My background is in music/recording. I've lived in studios (literally at times) for many years of life, but I know nothing about video except that people use Premiere, Media Composer and Final Cut Pro. Where should I begin on a path to learning video recording/editing/syncing to audio etc....

most DAWs these days can sync video and audio. After effects is good for editing. Also Vegas is good to make quick YT vids. Download their demo and mess around. It takes only a couple hours to get some good results.
It really depends on what you will be doing to tell you which is the best software. there are so many good editing tools.

I have used Movie Studio (Vegas Lite) and Sound Forge to make a couple of not horrible videos. Considering I'd never done it, the learning curve was pretty short. I had more trouble with the GoPro footage, trying to negate the fisheye.

Typically it's the opposite; you sync audio to video.

In my post production world the workflow is that the video editors (or their assistants) ingest all content and make sure it's in sync. They then cut video. Then once that's done they export either an OMF or more frequently these days an AAF, and I import those into Pro Tools or Nuendo.

If the video people did their job correctly everything will be in sync when I get it. I then work on audio and end up rendering audio files which are sent back to the video people. They then finish the process in the "online", where they do color correction/grading and marry audio to picture. Once all of that is done they export the final delivery media.

So, the first question is just what you want to do. The second is if you want to spend money or not. If you just want to mess around with this and it's mostly for fun or to further your understanding, then you can download Blackmagic Design's "DaVinci Resolve" for free. It's a very complete package. More people use Premiere, MC and FCP, but they're not free as far as I know (I could be wrong).

If you want to make money off of video editing then check out what your market looks like and get something that people use.

For learning there are books and forums and videos on YouTube.

It came out backwards when I typed it. I'm aware that audio is syncd to video. I'm typing from my phone, and I was too lazy to correct that. I apologize.

I'm not opposed to spending money. I'm not quite sure what I want to do. I'm imagining getting a camera, shooting video, editing, and composing/ recording audio to marry with the video.

I may search for something on Udemy and YouTube. I'm assuming that mastering the basics won't be as difficult as learning music/recording/engineering. But, I could be totally naive in my assumption.

lol... no need to apologize...

I would probably look into Resolve then. Blackmagic Design sells cameras, and one would at least assume their stuff would transfer into their software easily.

As for difficulty I don't think there's much difficulty in learning editing, it's really all the other stuff that's complicated because it's new. In other words learning containers, compression formats, compression ratios, aspect ratios, frame rates, export formats, grading etc. It kind'a get kind'a deep kind'a quick. But maybe I'm just a dolt who don't get it...

I love, love, love Davinci Resolve (I've used Final Cut and a few other NLEs but have settled on Resolve), but be warned: while it's free, it has some pretty rigorous system requirements and you may run into problems if you're using a machine that doesn't meet its specs.

I've been doing very basic video editing in Resolve on a 2014 i5 Mac Mini for the past six months and it was fine, but as soon as I started trying to do things like optical flow (e.g., for slow motion), using power windows or gradients, or multi-node color grading, the machine's integrated graphics couldn't handle it.

If all you're going to do is basic transitions and editing, little to no color grading, applying some LUTs, etc., you can do it with most computers as long as they meet the bare minimum requirements.

Blackmagic publishes a configuration guide, which you should read to be sure your machine fits the specs. http://documents.blackmagicdesign.co...tion_Guide.pdf

Most laptops can't handle Resolve -- sure, they'll open the app and let you do basic editing, but you'll quickly bump up against their limitations, mainly due to their low GPU memory or worse if they use integrated Intel graphics. I recently spent more than $15K to buy a new computer, color-grading monitor, and RAID array so I can use Resolve as intended.

The new version of Resolve has a much-improved audio workstation page (Fairlight) that now provides most of the functionality you'd need for post-production, including ADR (dialog replacement), submixes, effects, crossfades, EQ, gates, compression, reverb, etc.

I came to video from photography and also from audio. It's very complicated...so much to learn! Even the terminology is different from photography and there are many complex things to understand. You might want to start with some basic video courses on lynda.com. Ripple Training has excellent videos on Resolve, including a basic introduction course, but you'll want to spend a few months learning about video in general first. It's a whole different world.

I'm hoping to find a book or combination of books that get me up to speed on understanding the general terminolgy and work flow, so I can hone in on improving and learning more advanced topics from there.

I'm going to approach it like I'd approach learning a new instrument/subject. First I want to get familiar with whats there to be learned, then I want to start trying to figure it out. (If that makes sense.)

Thanks to all who've made suggestions, I appreciate it.

I've used a number of video editing software myself but the "learning curve" was initially a straight horizontal line. A beginner's mindset is completely different and tentative; I had the habit of trying out different software for the first few months. I was judgemental despite being an amateur. If a small project didn't work out well, I'd think the software is trash but then I realized what I really needed was professional guidance.

After about 3 months of freelance editing, I consulted a production firm that also provides video editing services in Toronto. And oh boy, my perspectives changed. I got to work with audio mixers, visual effects, graphics designers and animators. That's when I truly discovered the raw impact of video editing for making $, be it a full-length movie or a commercial ad.

Right now, I believe I have acquired the necessary skills to offer recommendations.

Vegas Pro, Dimo Video for quick edits
Lumen 5 for text-based vids
Adobe Premiere for longer ones
Virtual DJ for sound mixing (I'm still not proficient with sound mixing so I use this basic software).

Well, keep in mind that if you are creating "music videos", most of the time the audio is set in stone (for the most part) and you sync up your video content TO the music.

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