AhaSlides' sound just got refreshed — here's the story behind it

Migrated from the old AhaSlides community — Originally posted by AhaSlides Team on 7 April 2026 · view the original


Every brand has a look. The best ones also have a sound.

Think about the products you actually remember. The startup sound of a console you grew up with. The three-note chime that tells you a call just ended. The satisfying ding when something goes right. Sound isn’t decoration — it’s how a product feels. It’s the layer that tells you, even before you think about it, what kind of experience you’re in.

AhaSlides has always had sound. FX for interactions, music for quizzes. It worked. But stock audio is stock audio — the same countdown exists in a dozen other tools, the same lobby track plays somewhere else tonight. It doesn’t belong to anything.

We wanted something that belongs to us. So we rebuilt everything from scratch, with a real artist, as a proper sonic identity for AhaSlides.

What changed, and why it matters

*Every sound effect and quiz background track has been rebuilt from the ground up — not relicensed, but newly made for AhaSlides.

Sound effects now cover the full arc of a live session — button clicks, answer reveals, countdowns, leaderboard moments, confetti, applause. The goal wasn’t more sounds. It was to make each one feel right: a countdown that builds suspense, a leaderboard reveal that earns the reaction, a correct answer that lands with real satisfaction.

Quiz background music now comes in distinct moods — focused, energetic, suspenseful — so you can set the right atmosphere for the moment, not just fill silence. Each track sits cleanly in the background without pulling focus, but carries enough personality to sound like it came from somewhere specific.

You stay in control in the editor: toggle sound on or off, adjust volume, and choose your background track before the session starts. Once you’re live, you can still turn sound off or adjust the volume on the fly.

All preset FX and music are free for every user. Custom music upload is available on Pro plans and above.

The person behind the sound

This didn’t come from a prompt or a playlist. It came from one person: Nhật Nguyễn — a music producer and sound designer whose work spans pop, R&B, hip-hop, EDM, and cinematic scoring, with over 12 years across commercial releases, mobile apps, and games.

You may already know his work: Túy Âm with Masew and Xesi (2017), Quân A.P’s You Are My Crush (2018), Captain Boy’s Rolling Down (2023). Listen more of his production work

We didn’t hand him a brief and a library. We handed him a challenge: make something that sounds like AhaSlides, and only AhaSlides.

For the sound effect, the goal was emotional precision — every FX had to match the weight of the action, not just signal that it happened. For the quiz music, the goal was identity — tracks distinctive enough to be recognizable over time, pulling from cinematic, pop, country, and electronic production to match different session moods.

In his own words:

“Sound and music don’t just sit in the background — they draw the personality of a project. Every sound effect has to feel right for the action, and more importantly, trigger the right emotion at the right moment. I hope every time a track like ‘Focus’ or ‘Professional’ plays, it reminds someone of a moment that actually meant something to them.”


This is what above and beyond sounds like

Sound is now a real layer of the AhaSlides experience — not a checkbox, not an afterthought. It’s the thing that makes a spinner landing feel like a moment, a leaderboard reveal feel like an event, and a quiet focus track feel like the room is ready.

That’s the standard we hold ourselves to. And now, it sounds like it.


Set it up for your next session

Want to choose the right background track, configure your sound settings, or learn what’s available on each plan? Our knowledge base walks you through everything.

Read the setup guide

Try it in your next session — it’s free

Originally posted by swaha on 14 April 2026

The sound was an important part of the atmosphere of quizzes. The blog post says that "Quiz background music now comes in distinct moods — focused, energetic, suspenseful " but the options given (celebration, thrill etc) don’t really match these words. They don’t have the same atmosphere as the previous tunes and don’t match the excitement of a quiz. The default is now silence and the difference is quite striking when running a quiz. Also if sound has to be set for each quiz this is labourous for a previously set up long quiz and takes more preparation time. It’s great that you add new features but I wish you’d kept the old one on and given the option to change rather than a blanket no sound for every question until a less superior one is chosen to replace it. I understand why you want to create a bespoke sound but there is nothing to match the quality of the old tune.

Reply from Nathan Tran (AhaSlides team) on 15 April 2026

Hi, thanks for your thoughtful feedback. We really appreciate it.

We understand how important the background music is for creating the right quiz atmosphere, and it’s disappointing to hear the new options don’t match the energy of the previous default. We also hear your concern about the extra effort needed to set music for each quiz.

Your suggestion to keep the original track as an option alongside the new ones makes a lot of sense. I will share your feedback with our product team for consideration.

Thanks again for helping us improve.

Originally posted by swaha on 15 April 2026

Thank you for your message Nathan.
I spent some time attempting to add music to each of my quiz slides. As you acknowledged music is really important for the atmosphere.
As you also acknowledged none of the choices match the energy of the previous music which created competitive spirit and excitement. The music needs to inspire a deadline and urgency and none of the current new choices are really applicable or fit the atmosphere of a quiz.
The new option to add music means that the music continues to run even when the quiz stops which makes it really hard to debrief while the music continutes to play and it also overplays the final countdown beeps. If I use the mute option - not only does this create additional steps for the presenter but the sudden stop in the music mid flow sounds really unnatural. I then have to unmute to run the next quiz.
I think that ahaslides is brilliant, the features and usability to date is exceptional, but this latest development which was introduced without warning or choice appears not to have been thought properly through by someone who runs quizzes in practice and I’d strongly recommend providing an option to reverse to the previous default until this is properly implemented with suitable and relevant music choices.