Audio and Photo Editing:  

VideoStudio X2 comes with 3 proprietary audio files – proprietary in that they’re not Beethoven or Air Supply; they’re lovely instrumental pieces – that you can insert into one of two audio tracks. If you don’t like the included music, importing your own CD, or WAV, MP3, and WMA files can be done through VideoStudio’s Media Library.

Be aware Corel VideoStudio will not support AAC audio files. These files are most commonly associated with iTunes. However, most songs in iTunes can be converted to MP3 directly in the iTunes application.

To fade audio in or out, just right-click the audio track and click the Fade In and Fade Out options. Fitting audio to a scene is done by clicking and dragging the beginning or end of the track in the timeline, and dragging it to fit the scene. The Surround Sound Mixer is a handy tool for making audio come from left or right speakers, but not front or back. Finally, VideoStudio X2 has a number of audio filters to help remove echo, hissing, and even amplify certain sounds.

Photo editing in VideoStudio is standard: you can import, crop, resize, rotate, and do basic edits like change contrast and brightness levels.

Help and Support:  

VideoStudio X2 comes with a thick paper manual with detailed definitions, how-to articles, pictures, and more. We didn’t have to contact Corel’s Support because we didn’t encounter any show- stopping issues, but we did make use of their help file, online tutorials and FAQs. We found all the information we needed, but it would be nice if Corel had a handy list of compatible camcorders and capture cards.

Corel’s phone support is not free. Fortunately, email support is free, and the tutorials and FAQs answer most questions new video editors have.

Corel VideoStudio X2 comes with everything a beginning video editor needs and then some. There’s always a learning curve with video editing software, but Corel makes it less of a headache for first time users thanks to a clutter-free interface.