Video Editing with DaVinci Resolve: Beginner to Advanced

DaVinci Resolve started as a color grading tool used exclusively in Hollywood post-production. Today, the free version runs on your laptop and outperforms software that costs $300 a year. That's not marketing hyperbole. The free tier includes the same color science used on films like Dune and The Batman, a professional audio workspace, and a timeline editor powerful enough for feature films. And it costs nothing.

This guide covers DaVinci Resolve video editing end-to-end. Import footage, build a timeline, color grade, mix audio, and export for every major platform. Whether you're cutting your first product demo or editing weekly YouTube content, you'll know the full workflow by the end.

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Understanding the DaVinci Resolve Interface

Before touching the timeline, understand how the interface is organized. Resolve uses separate pages, each purpose-built for a specific stage of production. This differs from Premiere Pro, where most functions share one window.

The Seven Pages

• Media (Shift+2): Import footage, organize bins, preview clips before editing.
• Cut (Shift+3): Streamlined editor for fast assembly cuts.
• Edit (Shift+4): The traditional timeline editor. Where most of your work happens.
• Fusion (Shift+5): Node-based visual effects and motion graphics.
• Color (Shift+6): Professional color grading with scopes, curves, and nodes.
• Fairlight (Shift+7): Full DAW for audio production and mixing.
• Deliver (Shift+8): Export your finished project.

Most editing workflows use Media, Edit, Color, and Deliver. The Cut page works well for quick projects. Fusion and Fairlight are specialized tools worth learning separately.

DaVinci Resolve Free vs. Studio

The free version handles 99% of what most creators need. Here's what you actually give up without the $295 Studio upgrade:

For solo projects under 4K, the free version is all you need. The Studio upgrade makes sense for teams or editors working with high-end camera footage that needs AI-powered tools.

Step 1: Import and Organize in the Media Page

Start on the Media page. You'll see a file browser on the left and a media pool on the right.

To import footage:

1. Navigate to your footage folder in the left panel.
2. Right-click the folder and choose Add Folder into Media Pool, or drag files directly.
3. In the Media Pool, right-click and create bins to organize clips: Raw Footage, Music, Graphics.

A critical thing most beginners miss: DaVinci Resolve reads files from their original location. Move those files after importing and you get "Media Offline" errors across your entire project. Either keep files in their original location or use Generate Optimized Media (right-click clips) to create lower-resolution proxies for editing, then swap back to full quality at export.

For screen recordings and product demos, most capture tools export MP4 or MOV files that import cleanly. If you're bringing in recordings from a tool like VibrantSnap, which captures at up to 4K/120fps, consider generating proxies at 1080p while editing on a standard laptop. Resolve handles the format natively; the proxies just keep playback smooth.

Step 2: Build Your Edit on the Edit Page

Switch to the Edit page (Shift+4). Timeline at the bottom, viewer top right, media pool top left.

Create your first timeline:

1. Drag a clip from the Media Pool to the timeline. Resolve asks you to set timeline properties. Click Change to match your footage settings.
2. For standard content, use 1920x1080 at 24fps or 30fps. Match your target output, not your source footage, if they differ.

Essential Keyboard Shortcuts

The I/O/F9 workflow is the fastest way to assemble a rough cut. Mark your In and Out on a clip in the source viewer, then press F9 to drop it precisely into the timeline.

Editing Screen Recordings Efficiently

Screen recordings often have long dead-air sections, filler words, and navigation pauses. These kill pacing. Here's the fast way to cut them:

1. Enable audio waveforms on the timeline (View > Show Audio Waveforms).
2. Zoom in until you can see flat sections in the waveform clearly.
3. Use the Blade tool to bracket silent sections.
4. Select the silent clip segments and press Backspace (Ripple Delete) to close gaps automatically.

For a 15-minute raw screen recording, this process typically takes 20-40 minutes. If that ratio is too high for your workflow, tools designed specifically for this (with AI-powered silence detection built into the recording process) compress that step significantly. The tradeoff is always feature depth vs. speed.

Step 3: Color Grading in the Color Page

Switch to the Color page (Shift+6). This is where Resolve separates itself from every other tool at this price point.

How Nodes Work

Color grading in Resolve uses nodes rather than layers. Each node performs a specific adjustment, and you chain them together in sequence. A parallel node structure lets multiple adjustments happen simultaneously.

Standard single-clip grading workflow uses three serial nodes:

1. Balance node: Correct exposure and white balance. Use Lift/Gamma/Gain wheels or the Curves panel.
2. Contrast node: Apply a contrast curve. Pull down shadows, push up highlights slightly for an S-curve shape.
3. Look node: Add creative color treatment. Warm shifts, saturation adjustments, or a cinematic teal-orange split.

To apply one grade to all clips on a track: Right-click any graded clip and select Apply Grade to All Clips in Same Track. This saves hours on longer projects.

Reading Scopes

The Waveform scope shows luminance. On a well-exposed shot, values sit between 64 and 940 on a 10-bit scale. The Parade scope splits this into R, G, and B channels separately, making color balance issues obvious.

For screen recordings, heavy color work usually hurts rather than helps. A slight exposure correction and a subtle warm shift to neutral colors makes screen content feel polished without looking processed.

Step 4: Audio Mixing in Fairlight

Switch to Fairlight (Shift+7). The page looks like a professional DAW: mixing channels, meters, EQ, and dynamics processors.

Voiceover and Microphone Processing

Clean voiceover audio is the single biggest production quality indicator for most video content. A 2023 Wistia study found that 23% of viewers stop watching a video within the first 45 seconds primarily due to poor audio. Here's a reliable processing chain:

1. High-pass filter: Roll off everything below 80 Hz in the EQ panel. Eliminates room rumble and handling noise.
2. EQ boost: Add 2-3 dB around 3-4 kHz for presence and intelligibility.
3. Compressor: Ratio of 3:1, attack around 10ms, release around 60ms. This evening out volume peaks and valleys.
4. Limiter: Set ceiling at -1 dBFS to prevent any clipping in the final export.

Background Music Levels

Keep background music at least 20 dB below voiceover when both are present. Use the Automation lane (click the A button on a track) to draw volume keyframes that duck music during spoken sections and bring it back up underneath b-roll.

Step 5: Export from the Deliver Page

Switch to Deliver (Shift+8). Choose your render settings.

Export Settings by Platform

YouTube (4K or 1080p):

• Format: H.265 (HEVC) for 4K, H.264 for 1080p
• Resolution: 3840x2160 or 1920x1080
• Frame rate: Match timeline
• Data rate: 50,000 kbps for 4K, 16,000 kbps for 1080p
• Audio: AAC, 320 kbps

LinkedIn:

• Format: H.264
• Resolution: 1920x1080 max
• File size: Under 5 GB
• Optimal video length: 30 to 90 seconds

Demo videos and email embedding:

• Format: H.264
• Resolution: 1920x1080
• Data rate: 8,000 to 12,000 kbps
• Target file size: Under 200 MB for 3-minute clips

Resolve renders to your local drive. If you need cloud hosting, viewer analytics, or embedded CTAs after rendering, upload to a platform like VibrantSnap to add tracking and calls-to-action without re-editing the video.

To export:

1. Set In/Out points on the timeline if exporting a portion only.
2. Choose a preset (YouTube Master, Vimeo HD, Custom) or configure manually.
3. Click Add to Render Queue at the bottom right.
4. Click Render All.

DaVinci Resolve vs. The Alternatives

Resolve's free tier advantage is substantial. The main real-world limitations are the learning curve and the occasional performance issues on entry-level hardware. Neither of those are dealbreakers for someone willing to spend a few weeks learning.

Common Beginner Mistakes

Wrong timeline settings from the start. Set your timeline resolution and frame rate before importing footage. A mismatch causes rendering issues and quality problems that are painful to fix mid-project.

No organization in the Media Pool. 50 clips in a flat list becomes unusable fast. Create bins from the first import session.

Ignoring Color Managed mode. Resolve has a built-in color science system (DaVinci YRGB Color Managed) that handles color space conversions automatically. For footage shot in log profiles (like BRAW, S-Log, or C-Log), enabling this in Project Settings saves significant manual grading work.

Regular Delete instead of Ripple Delete. The Delete key removes a clip and leaves a gap. Backspace removes the clip and closes the gap automatically. Use Backspace by default.