Vlogging has taken the world by storm with millions of people seeking their fortune and happiness in video content creation and distribution. Seeing how well some of the YouTubers have been going about recently, itโs no wonder why the world sees a constant growth of vloggers.
For those who want to try their luck and start sharing with millions of fans around the world, here is a list of the best vlog editing software that you can use, how to use them, and why they are so good.
The Best Vlog Editing Software
Final Cut Pro X
- Type: video editor
- Required: macOS
- Size: 2.9 GB (trial)
- Price: $300, trial 90 days
- Address: www.apple.com/final-cut-pro
Final Cut Pro X, just like Logic, isnโt actually an original Apple creation. This piece of software made its first steps under the lap of the legendary company Macromedia. If the name sounds familiar to you, that shouldn’t surprise you, because it’s ONA Macromedia that has been harassing its now somewhat forgotten Flash for years, without which the Internet would have been a much more boring place twenty years ago.
The Final Cut came to be thanks to a team of people who stood behind the powerful Adobe Premiere before working for Macromedia, and they presented their alternative in 1998 when they were noticed by the great Steve Jobs. It was a period when Apple was yet to become what it had become and when they desperately needed something in the realization of the master plan to become the dominant platform for creatives.
Although they were in talks with Adobe to create a version of Premiere for Apple that would be tailored to their visions, they did not have the finances to push that story to the end. As a consolation prize, the Final Cut jumped in which passed under their skirts only a month after the presentation.
Letโs see about the program itself.
Ease of use
After starting and creating a new project, what you immediately get is to define a few things and you are ready to go. The option we like is that you are offered standard resolutions and framerates that define the project, but there is also the possibility of defining custom values. Although it used to be assumed that it was 4:3 or some wide format, today the video is made for various possible platforms. If you need a 1:1 Instagram format or maybe a vertical video or you are making a rather non-standard format for LED screens which are more and more present, here it is a few clicks away from you.
Once you have defined the parameters, you will be greeted by an extremely clear workspace. Even someone who has absolutely no experience with this kind of software can truly catch the strings very quickly and instead of dealing with technology, and start working on the creative side of the job.
On the main strip vertically, if you want a multi-layered fit of the material, tie layers of additional recordings and audiotape. There is also a very nice option to insert another one in place of the marked image that will go in its place and you have the option not to disturb the duration of the previous one, and you can group multiple layers into one compound clip that you can edit independently, without affecting project timeline.
The Inspector panel is very clear and clear and contains sliders for all possible settings of the highlighted image. Size, geometry, cropping, color correction, semi-transparency – itโs all there.
Also, each of the options implies that there is a possibility of fixing values โโon the keyframe, which allows you to define these parameters as key points, which is of great help when animating. What will make you especially happy is the blending option, which you can additionally play with and determine how the shot “above” is mixed with the “below” shot. There are all the well-known mods from, for example, Photoshop: darken, lighten, overlay, and others.
On the left, you will find the Browser panel which searches (the Search option works perfectly) all the clips you imported into the library, elements that come with the program (such as titles), a number of beautifully predefined titles, lower thirds, and other text supplies, as well as Generators, ie. elements such as backgrounds, shapes and more.
For the most part, all built-in elements are pre-animated with a set of controls that contextually appear in the Inspector panel as needed and that you can fine-tune as needed. A few years ago, we also received support for working with 3D text. Of course, there is also a special section for editing materials, reflections, textures … Everything is adapted to the creative way of thinking, without the need to know anything about 3D at all.
At the bottom right is the space for transitions and effects. They come in a package, there are a lot of them, they all look professional and you will not be ashamed to use them even in more serious projects.
They are applied extremely simply, again by the drag & drop method, after which the transition is clearly visible in the timeline and you can easily adjust its duration, if necessary. As for the effects, they are stored as needed in the Inspector panel, with a set of options that you can quickly and easily adjust to your liking. Everything is there, everything is clear, there is no doubt about what is what for.
The central place is occupied by the Preview window in which you have an overview of what is happening and what the end result will be. What tricks Final Cut Pro X uses to make everything you do immediately visible in real-time is not very clear to us. Applying effects or adding elements, as well as changing parameters, are applied as you change them.
Everything is visible and works immediately. Of course, rendering actually happens in the background when it catches you not “harrowing” too much and can take advantage of that, but you won’t happen to let go of rendering and then just realize you have a mess after half an hour of waiting and then – let’s go again render because of some comma. Everything is quick and easy.
A lot of what distracted some professionals in previous years has been corrected and added and this is a pretty mature and quality package. Given that this is Apple’s exclusive, which is not an irrelevant platform at all, there is very good support from various studios that develop add-ons for Final Cut Pro X in the form of plug-ins, transitions, titles, effectsโฆ If the content you get with the basic set is not enough for you, you will most likely find what you need from a third-party developer.
It remains a pity that Final Cut Pro X, like Logic, is tied to macOS and PC users will immediately shake their heads and look at other solutions. Those who opt for Apple, however, will be happy to try all this in the Lite version presented by iMovie (www.apple.com/imovie, 2.2 GB). A clipped and lightweight Final Cut Pro X that works on both iPhone and iPad devices. Of course, there is integration, and the projects started in it can be continued in the full version.
All in all, this is arguably the best vlog editing software for macOS today.
Adobe Premiere Pro
For decades, Adobe has supported video production from home to professional scale, while cultivating ease of operation, and enabling cutting-edge achievements in visual art!
The latest Adobe tools with which we shape video production bring work with modern high-quality formats and top video processing speeds. From year to year, Adobe Premiere Pro develops into a professional tool according to the wishes of professionals, but also ordinary users whose wishes Adobe listens to every day.
Adobe Premiere Pro is a program that in the beginning was specialized only for editing and had only basic tools for video post-production. Today, this software is a standard of video post-production in which, in addition to editing that is facilitated by a large number of tools, it also deals with color correction, motion graphics design, video correction, audio signal processing, masks that automatically track and visual effects that elevate the image to a superior level.
The dynamics of the news coming to us from Adobe has been growing in recent years. The new version of the Adobe Premiere Pro program brings the most innovations in making it easier for the editor to work. There are new ways of organizing frames in the project and auxiliary lines on the program monitor itself that make it easier to align and center the graphic elements in the image.
How easy is it to use?
Creating a new project
The first thing that the user who started the program is the welcome window. It will offer you to choose the next action – create a new project or open an already created one. The second is simple – you have to click on the Open Project button, then select the desired project in the Explorer window, and click on the “Open” button. But to create a new project a little more complicated. Be that as it may, we will now solve everything in order:
- In the living room, click the New Project button.
- You must enter a project name in the new window. This is done at the bottom of the corresponding input box. The name can be any, you can leave it by default if you want. After typing, click OK.
- A second window will appear in which you want to select a preset setting. In short, they all signify the spread of the video. Since widespread extensions are widely used, select any setting from 1080i or 1080p folders. After selecting, click OK.
Add new files to the project
After you have completed all the steps from the previous instruction, you have created a new project that is still empty. Now you need to add new files to it. To add new files to a project, you need to do the following:
- To get started, keep in mind the program we want to work with, you need to add them to the Name field. To do this, open the Explorer window, navigate to the desired folder with the file, using the LCM (left mouse button on the file, drag it to the Name field.)
- You can also add a file by clicking the File button in the program, selecting from the Import Files Menu, and specify the desired file in the Explorer window.
- Once the required files are determined, they must be moved to the work area, ie. in the timeline. from the Name field to the Timeline region.
Work with audio and video recordings
Weโll now look at how to use Adobe Premiere Pro tools to interact with songs, but to be more precise, weโll tell you how to turn off and connect, how often that basic knowledge is missing for beginners.
So, suppose you decide to replace the sound of the movie, and then add the movie TimeLine, you get two songs: from the top – video, from the bottom – sound. As you can see, they are linked to each other, in this case, all actions will be performed immediately for two strips, so that this does not happen, they must be separated from each other:
- Using the LCM, select both lanes.
- Click on the selected CSM objects.
- In the context menu, select Unlink.
Now the songs in Adobe Premiere Pro CC are turned off and you can delete the sound by highlighting it and pressing Delete. Add a new soundtrack using the first method. By the way, you can combine new audio from videos, to do so, to whiten them, click on PCM and select Link.
Apply effects
Continuing to talk about how to use Adobe Premiere Pro, letโs move on to the topic of effects. And it’s done simply:
- Highlight a video.
- In the center of the window is a list, from it select the Video Effects folder.
- Select the folder with the desired effect and open it.
- Select the desired effect from the list.
- Use LKM to move it to the Effect Controls area.
- After that, the tools for entering the effect parameters will open. If you don’t know which effect you want to apply, try everything, and find the right one.
Preservation of the project
Let’s finish off on how to save the created project. To do this:
- Select all project paths.
- Open the File menu, go to the Export submenu, and select Media.
- On the right side of the window, select the video output options – and click OK.
Here you learned about some features of this powerful video editor. As you can see, it is incredibly easy to use, with a lucid user-friendly interface. This definitely places Adobe Premiere Pro as one of the best vlog editing software, and one of the most popular ones for sure.
Windows Movie Maker
Windows Movie Maker is a fairly popular free video editor that can be downloaded easily. But because of its vague interface, the program often makes users think twice about what and how to do something.
Windows Movie Maker is a proprietary video editor from Microsoft, which is included in the standard “package” of Windows OS until Windows 7. Even though the application is no longer supported, it is in no hurry to lose popularity among users. Why?
Movie Maker video editor is so easy to use.
How to add files to a program
Before you can start editing the video, you need to add files that will be used for further work. To do this, run Windows Movie Maker.
- Click the “Operations” button to open an additional menu, then click the button according to the type of file you want to upload: if this is a video, click “Import Video” if the music is accordingly “Import Sound or Music” et cetera.
- The import process begins, the duration of which depends on the size of the downloaded file. As soon as the procedure is completed, this window will automatically be hidden.
- Video can be added to a program much easier: you just need to move it to the program window. But you should only do this when the “Operations” card is open.
How to cut a video in Windows Movie Maker
To shorten the video, upload it to the editor and switch it to “Timeline view”. Now you need to watch the video carefully and determine which area you want to cut. Using the “Split into two parts” button, cut the video by moving the slider to the required places, then remove any unnecessary parts.
If you just need to crop the video first or from the end, move the mouse to the beginning or end of the timeline, and when the crop icon appears, drag the slider to the time you want to crop.
How to cut a fragment from a video
Often users do not have to just cut the video but cut an additional piece from it as well, which can be located, for example, in the center. But it is very easy to do.
- To do this, move the slider on the video timeline to the area where the beginning of the snippet you want to cut will be marked. Then open the tab at the top of the window. “Clip” and select Split.
- In the end, instead of one video, you get two separate ones. Then move the slider on the timeline to the area where the end of the part to be cut will be. Separate again.
- Finally, select a separate segment with a single mouse click and delete it with the Del key on the keyboard. It’s finished!
How to remove audio from video recording
To remove audio from a video, you need to open it in Windows Movie Maker and find the Clips menu at the top. Find the “Audio” tab and select “Turn Off.” As a result, you get a video without sound, which you can cover with any audio recording.
How to impose an effect on video
To make the video brighter and more interesting, you can apply effects to it. In order to do this, download the video and find the “Clip” menu. There, click on the “Video” tab and select “Video Effects.” You can apply or delete effects in the window that opens. Sorry, the preview feature is not provided in the editor.
How to speed up video playback
If you want to speed up or slow down the video playback, then you need to load the video, select it, and find the item in the “Clip” menu. Here, go to the “Video” tab and select “Video Effects”. Here you can find effects such as “Slow down twice” and “Accelerate, twice”.
How to put music on video
Also, in Windows Movie Maker, you can easily and simply put audio on your video. To do this, as well as for the video, open the music and drag it under the video at the right time.
By the way, just like for the video, you can crop and apply effects to music as well.
Adding a description in Windows Movie Maker
You can add descriptions to your video clip. To do this, find the “Service” menu and select “Title and Descriptions”. Now you need to choose what and where you want to place. For example, points at the end of a movie. A small character appears that you can fill in and add to the clip.
How to save footage from a video
Users are often asked to “extract” a frame from a video, saving it as an image on a computer. You can do this in Movie Maker in just a few moments.
- After opening a video in Movie Maker, use the timeline slider to move it to that part of the video so that the frame you want to save appears on the screen.
- To capture an image, click the button below in the right pane of the program window.
- Windows Explorer will appear on the screen, in which you only need to specify the destination folder for the saved image.
How to adjust the volume
For example, if you are editing a comment video, then the volume of the parent soundtrack with background music should be such that the voice does not overlap.
- To do this, click the button in the lower-left pane. “Sound level”.
- The scale will be displayed on the screen by moving the slider on which you can make sound from the video (in this case move the slider to the left), or the predominance of separately loaded sound or music (the slider should be placed to the right).
- You can do this in a slightly different way: select the video or sound for which you want to adjust the volume on the timeline, and then click the tab at the top of the window. “Clip” and then go to the menu “Audio” – “Volume”.
- A scale appears on the screen with which you can adjust the volume.
How to glue several separate rollers
Suppose you have several separate videos on your computer that need to be combined into one song.
Upload the video that will be the first to appear when pasting the video, then drag it into the timeline. The video will be retained.
If necessary, reopen the Operations tab, drag and drop the movie into the Movie Maker window that follows first. After adding it to the program, drag it to the timeline in exactly the same way. Do the same with all the rollers you need to glue.
How to add transitions
If you donโt apply transitions to pasted videos, then one video will be replaced by another, which will look corrupt. You can solve the problem by adding before each video transition.
- Open the “Operations” section and expand the “Edit Videos” tab. Select “Show video conversions.”
- A list of available transitions is displayed on the screen. When you find a suitable one, drag it with the mouse to the joint between the two rollers, and it will be fixed there.
How to set smooth transitions between sounds
In the same way, as with video, the sound after gluing is abruptly replaced by another by default. To avoid this, you can use a smooth introduction and attenuation for the sound.
To do this, select a video or audio track on the timeline with a single mouse click, then open the tab at the top of the “Clip” window, go to the “Audio” section, and highlight one or two dots at once: “Appearance” and “Vanish”.
How to save the video on your computer
After completing the editing process in Movie Maker, you are left with the final stage – to save the result on your computer.
- To do this, open the “Operations” section, expand the “End Movie” tab, and select “Save to Computer.”
- The Movie Save Wizard will appear on the screen, in which you will need to set a name for your video and specify the folder on your computer where it will be saved. Click the “Next” button.
- If necessary, adjust the video quality. At the bottom of the window, you will see its final size. Select the “Next” button.
- The export process will begin, and the duration will depend on the size of the video – you just have to wait for it to finish.
We have reviewed the main features of the program, which is enough to edit the video. However, you can continue to study the program and get acquainted with the new features, so that your videos become pretty high quality and interesting. This fella belongs amongst the best vlog editing software you can find for free, for sure!
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Thatโs it! Thatโs our list of the best vlog editing software you can use for your projects with some tips on how to use them easily. As you can see, we have included the best vlog editing software for macOS, Windows, and one tool that is free to use, and you can choose whichever suits you the best. Happy vlogging!