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Any video editing suggestions

Space Pickle

Space Pickle

Apr 15, 2013
2,469
2,502
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Toronto, Ontario
#1
My band often gets footage shot on a cell phone on DSLR, but of course the audio sucks. I want to replace the crappy cell phone audio with better audio from my field recorder (still not great, but at least it isn't clipping all over the place).

Does anybody have a suggestion before I shell out the $200 for Adobe Premiere Elements? I was hoping to find a free software package.
 
#4
As a video editor, I would suggest that you're going to spend quite a bit of time syncing the video with the audio, since the audio is basically going to run at real time from beginning to end. Couple that with the learning curve of a video editor AND outputting something that can be shared, or distributed, to the many different platform choices, I would recommend the easiest to learn and use option- Premier Elements, though MY first choice would be FinalCut Pro if you have a Mac to work with. (Although iMovie would be a good choice for beginners on that platform too.) DaVinci Resolve is a great program, but the last time I took a serious look at it, a few years ago, it looked like it had a pretty stiff learning curve.
Just my 2 cents- PM me if you want and I'll be glad to help in any way that I can, video production has been my main occupation since the late 80's.
Here's one that I shot B-roll for in '91 or '92 I think, all the aerial shots are mine and Marty Thomas directed. We did a few video together back then, nice guy, freaky creative and a loose cannon for sure!

WARNING:NSFW

 
#5
Vegas works for me, only because my needs are simple, but it's a few hundred too IIRC. Another freebie you could try is HitFilm Express, but it's a little bit more of a learning curve - I tried most of the free stuff out there looking for a Vegas replacement, and HitFilm came the closest.

Also checkout Lightworks for their free version, but it's not an easy program to get up and running on anymore last I checked.
 
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#6
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll check out some of these programs. I did try Lightworks but it was really complicated. I ended up doing it in VSDC after some trial and error just eyeballing how the audio synced up with the picture...I have to say, I'm a bit frustrated with this whole process. I used to be on an imac with Logic and it was dead simple to import a video, delete the audio, and replace with whatever. Not sure if I'll stick with VSDC or look at some of these other software pagackes. I like the simplicity of Adobe Elements, but the method for importing audio was really convoluted.

Anyway, here's the end result. It's at least usable, but I still have a ways to go.

 
#7
cornfarmer said:
Vegas works for me, only because my needs are simple, but it's a few hundred too IIRC. Another freebie you could try is HitFilm Express, but it's a little bit more of a learning curve - I tried most of the free stuff out there looking for a Vegas replacement, and HitFilm came the closest.

Also checkout Lightworks for their free version, but it's not an easy program to get up and running on anymore last I checked.
Click to expand...
I love Vegas. It can be a lot of fun. It can also be a pain at times, but that's part of it. I do a lot of layering of video and audio tracks so a brute of a video card loaded up with ram is a plus.

One of my favorite pieces I did in Vegas was a 30 sec TV commercial for a dropzone in Panama City to be aired during spring break several years ago. Hated the name of the business, but then the owner wasn't known for being too bright. The place has since been sold, renamed, and became a successful business.

The picture borders in this actually rotate out 3 times, but most never notice because of the action in the center PIP. All footage except for the B&W intro was either shot by me or I'm actually in it. And all the pieces of footage used were shot in Georgia, Tennessee, and a little place called Borodyanka that is just west of Kyiv, Ukraine. Talk about some sketchy aircraft, glad I didn't land in any of them. When the plane mechanic smells like vodka over the smell of his stale cigar it might be time to be worried. :roflmao:

You'll also notice that the timing of several cymbal hits, guitar chords, etc... match up perfectly with actions and fades going on in the main video. That was the biggest trick to the whole project, trying to make skydiving and music seem in sync with one another.



For color and lighting correction, Vegas is pretty good at that too. This is the "Eruption" solo from an Atomic Punks show at the Saenger Theatre in Mobile that I shot. I actually had to shoot through spotlight "haze" and between the camera zoom and Vegas it cleaned up pretty good.

 
#8
My wife does an extreme amount of video work, and swears by Final Cut Pro X; the video sister to Logic Pro X.

It's expensive, but the way that it works with Logic, makes it easy for her to ask me to write small pieces of music for her projects...!

As a standalone program, apparently it is capable of pretty much anything.
 
#10
I still use Vegas too, mainly because it's about the only video editing software I've used for the last 14 years or so and it's what I'm familiar with. It's definitely enhanced by the additional third party video effects plugins included in the Vegas Suite version.

It does have its quirks. Every few years I have to pay to upgrade to the newest version since it seems to get broken by new Windows versions to a greater degree than most of my other software does (Adobe CS5, for example, still works a decade later for me on Win10 just like it did on WinXP). And it seems like every time I turn around, my Quicktime install gets hosed by an automatic Windows update, causing Vegas renders to abort with an error message, and I have to re-install Quicktime again.
 
#11
I
tfer said:
My wife does an extreme amount of video work, and swears by Final Cut Pro X; the video sister to Logic Pro X.

It's expensive, but the way that it works with Logic, makes it easy for her to ask me to write small pieces of music for her projects...!

As a standalone program, apparently it is capable of pretty much anything.
Click to expand...

I second this since I have both Logic Pro X and Final cut Pro X. It's super simple to get used to and works wonders. However, I got it for a fraction of the cost since my brother was attending University and we used his ID for apple's student discount. It also came with other programs that Ive never used.
 
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#13
Space Pickle said:
My band often gets footage shot on a cell phone on DSLR, but of course the audio sucks. I want to replace the crappy cell phone audio with better audio from my field recorder (still not great, but at least it isn't clipping all over the place).

Does anybody have a suggestion before I shell out the $200 for Adobe Premiere Elements? I was hoping to find a free software package.
Click to expand...
DSLR you should be able to add a better mic connected to the hot shoe. As for the cell phone, it must be a cheap one. The Samsungs and Motorolas have excellent audio. Samsung records in stereo. The iPhone has a mic that can be attached.
 

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