How to Add Song Titles to a DJ Mix Video (Complete SRT Tutorial 2026)

Why Add Song Titles to Your Mix Video?

Viewers watching DJ mix videos on YouTube always want to know what is playing. Pinning a tracklist in the comments works, but it forces people to pause, scroll, and search. A far better approach is to show the song name directly on screen, fading in as each track starts and out as the next one drops.

This single change typically increases watch time by 20–40 percent for music videos. Viewers stay engaged because they can identify what they like without leaving the video. They also share more often because the social value of "I just heard this track" is immediate when the title is visible.

This is exactly what an SRT subtitle file does — and it takes minutes to set up once you have the file. This guide walks through every editor option, the styling choices that look professional, and how to handle the edge cases that most tutorials skip.

What an SRT File Actually Looks Like

Before diving into editors, understand what you are working with. An SRT (SubRip Subtitle) file is a plain text file with this structure:

```

1

00:00:00,000 --> 00:04:32,000

DJ Intro — Original Edit

2

00:04:32,000 --> 00:09:15,000

Sunset Avenue — Marc Mitchell

3

00:09:15,000 --> 00:13:48,000

Heat of the Night — Eli Vasquez

```

Each entry has:

1. A sequence number

2. Start and end timestamps in HH:MM:SS,mmm format

3. The text to display

You can open an SRT file in any text editor and edit it manually. This matters because 45 Mix Trackr generates the file automatically, but you may need to fix or add entries for tracks it could not identify.

Step 1: Generate Your SRT File

The easiest way is to use 45 Mix Trackr, which identifies every song in your mix and generates a ready-to-use SRT file automatically.

1. Upload your mix (MP3, MP4, WAV, M4A up to 50 MB)

2. Wait 2–5 minutes while the songs are identified

3. Download the ZIP — it contains your SRT file and all album cover artwork

The SRT file includes the song name and artist for every recognized track, with timestamps matching exactly when each song starts in your mix.

What to do for unidentified sections

If the tool could not identify some tracks (common for unreleased dubplates or rare vinyl), open the SRT file in a text editor and add entries manually. Use the same format and renumber the sequence:

```

5

00:21:30,000 --> 00:26:45,000

[Unknown — White Label]

```

This keeps the subtitle track continuous so viewers always see something on screen.

Step 2: Import into Your Video Editor

The exact steps differ slightly between editors. Below are detailed instructions for the four most popular video editing programs.

DaVinci Resolve (Free Version Works)

DaVinci Resolve is the most powerful free editor and handles SRT files natively.

1. Open your DaVinci Resolve project and switch to the Edit page

2. Drag the .srt file from your file browser directly into the Media Pool

3. Drag the subtitle clip from the Media Pool onto the timeline above your video track

4. The subtitles appear automatically — DaVinci places each title at the correct timestamp

5. Click on a subtitle in the timeline to access the Inspector panel

6. Customize:

- Font (try Bebas Neue, Montserrat, or Helvetica)

- Size (36–60 pt at 1080p)

- Position (lower-third or bottom-center)

- Color (white with a subtle black outline reads best)

7. Apply to all subtitles: right-click the subtitle track header → Track Style → Set as Default

Adobe Premiere Pro

Premiere's caption workflow has improved significantly in recent versions.

1. File → Import and select your .srt file

2. The file appears in your Project panel as a caption sequence

3. Drag it onto the timeline above your video — a caption track creates automatically

4. Open the Essential Graphics panel to style:

- Font and size

- Background fill (optional — a semi-transparent dark bar improves readability)

- Position on screen

5. Save as a Master Style to apply consistently across all upcoming projects

Final Cut Pro (macOS Only)

1. File → Import → Captions

2. Select your .srt file — FCP imports each subtitle at its exact timestamp

3. The captions appear connected to your video in the timeline

4. Click any caption to access styling in the Inspector

5. Common adjustments: increase font size to 48 pt at 1080p, change color, add drop shadow

CapCut (Mobile and Desktop)

CapCut does not import SRT files directly on mobile but works on desktop:

Desktop:

1. Open your project and click the Text icon

2. Click Auto Captions → Import Captions and select your .srt file

3. Style with the built-in caption presets

Mobile workaround:

Open the SRT file in a text editor and use it as a reference. Manually add text overlays at each timestamp using CapCut's text tool. Time-consuming but works for short mixes.

Step 3: Style Your Song Titles Like a Pro

The default subtitle styling looks like a YouTube auto-caption — not what you want for a music video. Here are the styling choices that look professional.

Typography

• Font: Bold sans-serif like Bebas Neue, Anton, Montserrat Black, or Helvetica Bold
• Size: 40–60 pt at 1080p resolution (scales to 60–90 pt at 4K)
• Weight: Bold or black — light fonts disappear on bright video sections
• Line spacing: 1.2× the font size for two-line titles

Color and Contrast

• Primary text: Pure white (#FFFFFF) for maximum contrast on any background
• Drop shadow or stroke: 2 px black outline ensures readability against light backgrounds
• Optional background: 60 percent opacity dark rectangle behind text adds polish without distraction

Position

• Lower-third (about 80 percent down the frame) is the convention for music videos
• Lower-left if your video has a centered subject (like your face)
• Lower-center for symmetrical compositions

Always leave the bottom 10 percent of the frame free for YouTube's own UI overlays.

Animation

A subtle fade-in/fade-out makes each title feel intentional rather than abrupt:

• DaVinci Resolve: enable Fade Up/Fade Down in the Inspector
• Premiere Pro: use the Title Animation preset
• Final Cut Pro: add a Fade In/Out via the Animations dropdown

Keep fade duration short (0.3–0.5 seconds). Anything longer feels sluggish.

Step 4: Upload to YouTube (and Bonus: Use the SRT as Captions Too)

After exporting your video with burned-in subtitles, you can also upload the SRT file separately as YouTube closed captions. This gives you two layers of benefit:

1. Visible song titles baked into the video — visual experience

2. Searchable captions in YouTube's transcript — SEO benefit

How to upload the SRT as captions:

1. In YouTube Studio, open your uploaded video

2. Go to Subtitles

3. Click Add language → English (or your language)

4. Click Add → Upload file → With timing

5. Select your .srt file

6. Click Save

YouTube indexes the caption text, which means searches for "Sunset Avenue Marc Mitchell" can surface your mix video — even though the song title is not in the description or title.

Common Problems and Fixes

Problem 1: Subtitles appear offset from the actual music

This happens if you added an intro to your video (logo, fade in) but the SRT file was generated from just the audio.

Fix: Shift every timestamp in the SRT file forward by the length of your intro. In most editors, you can also drag the entire subtitle track later on the timeline to align.

Problem 2: Subtitles disappear during loud bass sections

Subtitle rendering can have lower priority than other effects. If you applied a heavy color grade or filter, subtitles may appear washed out.

Fix: Add a subtle drop shadow (1–2 px, 50 percent opacity) or move subtitles above any filters in the track order.

Problem 3: Two song titles overlap during transitions

The SRT file has back-to-back entries. When you blend two tracks for 30 seconds, the subtitle abruptly switches mid-blend.

Fix: Manually adjust the end time of the first subtitle to extend slightly into the blend, or use crossfades between subtitle entries.

Problem 4: SRT file timing does not match a re-edited video

If you cut sections out of your mix after generating the SRT, the timestamps no longer align.

Fix: Re-export the edited mix as a new file, upload to 45 Mix Trackr again, and generate a new SRT. The tool runs fingerprinting on the actual audio, so it always produces correct timing for the file you upload.

Making Titles Readable on a Phone

Most DJ mix watch time happens on a phone, often with the video at a quarter of the screen while something else is going on. Titles that look generous on a 27-inch editing monitor become unreadable at that size, and this is the single most common reason song titles fail to do their job.

Size from the frame, not from the timeline. Set your title text to at least 3.5 percent of the frame height. On a 1080p export that is roughly 38 px; on 4K, about 76 px. Below that, thin weights start to disintegrate on a phone screen.

Stay inside the safe area. Keep titles within the middle 90 percent of the frame horizontally and clear of the bottom 12 percent. YouTube's progress bar, timestamp and mobile UI chrome all live along the bottom edge, and they will cover a title placed there whenever the viewer taps the screen.

Contrast beats color. A drop shadow or a semi-transparent dark plate behind the text survives any background. Pure white text over a bright visualizer disappears entirely — and a mix video's background is the one thing that changes constantly.

Test the way people watch. Export a 30-second sample, upload it as unlisted, and watch it on your own phone held at normal distance. This takes two minutes and catches nearly every legibility mistake before you commit to a full export.

Quality-Checking the Tracklist Before You Export

Burned-in titles are permanent. A wrong artist name that lives in the video file forever is worse than no title at all, because it looks careless and because people will quote it back to you. Spend ten minutes on these checks before the final render.

Spot-check the transitions. Recognition is least reliable where two records overlap. Scrub to each transition point and confirm the title changes at the moment the new track actually takes over, not thirty seconds early or late.

Verify anything that surprises you. If a track you do not remember playing appears in the list, it is usually a misidentification — often a different release that shares the same sample or drum break. Search the suspect title on YouTube and listen to ten seconds of it.

Decide what to do with the gaps. Sections that came back unidentified have three reasonable treatments:

Leaving it blank is fine. Guessing is not — an incorrect credit is a real problem for the artist involved.

Check the last track. Recognition of the final segment often runs short if the mix fades out, leaving the closing title hanging on a silent outro or dropping early. It is the one timestamp almost everybody forgets to look at.

Confirm the offset once. Play the first title cue against the audio. If it is consistently a second or two off across the whole video, your editor imported the SRT against a different start point — fix the offset globally rather than nudging every caption by hand.

Pro Workflow: Match Album Art to Each Track

For maximum visual impact, combine song title subtitles with album art that changes per track. This is what high-production-value DJ mix videos do on YouTube.

Workflow:

1. Run your mix through 45 Mix Trackr — you get both an SRT and a folder of album cover images

2. In your video editor, place the album cover for the current track as a layer above your background

3. Use the SRT timestamps to animate each cover in/out at the same time as the title

4. Style the cover as a thumbnail in the corner (200×200 px) or as a full-screen visual during quieter sections

This produces a video that feels like a curated playlist with full visual identity for every track.

The Complete Workflow

Identify your mix with 45 Mix Trackr → Download SRT and album art → Import into video editor → Style subtitles → Export → Upload SRT separately as YouTube captions.

The whole process from mix to finished YouTube video typically takes under 30 minutes, and the result looks completely professional. The investment pays back in increased watch time, more shares, and stronger discovery on YouTube search.

Conclusion

Adding song titles to a DJ mix video is one of the highest-impact changes you can make to your YouTube uploads. Viewers stay longer, share more, and find your content through search. With 45 Mix Trackr generating your SRT file automatically and any major video editor importing it in seconds, there is no reason to skip this step.

If you want to learn more about how song recognition works, read What is Audio Fingerprinting?. For the broader upload strategy, see our YouTube DJ Mix Upload Checklist.