Editing Software

Cyberlink Power Director 16 - Video Editor

Power Director is my go to video editing program, I started using it years ago for my music channel and little what not videos, so I had it on hand when it came time to start making airsoft videos for YouTube.

I have read online a lot of bad reviews about it, but personally, I’ve found this to be a powerhouse of a workstation to use for making videos, there’s plenty of free templates to get online, or you can upgrade onto pay monthly plans - I however just bought it outright.

It has a nice and easy kind of work flow or project area, where everything you need from your video and audio files, to your transition pieces are easily find-able with only a couple of clicks. And thankfully, you don’t need a super computer to run it, mine is only sort of a minimal spec PC, but it runs it just fine. Some reviews have said how its really slow and takes a long time to load, but like most PC things, take a look at your specs man!

I have set profiles for the type of videos I create so that the best settings are set for each video, for example, I have a profile titled “Airsoft” which has everything set up for GoPro/Action Camera footage, and then if I do add in some footage from the DSLR camera, that seems to fit right in too without too much trouble, I generally barely have to edit the DSLR footage to get it any better.

Like any video editing software, rendering time largely depends on your PC. The better graphics you have, the higher the quality you can render. I can currently easily render 4k at 60fps with no issues, if I try and push it above that it starts to struggle and the video comes out looking a little strange.

The time it takes to render at least with my videos is really quick for the 20-30 minute videos, it’ll generally be done in about 1 hour, but the longer videos that have a lot going on in them like the vlog ones, can take a couple of hours - the longest time I’ve had was about 6 hours but that was when I tried making one massive vlog video that was going to be about 1hr 45min - I ended up having to split that video because my PC didn’t like doing a video that large (were talking about 100gb of data here).

But at the end of the day, Power Director has done be good, its never done wrong by me and its easy to use, I’m familiar with it. If your looking for a good video editor that’s smooth and easy, this is definitely one I’d recommend.  

Cyberlink Power Director 16

Waveform 13 - Music Software

For the music side of things when I write and record the music, I use Waveform 13 from Traction as my DAW.

It’s free software which made me like it to begin with, but don’t let that fool you.

Even when it may well be free, it packs a lot with it to do what you need it to do. Its compatible with most plugins you find out on the internet, I usually use plugins for everything, like Native Instruments Guitar Rig 5 for all my guitar sounds, and then depending on the sound I’m wanting, I have multiple different ones for piano, synths and the like. And all my drums are done through MIDI as I can’t play drums to save myself!

The amount of really good free vsts out there is amazing, I didn’t think there would be that many when I started mucking around with them but the options are endless, a lot of the piano sounds that you hear in my music are all created from free piano plugins - I think Guitar Rig 5 is the only one that came at a cost.

It has all the usual audio controls that you need to tweak things like adjusting the low end or high end, EQ controls, chorus and delays for vocals etc (although I can’t sing!).

So all my music is done through that, some of the vocal audio that you hear in my videos (the stuff of me talking) has been edited in here to make it sound a little better.

If you’re looking for a good audio editor that’s free, this is definitely a good option.

Waveform 13 DAW