Is AVID worth the swap?

[Michael Phillips]

There are hundreds of threads on that topic, in this forum, FCP forums, and PPro forums. Each have their strengths and weaknesses depending on your program type, team size, need for workflow, collaboration, or all in one solution.

The best thing to do is download the free fully functional 30 day trial from:

https://www.avid.com/US/products/Media-Composer

Check out system requirements and such, get an idea of what is coming in next version and decide for yourself if it will work or is added to your toolset as needed.

Michael

[Fred Jean]

I learned the basics on PP, them used Edius for a few years and switched to MC about 6 months ago.

Imo, it’s indeed really worth. Yes there are some irritating points, of course, but the balance clearly is on the positive side.

With big volumes, metadatas, file managements, stability, IMHO it has no rival.
Also, switching to Avid changed the way I edit. Before I was editing like kids do with PP. Avid sort of drives you to a more mature way and in the end, not only is more efficient in story-telling, but faster.
The only real rival I can think of in story-telling is Lightworks.

Avid learning curve is more difficult than the competition but definatly worth.

Edit: and, oh yeah, another factor
That is silly but happened to me.
When I was in PP, I was one more.
After the switch to Avid, I noticed
People having more consideration,
And more interesting clients araised.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m ridiculously
Small in this industry, but it’s a fact
That the most interesting prods
Are cutted with Avid. It has an impact,
Or can have an impact on one’s carreer.
The very respected TVE is all avid
https://www.avid.com/US/about-avid/customer-stories/RTVE,
Cine industry here is Avid and
smoke to some extend. And
Avid editors still earn more money
And are more considered.

Fred.

[Shane Ross]

Well, ask yourself, what are your editing needs? And what NLE best suits those needs? Avid doesn’t fill very editing need, nor does FCX nor Premiere Pro. They all have their separate areas of strengths. Figure out what your needs are, and see which works best.

Michael has a great idea…download the demo and see if it fills your needs. If not, stick to what does. If so…Woohoo!

Shane
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Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[David Powell]

Also, depending on what you’re doing, its a good idea to google/youtube various workflows to see how they differ from what you are doing in PP and FCPX. For certain projects, you may find that one NLE takes too many hoops to jump through to get from A to Z. The problem with just using a trial for 30 days is that you’ll get an idea on how the time line works, but with Media Composer there is somewhat of a steeper learning curve, because it is so much more feature rich in certain areas. But once you get over the curve, you appreciate all that it does.

You may not make a proper judgment based on what you think the software is capable of with your limited 30 day knowledge. That being said, the first time I ever fired up media composer, was to cut a feature, having never messed with it before and noticed it was far more elegant than my experience having just finished a feature in FCP 7.

[Chris Harlan]

[Ben Taylor] “I have been editing on both Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut X for quite some time now. However, I am considering swapping from these programs to AVID.
“

Hey, Ben–out of curiosity, why are YOU considering this? I think we can all answer you better if we know why you may want to change. Also, what kind of work do you want to do? What kind of projects?

I’ll say this much; its a venerable NLE and I quite enjoy using it. It is quite different from X. It’s a little closer to version 6 of Premiere, but still very much its own system. The learning curve is a little steeper, though nothing that can’t be managed with tutorials. To my mind, some of its elements are a little archaic, and some elements, like its full suite of trimming tools, can’t yet be beat by any other NLE.

As you see, I personally like it quite a bit, but there are plenty of good reasons why it might not be the best choice for someone as well.

So, why are you interested in it? And why do you want to move away from the other two?

[Ben Taylor]

Thanks for all the responses.

The main projects I work on are film trailers and often editing together short films, in addition to this, I’ve recently been working on a number of music videos (whatever jobs I can get at the moment). So I do quite a varied set of projects.

The main reason why I am considering swapping from PP and FCP to AVID is purely on an employability basis.

Like Fred mentioned, AVID editors are more highly considered by employers and generally earn more. I’m currently a student trying to get a solid foundation of both experience and technical skills before going into the scary world, and am trying to consider what would put me one step ahead of all the countless young editors also out there.

I’ve had an ongoing work experience and advice from a UK based trailer production company, and am essentially just trying to broaden my skills.

[Chris Harlan]

Based on your answers, I think Avid is a very good choice for you. I would say the next version of Premiere is as well, though a lot of this depends on how the whole CC thing shakes out.

[Ben Taylor]

Thanks, I appreciate the response.