Try This Music Video Color Grade in Your Videos

Music video color grading has a distinct look: high contrast, punchy colours, and a level of visual energy that makes every frame feel deliberate. The good news is you don't need a professional colorist to pull it off. Here's how to build this grade in Final Cut Pro.

What makes a music video grade different

Standard YouTube or corporate video grading aims to be neutral and flattering. Music video grading is intentionally stylised. It leans into contrast, pushes colour away from realism, and often uses split-tone shadows and highlights to create a strong visual identity. The goal isn't natural; it's impactful.

The key elements of the music video aesthetic are: crushed or deeply lifted blacks (not in-between), very saturated midtones, strong directional colour in either the highlights or shadows, and a sense that every frame was colour-conscious from the shoot itself.

Start with exposure and contrast

In your Color Board or Color Wheels, push your contrast harder than you normally would. Lift the highlights slightly to keep them bright, but crush the shadows: either take the blacks down toward pure black for a gritty feel, or lift them slightly for a more washed, cinematic feel depending on your target aesthetic. For a high-energy music video look, crushed blacks almost always read stronger on screen.

Apply an S-curve in the Color Curves panel: bring up the midpoint slightly for punchy mids, pull the shadows down, and leave the highlights where they are or push them slightly brighter. This builds the contrast foundation before any colour work.

Build the colour tone

The most common music video split-tone is cool shadows and warm highlights. It creates a cinematic depth that reads as polished and high-production. In the Color Wheels, push the shadow wheel slightly blue-green, and push the highlight wheel toward orange-amber. Keep the midtones neutral or just barely warm.

Alternatively, a teal and orange grade (pushing skin tones warm while shifting the background environment toward teal) is a proven music video formula. Use the Hue vs Hue and Hue vs Saturation curves to push background blues and greens toward teal without affecting skin.

Saturation and skin

Music video grades tend to run more saturated than standard content, but skin tones must stay controlled or they cross into looking over-processed. After setting your overall saturation, zoom into the Hue vs Saturation curve and find the orange/skin-tone hue range. Reduce saturation slightly in that range while leaving greens, blues, and cyans fully saturated. This lets the environment feel bold while keeping faces looking human.

Add texture with grain

Many music video grades use subtle film grain to add texture and prevent the footage from feeling too digital and clean. In FCP, apply the Add Noise effect from the Effects browser, keep the amount between 5 and 15%, and set it to Monochrome for a film-like appearance. This is a finishing touch, so apply it last so it sits on top of your grade rather than beneath it.