Speaker 1: What's the best video editing software for YouTube videos, whether you're a beginner or you just want to know the best video editor possible. And also, we're going to cover why Nate, our Think Media video editor, decided to leave Premiere Pro to go to DaVinci Resolve. We're going to talk about why I still use Final Cut Pro, but why I'm probably going to end up leaving Final Cut for a different editor. But first, I want to know for a beginner out there, maybe for someone who has never edited a video in their life or they're just getting started, a little bit of experience, what should they use?

Speaker 2: I think this is a great question. I think when you're starting out, you should use the simplest program out there. So probably something like iMovie or even CapCut is a great way to get started. Kind of learn the principles of editing first before you're too concerned about which particular editing software. But we will get into those later.

Speaker 1: I also think like people who are getting started in editing, it's really easy to get overwhelmed with so much. And so that's what I like about. iMovie is it's very simple. And so if you just need to kind of trim your clips, maybe reorder a few things, you can add in some B-roll text music and like that can get you very far. And that's how I started. My journey was using iMovie and I used that for so long and I ended up like maxing it out. And so then I moved over to Final Cut Pro and it was a very easy switch. So if you are a Mac user, you know, editing on an iPhone, I love iMovie just because of how simple it is. CapCut, however, which you mentioned, is available on all devices and there's a lot more you can do with it. But they also do a great job of like there's a ton of features, but they make it very simple for beginners. You know, when you open up Instagram and you can like do a face filter or like track text to your, you know, shirt or something like it's just you click one button. It does the work for you. That's kind of how CapCut is. It feels kind of like it's meant for social media. If you're a beginner, I lean more towards CapCut because I just think it's better.

Speaker 2: I agree with you. I would think even just like if you're getting started, like you can download CapCut on your phone, start there. As you get a little bit more comfortable, you can have CapCut on your computer. So it's a very easy transition.

Speaker 1: I know people want to know, like, what's the best one possible? Because I want to cover the the top four editing programs out there that we would consider the best for YouTube, which would be Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve and CapCut. So talk to me about why you left Premiere Pro to DaVinci Resolve. Do you hate Premiere Pro now? Do you wish you could go back to it? What are your thoughts on those two programs?

Speaker 2: So I got started with iMovie on my phone and then kind of messed around with Final Cut when I started working in, you know, commercial editing. Basically, the go to tool was Premiere Pro. Some of the problems I had with Premiere Pro was it would always crash. That's something you don't want to do on a daily basis with Resolve. They have built it and integrated it so well, especially with the new Mac M1 computers that even if it crashes,

Speaker 1: which is very rare, which what would be like Premiere Pro? How many times did it crash?

Speaker 2: I mean, it's it could be a daily thing on some projects whenever Adobe decides to act up way more. Another great thing about DaVinci Resolve is that everything is kind of within the same program. So on Premiere Pro, you'd have to send like if you want to do motion graphics, you have to send it out to After Effects and then round trip it back in, which can be a hassle on Resolve. Everything's right there. So you can do your motion graphics, any text right inside Resolve, color grading it. You have a lot of control within Resolve and professional editors use this. You know, Hollywood uses DaVinci Resolve. So it's a great tool if you really want to learn editing and, you know, make this like a profession. I think it's a great tool to get started. And, you know, you can get the free version, learn that, and then eventually get the studio version if you need a little bit extra things.

Speaker 1: That's a really cool thing, though, is they have the free versions. And then a difference to just in pricing would be DaVinci Resolve. If you just want to pay a one time fee or if you end up buying a Blackmagic camera, you get it for free. But if you want to pay for it, you can pay for it. Whereas Premiere Pro, you know, it's a monthly cost. You save money using DaVinci Resolve. But I actually feel like from an outside perspective, I'd love to hear your thoughts. I feel like it's more powerful than Premiere Pro. There's very professional tools in there, a bit more of a learning curve, in my opinion, than something like for sure than CapCut or even Final Cut. But like there's more that you're capable of doing in there. What are some of those things that for YouTube videos that you maybe use frequently? Are there effects, transitions, text options, subtitles? Like what are kind of some of your go to things in DaVinci Resolve that maybe are better than Premiere Pro?

Speaker 2: So Resolve has a great auto caption feature. So basically, if you want to transcribe your audio and just either generate subtitles or captions for your videos, it will automatically do that. And it takes like a few seconds and it's automatically generated. You can go in and customize it however you see fit. So that's extremely useful for YouTube videos. I also like to use the magic mask feature, which basically I can select you. And basically, if I want to put text behind you or change the background, I can isolate you and then change the background, put text right behind you. So that's another cool feature I use from time to time for, you know, if I want to add a little bit more spice into the YouTube videos.

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Speaker 2: Well, I was super impressed with CapCut because some of those effects you just talked about are very resource intensive on your computer. And CapCut did those things instantly. Resolve can't even do that, which blew my mind. And honestly, I want to try CapCut.

Speaker 1: Yeah. So even though you are liking DaVinci Resolve more than Premiere Pro, are there certain things that you like about Premiere Pro? Because there are a ton of YouTube editors use Premiere Pro. And so we might get some hate comments here for like Premiere Pro is awesome. You like DaVinci Resolve more. And that's your experience with the two. But what are some things maybe in Premiere Pro that are benefits or the pros of that?

Speaker 2: So what I feel like Adobe is doing really good is they're really leaning into AI. So I haven't had too much experience using those AI tools. There's like integrations with Autopod. So if you do podcasting, Autopod basically cuts your podcast for you, which is, you know, super useful. And you might just solely want to go Premiere if you're doing that.

Speaker 1: Gotcha. Let's talk about Final Cut and CapCut as well. Yeah. And I've used Premiere Pro in the past. I just found that Final Cut Pro seemed so much easier to use. So if you're someone watching this and you want the best, easiest thing to use, I think Final Cut or CapCut would be the one to go to. However, with Final Cut Pro, there's like certain things that you think they should have and they don't. So even like auto captions, they don't have it. You have to get a plug in for that. And they're very slow to roll out updates. Like so there's not like much AI integration. There's just certain things that they're lacking. So I found to make the best use out of Final Cut Pro for YouTube videos, you need like motion VFX, you need certain plug ins. And that's really a pain because that costs extra money. So even though Final Cut Pro is a one time fee, I find myself like wanting to if I want to do a background remover type of thing, you can do that. But you need like a hundred dollar plug in. And I'm like, that's a bummer, especially when CapCut is doing it for free. Now, we've been using CapCut just a little bit more here and there. And we aren't experts in CapCut. But what I love about CapCut is it really feels like it's closing that gap between professional video editors and like beginners just getting started. They're making really cool edits possible and very easy to accomplish. I feel like they're moving into the right direction for being the best editor for social media. Whereas, like you mentioned, a lot of the traditional softwares out there, just I feel like they're slow. They're like dinosaurs. Yeah. Yeah. That's how it feels when you open up CapCut and play with it. They just feel like they're so that that excites me. I don't know if I could say it's the best. But if I if I had more time with it, I could almost say it's the best. If I had to choose just one software right now in 2024, I'd say CapCut.

Speaker 2: I think I would agree if you're getting started and you maybe you're not trying to be an editor, but you just want to edit good YouTube videos. I think CapCut is probably the way to go. If you're trying to be an editor, you probably do want to lean towards Premiere or Resolve and really dive in and know that. But if you're not trying to be an editor, just get something easy

Speaker 1: like CapCut. And that's one thing to consider, too, is are you wanting to edit for the rest of your life? Are you wanting to edit for six months or a year on your YouTube channel and then hire a video editor over time? And it's like, well, no, you know, I don't think you need to learn. DaVinci Resolve, there's a much larger learning curve there. And so it's like if you know you're kind of doing this to pass it off because you don't like editing. It's like don't even try and learn Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve. Like use something that's easy. And then eventually you can just pass it off to a video editor and let them use whatever they want to use.

Speaker 2: I completely agree.

Speaker 1: No matter what program you decide to use, though, if you really want to become a great YouTube video editor that helps your videos get more views, you really have to kind of follow some of the editing theory and best practices. And a lot of people make editing mistakes in their videos that we talked about in this video on the screen. So if you guys want to check out this conversation I have with Nate to talk about how to edit your YouTube videos better than click on the screen. We'll see you guys in the next one.