Which one is your favourite

Most creators lose viewers in the first 3 seconds — not because their content is bad, but because their editing is fighting against them.

Here are 5 mistakes we see constantly (and fix for clients daily):

1. Jump cuts with no purpose

Every cut should either advance the story or maintain energy. If you're cutting just to remove "ums," use J-cuts or L-cuts instead — they sound smoother and feel professional.

2. Wrong export settings

Uploading 1080p when your footage is 4K? You're losing sharpness. Exporting at a bitrate that's too low? YouTube will compress it further and destroy your quality.

Quick fix: Export at the platform's recommended bitrate. For YouTube: 1080p = 8 Mbps, 4K = 35-45 Mbps.

3. Ignoring audio levels

Your music is drowning your voice. Your voice is clipping. Viewers will tolerate bad video — they will NOT tolerate bad audio.

Target levels:

• Dialogue: -6 to -12 dB

• Music: -18 to -24 dB (under dialogue)

• SFX: -12 to -18 dB

4. No color consistency

Shooting in different locations with different lighting and not matching them in post. Your video should feel like one cohesive piece, not a patchwork.

Use a base LUT + manual adjustment per clip. Match skin tones first, then backgrounds.

5. Over-editing

Zoom effects on every sentence. Transitions every 2 seconds. 47 different fonts. Less is more. The best edits are the ones viewers don't notice.

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We break down professional techniques like these in our free Video Editing Masterclass — check it out if you want to level up your editing game.

If you want us to handle your editing entirely, check out our creative services.

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