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Editing platform of choice?

Adobe CS6 (Creative Suite 6) - Premier Pro and Audition are outstanding.

I second this. I love Premier Pro, I love Speedgrade, and I love After Effects. I recorded my entire last album on Audition as well, and it came out beautifully. Great software.

Though when I don't feel like dealing with Adobe complexities, I sometimes elect to do video editing in Sony Vegas Platinum instead. Surprisingly great software.
 
If you're trying to pick something new, download the trial versions of Avid, Premiere FCP and whatever else you're interested in and see if you like the way they work.

I don't edit a huge amount these days, but I've used Avid for quite a while, I find it a much more professional piece of software that really disciplines and focuses your editing skills.
I use DaVinci for colouring
 
I'm looking forward to the impending release of lightworks 12, which will be the first tri-platform NLE.. but my previous tool of choice was Premiere, may still be we'll see what happens with lightworks.
 
Final cut 7 (studio) because I bought it and A) it still works B) I know like the back of my hand C) FCPx isn't the right tool for me D) light works isn't out for the Mac yet... I'll still have to evaluate lw, but it looks promising. I still know FCP 7 REALLY well, and shake, and Soundtrack Pro, and color, and DVD Studio Pro. The myriad of functions I have access to with this suite of tools isn't matched by FCPx. It gets me about 70% of what I need! but that 30% is why I tend to be the editor and sound designer and colorist on the projects I work on. It's the tools that allow the polish and finish that are missing.
 
Premiere is great if you work with people that use the Creative Suite, that's probably the reason why people prefer it to FCP. Otherwise there isn't any difference really.

I use AVID anyhow, their system of media management is just outstanding and no other program does it. I also have FCPX which I do not mind at all, very intuitive and great for independent work I feel.
 
You will get a range of answers to this question if you are talking about picture editing software because they each have their pros and cons. Those who are happy, are happy because the cons of their software does not affect their particular method of filmmaking. For example, if you work with others in post, say you hand your audio post over to a sound designer/editor, then AVID is the obvious choice. In my experience, Vegas would be the worst choice in this scenario (although FCPX is only better in this respect with the addition of some quite expensive 3rd party software). If on the other hand ease of use and cost is more important than collaborating with others, Vegas might well be the best choice. For a more powerful combined package, Adobe could be the better choice but again, it doesn't play as well with non Adobe collaborators as AVID, nor is it as widely used commercially.

On the audio editing/recording/mixing side, the choice is much simpler. ProTools dominates both the professional and semi-pro/aspiring audio post market and as Alcove implied, is a bit of a no-brainer. Audition is very limited/weak in comparison to ProTools and you won't find any audio pros who use it but Audition might make sense for the DIY filmmaker who uses Premiere for picture editing. If a very restricted budget is the primary concern, then Reaper would likely be the best choice.

G
 
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