Speaker 1: If you're looking to upgrade your editing for your YouTube videos, and some of the best softwares are Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro.

Speaker 2: I've actually been a Premiere Pro user for about 15 years now,

Speaker 1: and I've been using Final Cut Pro for nine years. And so today we're going head to head to find out which is the better editing software. You got to just press record.

Speaker 2: Hey, what is up? It is Omar and Nolan with Think Media, and we're all about helping you build your influence here on YouTube. And so we talk about the best tips and tools, whether that be cameras, audios and lighting, as well as editing videos just like this one. So if you're new here, consider subscribing. Now, as we break down these two editing softwares, we're going to look at a lot of things. We're going to look at price, features, kind of ease of use. But there's definitely something to note in regards to the filter we are seeing all of this information through, and that is through the lens of YouTube. You know, both softwares are incredible, you know, as a professional standpoint goes, but they're also awesome for editing YouTube videos. So let's jump into the first thing, which is price.

Speaker 1: Now, this is one of the big differences when it comes to the two programs, and it just depends on what you're going for. I prefer the way that Final Cut Pro does this, which is a $300 one time fee. So you buy the app and it's yours for life, which is nice. But that's not the case with Premiere Pro.

Speaker 2: So as far as Premiere Pro goes, it's more or less a subscription model. There is no one time fee. They used to do that. But the once a month fee is $31.50. However, you could save about $11 by just paying a year upfront. And so for $240 a year, which comes out to around $21 a month, you can get Premiere Pro and all the upgrades that would come during that time if you were subscribed to Adobe Premiere Pro.

Speaker 1: When it comes down to it, if you want to do YouTube over the long haul and really commit to YouTube, then buying something like Final Cut Pro is the way to go versus doing a monthly plan that's just going to end up costing a lot more money in the long run.

Speaker 2: Yeah, but I would say that as we talk through some of the features and the bigger picture of what could be useful for you to justify that, you know, monthly costs, I'm sure you'll be able to get that out of the next few sections.

Speaker 1: Now, what kind of computers can you edit with these programs on? Of course, with Final Cut Pro, this is owned by Apple. It's an Apple product. And so you can only edit on Mac products. So I have an M1 MacBook Pro, and that's what I edit Final Cut Pro on. And it runs really, really well. And I know, Omar, you have a Apple computer as well, but you use Premiere Pro.

Speaker 2: Right. So I have a M1 Mac Mini as well as a M1 Mac Air. I kind of went all in with the M1 setup. But Premiere Pro is actually cross-compatible in the sense that you don't need an Apple computer to actually use Adobe Premiere. And you can use a PC. And so that's really one edge that Premiere has on top of Final Cut is that you don't need a Mac system to be able to do that. And here at Think Media, we have multiple editors and creators. And because some of us have Macs, some of us have custom built PCs. All we have to do is send over Premiere files and we can actually, you know, collaborate on workflows and things like that. So that's kind of like an upside when it comes to compatibility. If you're a PC user, then Final Cut's kind of out the question. But if you have a Mac, you know, they have truly optimized the editing software Final Cut to be used with a Mac. So that's just something to take into consideration that if you are PC, you probably just want to go Premiere.

Speaker 1: Now, when we talk about the ease of use, growing up in high school, I was actually using Premiere Pro to edit some of the videos. And it was so overwhelming to me as a new editor because it is like a professional editing software. And what I ended up doing is I had an iMac at home and I was using iMovie and it was really, really easy to use. And I learned it and I learned everything I could do. And I really pushed the limits of iMovie. And eventually I got Final Cut Pro 10. And it was a really easy step up because you kind of have everything the same. You just have a bit more tools to work with. And that's something unique, I think, about and especially since iMovie is free and you can upgrade to that Final Cut Pro 10 once you're ready for that. And it makes it a really easy step to learn editing. Whereas Premiere Pro, it's like just jumping into the deep end and you just got to learn how to edit inside of this software. I know that they do have some like mobile apps and stuff like that. But can you touch on that, Omar? Is that like a good way to get started? Or do you just recommend that people get started in Premiere Pro and they go on YouTube, they watch some tutorials? You know, we have some we'll leave links in the description. But what do you recommend when it comes to actually learning the software?

Speaker 2: Now, I think regardless of whatever program you look to choose and invest in, you should invest your time into learning. And so I definitely think there are some ways, you know, I mean, I think I'm a little jaded because I've been using Adobe Premiere Pro for quite some time. And so Final Cut seems hard to me because I have to learn it. But, you know, definitely investing your time in learning the software and the basics by a course on the basics. You know, search YouTube for tutorials. That's how I've actually gotten proficient in editing. Generally speaking is simply when I run into a problem or if I think I can do something faster, I go to YouTube University. I search my question and then I find a tutorial on it. And then usually it sticks from there.

Speaker 1: So coming up, I'm going to talk about some of the things that we love about Final Cut and Premiere Pro, as well as some of the things that we don't really like and we wish they would improve on. But first, I wanted to thank our sponsor, Epidemic Sound.

Speaker 2: When creating videos, it's definitely important to know that your video can have a vibe or a mood to it. You know, we like to put nice hip hop music at the bottom of our videos. And Epidemic makes it easy to find some good songs to help you vibe out. While you're watching some of our videos, you know, you completely remove those things and you remove things like sound effects and your video edit could be a little stale. So that's why I love Epidemic. It makes it really easy to find the kind of mood and feel that you're going for with your videos.

Speaker 1: Dude, one of the hardest things about editing when it comes to like creating a good edit is finding the right song. I can spend so long trying to find the right song. So one of the things that I love about Epidemic is their albums. And you can go in and you can find different albums that have really cool music to search from. And you can go through there, find the right song, and then you can actually look up similar tracks. And this is going to give you even more songs that match that vibe you're going for. That's just one of the many things that I love about Epidemic Sound. And if you want to get 30 days for free, go to Think Media Sounds dot com or check the link down in the description. Let's get back into the video.

Speaker 2: Now, before we talk about what we don't like about these softwares, we want to talk about what we love. And for Premiere Pro as a user, I definitely love the simplicity of it. I do think it's simple. It may not look simple, but you can it can be as simple as you want it. And like I kind of mentioned before, you can get as complex as you want as well to customize your experience when using it. So things like custom shortcuts on your keyboard or things like that, as well as assets on the Internet, because Premiere has been around a little bit longer, there's such a huge wide range of assets and plugins, whether that be transitions or, you know, moving text and things like that, which actually a lot of these things make editing easier in Premiere Pro and quicker. And so I think in that sense, it's kind of a thing I love about Premiere Pro that it's never too hard to find a plugin or something like that. But Nolan, what do you love about Final Cut Pro?

Speaker 1: Well, I hate to do this to you, but I'm going to have to argue with you a little bit. This is a versus. And so here comes the battle. But I obviously think Final Cut Pro is better. I do feel like it is faster to edit inside of Final Cut Pro. But honestly, what we might need to do is make another video where we like edit the same video and it's a challenge and we see who can finish the video faster. And then the loser gets pied in the face. I don't know. Well, maybe put it in the comments. Let us know if you want to see that. And what does the what happens to the loser? Maybe the comments will decide. But honestly, I feel like I can edit so fast inside of Final Cut Pro and I just know it inside and out. And so I love that for editing YouTube videos,

Speaker 2: which kind of does bring up what I don't love about Premiere Pro. And that is that it is a steeper learning curve. I've just found a lot of more beginners like Final Cut when people who've tried both. And so that's just something that I'm not hugely a fan of when it comes to Premiere. I don't know what they can do to do that. I'm just I'm I'm too jaded because I'm too deep. But the second thing is the render speeds and the workflow. Like mentioned earlier, Final Cut is a native software to Apple computers. And so, you know, as more advanced cameras come out and 4K, 10 bit and 8K, this and the other, you know, you're not going to have too much of an issue scrubbing through your footage. Whereas Premiere in my 15 years, I've always struggled with a little bit of like.

Speaker 1: Well, it's funny because especially with these M1 chips inside of the new computers, it is so fast to transcode media. So if you want to make proxies or if you want to export a video like it is so fast. And I love that about Final Cut Pro. Another thing that I love about Final Cut is it's evolving. So they're adding things to it, little things, not like major changes, but they're definitely adding things to it that make it better so that it's a better editing software. And yes, there are some things missing that we'll get into that I wish they had, but they are continuing to update and make it even better, which I love. Now, as far as the things that I don't like, and maybe, Omar, you can touch on if Premiere Pro has these things. But like one of the things that I wish Final Cut Pro had is more effects and more transitions and text effects, stuff like this. You have to get certain plugins if you want to do some really cool stuff in Final Cut Pro. And yes, those cost money sometimes. And I don't like that you have to spend more money on a program just to get some really cool effects. For example, if you want to do like a zoom in, transition, zoom out or certain text things like you have to get plugins and that kind of sucks. It's really easy to install. And so I'll give them that. And I like that. But I feel like there's just more cool things that you can do inside of Premiere Pro than you can do inside of Final Cut.

Speaker 2: Yes. Similar in Adobe, you can get assets and plugins and things like that. However, they do supply you with a kind of a library of things that you can use from the get go that are free, that are integrated. So but I would say maybe is limited, because if you want to get more on the professional side of things, you do have to invest or get it somewhere on the Internet. Right.

Speaker 1: And a good example I can think of is like LUTs for color grading. You have some inside of Premiere Pro that you can use that are really nice. Whereas in Final Cut Pro, they don't give you any. You have to go and download them online. And there's a lot of free ones and good ones out there that you can buy. And then another thing would be like key frames inside of Final Cut Pro. If you want to like do a scale effect, there's just some weird things that are happening. Again, you need to buy a plugin to fix this weird like scale issue. But overall, I love Final Cut. These cons definitely are not making me want to go and switch to Premiere Pro. I love editing and Final Cut. But those are some things to think about.

Speaker 2: Now, as far as which one you need to go with, I'm just going to be straight up and honest because I'm an honest person. I don't like to lie. If you're just starting out and you have an Apple computer, get Final Cut. It's just going to work so much smoother with the, you know, whatever camera you have or if you've been editing smartphone footage. It'll just be so much faster to edit and so much faster to render. Now, if you have a PC, you obviously cannot get Final Cut. But there is something to think about if you really are committing to YouTube, you know, you know, buying a M1 MacBook at around a thousand bucks and a three hundred dollar program right up front. And you never have to make that investment again. It's not a bad, you know, investment being that your iPhone or your smartphone was probably the same price. And so I think that's another plus side about Final Cut. You don't have to worry about reoccurring fees. I do think if you are thinking really wide and big and broad that because Premiere Pro is cross platform and you have maybe multiple editors or something, you know, there's sometimes entrepreneurs that watch our videos that is getting into content creation. I know people that have editors and content creators for a personality. Then Premiere Pro is actually great for that sense. But if you're just a solo creator, man, Final Cut, in my opinion, seems to be definitely the better option to go if you're a beginner.

Speaker 1: Omar, I totally agree with you, especially in investing with a MacBook, because if you get a Mac, you get iMovie installed for free on that computer and you can start editing right away without the initial cost of buying another editing program. And then it's going to prep you for when it's time to invest in Final Cut. You can do that and it's going to be a really easy step into that software. One thing I do like about Premiere Pro that I would tell to an editor is if you want to do YouTube and like make some really cool professional videos and even use something like After Effects or even get hired to work on a team. A lot of people when they're using big teams are using Premiere Pro for the reasons that you mentioned. You know, just so easy to send projects off to another editor, have them finish it up. And this is something that I would tell an editor if they're really wanting to learn Premiere Pro and After Effects and all of the ecosystem of Photoshop that goes into that, it's actually really valuable, especially if you want to get hired as an editor or graphic designer. And another thing that I want you guys to hear is that both of these programs are really, really good. And a lot of professional editors are using both of these programs. So if you choose Final Cut Pro, don't feel bad that you don't have Premiere Pro and vice versa. Both of these are going to get the job done. And really, it comes down to storytelling and how you use these programs to edit your YouTube videos.

Speaker 2: Yeah, Nolan, I agree. But, you know, when it comes to editing, there are some principles you can apply regardless of what software you're using. And in this video, you're going to learn some of those principles. So if you're editing on your smartphone or if you're using another software, you can level up your videos. So click or tap the screen and we'll see you in another video.