Many great directors today got their start doing music video editing. Director Spike Jonze,Where the Wild Things Are, was a well know music video maker, creating various Beastie Boys music videos long before he started directing feature films. With the rise of viewership of music videos since MTV began in 1981 and the somewhat ease of digital video editing, it seems nearly all bands have at least one member with a few music video editing techniques up their sleeve. Let's look at what it takes to become a better music video producer.

Music Video Editing Software

Let's start with the gear - aren't musicians gear heads, too? Well, so are video editing dorks like us. The good news is that you don't necessarily need the best music video editing software money can buy. In fact, most digital video editing software will do the trick for beginners. However, as you climb the ladder into more difficult productions, you'll probably want to look for more advanced tools. Let's take a closer look at the free video editing software first.

Windows Live Movie Maker

The latest version of Windows Live Movie Maker is free for the Windows users out there. It has plenty of features to do basic music video editing. The truth is, music video makers don't need much to make the most of music video editing software. The reason is that the core principle of music video editing technique is cutting to the beat of the music. It's all about pacing and to do that all you really need is a program like Windows Live Movie Maker that can make simple cuts. If you're on a Mac, you can do the same music video editing techniques as Apple iMovie. Any version of iMovie will do, although make sure your version is compatible with HD video if you have an older Mac computer and will be cutting your production in HD video.

Advanced Video Editing Software

Some of you may want to jump ahead of the class with more advanced music video editing software. Digital video editing software for the PC like Adobe Premiere Elements 10 ($100), Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11 ($95), and Pinnacle Studio HD Ultimate Collection ($130) are noteworthy upgrades from the previously mentioned freeware. On the Mac, you can go straight to the big-boy digital video editing software, Final Cut Pro X ($300). All of these options give you a lot more bang for your buck: more video controls, more video effects, more audio controls, more audio effects, etc. These additional features may also include more options of the type of video and audio you can import into your project and many more choices as to what types of files you'll export. Actually, you don't need most of this stuff unless you're going to be cutting a lot of music videos, but two features to keep in the back of your mind as you learn are multi-camera editing and timeline markers. Multi-camera editing is perfect for the editor who wants to edit live music events with multiple points of view (cameras). This feature will save you a bundle of time if this is the nature of your work. Look for the more expensive options, Adobe Premiere Pro ($1699, Production Premium Suite), Final Cut Pro X ($300), and Sony Vegas Pro 10 ($600). Lastly, keep an eye out for timeline markers. As we mentioned previously, one of the more important music video editing techniques is editing on the beat of the music. Timeline markers help you visualize where those beats occur and streamline this technique greatly. We'll revisit this topic in more depth later.