequently on a phone in public, with the sound muted by default.

That single fact settles most of the question.

Music: almost never

It cannot carry information, most viewers never hear it, and the ones who do are as likely to be irritated as charmed. A demo that only works with music is a demo that does not work.

The exception is a demo playing on a screen at an event, where ambient sound covers silence in a way it does not at a desk.

Narration: sometimes, and never alone

Good for a flagship demo someone chose to sit through, and for training, where a voice explains what a caption cannot.
Bad for anything scanned, sent cold, or embedded on a page — nobody unmutes for a stranger.
Never the only carrier. If the demo is unintelligible muted, it is unintelligible to most of its audience.
Expensive to change. A caption is edited in seconds; narration is re-recorded.

Silence is a legitimate choice

A well-captioned demo needs no sound at all, works in every context, is faster to make, and is trivial to update when the product changes. That is not a compromise — it is the format doing what it is good at.

The instinct that it feels unfinished comes from comparing it to video, which is a different medium with different constraints.

If you do add narration

Keep captions as well, write per step rather than as one continuous take, and make the demo work with the sound off before recording anything. Per-step narration also means a bad line is one re-record rather than the whole thing.

On Demorta narration sits on the Growth plan at $39.99 a month, and it is worth adding to a demo you already know performs rather than to a first one.

Frequently asked questions

Should a product demo have background music?: Almost never. It carries no information, most viewers watch muted, and those who hear it are as likely to be irritated as charmed. The exception is a demo playing on a screen at an event, where ambient noise makes silence awkward.
When is narration worth adding?: For a flagship demo someone chose to sit through, and for training, where a voice explains what a caption cannot. Not for anything scanned, sent cold, or embedded -- nobody unmutes for a stranger.
Is a silent demo unfinished?: No. A well-captioned demo works in every context, is faster to make and is trivial to update. The feeling that it needs sound comes from comparing it to video, which is a different medium with different constraints.

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