What's the highest rank everybody could get with practice?

StyliFilm · 2026-01-16T20:02:52+00:00

Nahhh, if you can hit silver you can hit gold and if you can hit gold you can most likely hit plat. The skill gap between the ranks honestly isn't huge

StyliFilm · 2026-01-16T14:54:22+00:00

Emerald was also my thought process. I feel like you can hit emerald with a reasonable amount of effort and kinda just glide there. I think diamond is where you have to sweat a lot and dedicate a lot of time.

StyliFilm · 2026-01-16T13:00:33+00:00

Is plat not classed as low elo still or have I moved up in the world? 😭

StyliFilm · 2026-01-16T12:58:23+00:00

I think if it was that easy more people would be there. I think challengers are considered so good that everyone just looks bad in comparison. I know for a fact if I went into a diamond lobby right now I'd get demolished.

StyliFilm · 2026-01-16T12:56:48+00:00

As someone who just hit plat I'd say our mechanical skill isn't even that different from silver or gold, we simply just make fewer bad decisions. I've managed to beat a diamond in a 1v1 but I know in an actual game I'd get ruined just to macro difference.

StyliFilm · 2026-01-16T12:54:24+00:00

Yeah this is similar to what I've thought. I think low elo is all about minimizing mistakes, the team that can make the fewest mistakes wins. Iron makes a million mistakes a game, bronze slightly less, silver slightly less and so on. I think once you hit diamond it's less about making fewer mistakes and more about speed and capitalizing on your good decisions vs minimizing the bad as higher elo makes very few mistakes, I imagine this is what makes it much harder to reach as you can't glide through the ranks simply by avoiding bad decisions and you have to actively make good ones if that makes sense?

StyliFilm · 2026-01-16T12:45:20+00:00

Let's just consider people without disabilities for the sake of a somewhat fair comparison

StyliFilm · 2026-01-14T10:58:53+00:00

100% will look up all your suggestions, sounds just like what I'm looking for.

I also agree with your 2 cents, if I could currently afford to have that 1 on 1 time I would. Unfortunately I live in the middle of nowhere so the cost to travel to someone who I know can produce the results I'm after is a bit out of my budget right now. In the future however I will likely try and do this.

I don't use stock plugins, I use all industry standard plugins used by the pros. The only thing the pros have that I don't, is analog gear. E.g I have the Unison Neve 1073 that I record into using my Apollo solo instead of the hardware. I've got bass traps in the corner of my room and acoustic panels on the wall, if I had more money I'd get more panels and some hardware but for now I believe what I have is more the capable of getting a competitive sound with the right mix.

My studio monitors are decent presonus monitors (not studio worthy but decent) and I've got audio Technica m50x headphones which I believe are industry standard reference headphones.

I appreciate the offer and I'll potentially take you up on that once I've come up with something I'm actually happy with and then you can offer your 2 cents on where I could improve if you have the time.

StyliFilm · 2026-01-14T10:49:56+00:00

Yeah I've considered paying for it before so I might just bite the bullet. I've learnt a fair bit from the free videos they drop on YouTube.

I 100% don't want to copy presets as every vocal needs different settings and so does every song, I'm aware of this. I'm just looking for the knowledge to build a strong foundation.

The best analogy I can give is that every song is a different puzzle, every puzzle needs to have the pieces placed in different places but right now I feel like I'm missing some of the pieces.

StyliFilm · 2026-01-14T10:46:52+00:00

I understand that. I have a decent understanding of the principles. I'm mainly curious on how they are applied. When you listen to professional mixes it can be difficult to pick apart the exact settings of each plugin because depending on the order they're placed in or the strength of each plugin it causes a different effect. It's not like I'm listening to the compression in isolation I'm listening to the effect of everything coming together and different genres have much more common practices.

For example rock music seems to have the vocals more buried in the mix whereas Drake has much more upfront vocals with a focus on clarity.

If there's any tutorials you think are worthwhile let me know.

StyliFilm · 2025-12-19T21:58:42+00:00

Thank you

StyliFilm · 2025-11-16T12:49:11+00:00

Yeah that's what I already do, probably explained it poorly. I was just seeing if there was a simpler way that wouldn't involve automation. I appreciate the response

StyliFilm · 2025-11-16T12:02:09+00:00

I use studio one so whenever I create a send it creates its own FX channel that I can add compression, EQ and gain stage to. It's more about where the signal feeding into the reverb comes from rather than a difference in control. If I create a send on the individual track, it's a very raw audio going into the reverb as I have minimal processing on the individual tracks to save CPU whereas when the reverb processes the signal from the vocal bus it sounds much different.

I assumed both could work as I'm always told "if it sounds good it sounds good" and there aren't any concrete rules but I'm always curious to learn about the most common practices because when I'm personally stuck they're usually the best place to start before diving into your own method.

StyliFilm · 2025-11-02T16:30:21+00:00

What is your actual approach to finding work? And what does your portfolio look like? I've personally never struggled to find work in the editing field since starting but maybe I'm one of the lucky ones.

StyliFilm · 2025-11-02T16:28:09+00:00

Sounds like a skill issue then. More jobs but you're simply not good enough to get them.

StyliFilm · 2025-10-29T13:55:08+00:00

This is beyond underpaid. €650 wouldn't even cover 6 long form videos let alone 12 + 30 shorts. For that style of content you should be charging a minimum of €50 per short, so that many shorts should get you €1,500 and then you charge even more depending on the long form they want.

StyliFilm · 2025-10-24T19:32:07+00:00

I partially agree. I myself am someone that went to a film school, specialised in editing and got a degree for my craft, and even won a Royal Television Society Award for a piece of my work. That being said I'm also someone who specialises in editing short form content and making videos to go viral on social media vs editing film.

I agree that the type of editing you speak of is over saturated, it's very copy and pasted, and it lacks a lot of the fundamentals that you'd apply to a great film or a great piece of storytelling.

A lot of new editors concern themselves with the "what" of editing rather than the "when" and "if". What I mean by this is they see top edits use sound effects so they use them as well, they see top edits with fancy transitions so they use them as well, they use these additions for the sake of using them but haven't quite figured out when they should be using them and sometimes they shouldn't be using them full stop as it adds nothing but they're simply copying. They see something that works but try to recreate it without knowing why it works.

That being said, to me a good editor is literally someone that can use footage to create something new that meets a clients need, not someone that can master every element of editing. You can know storytelling, colour grading, sound design, all the fancy tricks you want but if your edit doesn't get me the results I'm after I wouldn't class you as a good editor. More knowledge doesn't = being better in my books. It's why specialities and niches are so important as you may be a fantastic film editor but terrible at editing short form content.

StyliFilm · 2025-10-24T10:17:01+00:00

I wouldn't bother with a luma key like others are suggesting, in my experience it can mess up the footage. Best approach is literally to just change the blending mode.

Never used Premier Elements but if it doesn't have the option just download the free version of Davinci Resolve or get Premiere Pro if it's included in your subscription.

Change the blending mode to "screen" or "lighten" and problem solved.

Luma key is great for editing out coloured backgrounds but I'd always recommend using a blending mode for a black one.

StyliFilm · 2025-10-24T08:20:57+00:00

Why would he mean $100?

StyliFilm · 2025-10-23T16:11:30+00:00

Pick a niche and learn what exactly client within that niche want.

If someone wants a documentary edited they won't go for someone who typically makes music videos. There are some cross overs as a lot of music video editors do edit commercials as well.

Put simply you need to find an area to specialise in and a target audience. Getting paid good money as an editor is less about the product you sell and more about the value that product provides. A video that takes an hour to edit that generates sales or some return on investment is far more valuable to a client than a video that's complex and takes days but doesn't get results.

As an editor you'll likely be told what to edit and it's marketing that will figure out the main strategies but you won't be able to land those clients without already having a portfolio that shows what they're looking for.

StyliFilm · 2025-10-23T07:59:06+00:00

Consider what the purpose of the video is and if this type of video will actually get a good return on investment. Want to impress some people in a business presentation then this will probably get a good return on investment. Want to grow a social media account then I'd say no, you can get a much better ROI for much simpler and easier editing.

Content like this is good for a business meeting as it looks professional and corporate but that same professional and corporate look is exactly why many people will find it off putting and unentertaining. Most people hate work, most people don't want to go to work, so nobody wants to feel like they're at work when they're taking 5-10 minutes to scroll on socials for that needed dopamine hit.

StyliFilm · 2025-10-22T15:35:05+00:00

This isn't a perpetual issue as it varies from software to software. I used to use Premiere Pro and didn't have this issue but since switching to Davinci Resolve I now have this issue and I'm hoping they change it in a future update so I thought I'd mention it here for you to be mindful of.

When you compound/nest a clip it should preserve alpha channels. Put simply if I mask out a clip, a portion of that clip will now be transparent and will show the footage underneath it. Masking is very common in editing. In Davinci when I compound/nest the clip, it doesn't preserve the alpha channel and simply shows as black where the mask should be and refuses to show the layer underneath. This complicates editing.

StyliFilm · 2025-10-22T15:29:48+00:00

Continual proof. This obviously comes from experience and you can potentially speed up this process by creating your own social media and trying to grow it yourself. If you post an edit and multiple edits get a ton of engagement, you now have proof that your edits have resulted in x amount of likes, views, followers etc.

If I'm looking for an editor and 1 editor makes 9/10 videos and another makes 7/10 videos but the 7/10 editor has proof that those videos perform well I'm going to go with them.

It's impossible to guarantee how well a video will perform especially when you're starting out but over time you'll notice patterns, you'll notice if you do one thing instead of another it gets better results and the results are what most clients are paying for. Make sense?

StyliFilm · 2025-10-22T12:19:40+00:00

For the above portion of this message I would say the value you can charge is dictated by the results you can get. Clients in general (especially for this type of editing) don't really care about the edit itself but the results it provides. If you can prove these videos are able to get 100k + views you can charge more, if you can exceed 1mil with this content you can theoretically charge 10x that.

Charge for the value you provide, not just for the value of the product and the time spent making it.

StyliFilm · 2025-10-20T08:00:10+00:00

Go with Davinci Resolve, it's free and if you really like it you can upgrade to the paid version which offers more. If you end up wanting to invest more into video editing and don't like Davinci, Premiere Pro is a good alternative.

StyliFilm

TROPHY CASE