Source: Interview with Tommy Lee, lead editor for Sidemen, on the Clipflow YouTube channel.
Tommy Lee has edited for some of the biggest YouTube channels in existence. He's handled 108-camera shoots, led teams, shipped weekly for years. When I asked him about the worst advice he sees given to young editors, I expected something about codec settings or color grading workflows.
Instead, he talked about courses and gurus.
"A mindset I see a lot of young editors try and apply nowadays is taking online courses and these guru tips and tricks and flashy effects to be like the trick to get good editing."
He paused.
"Yes, cool transitions make a cool edit, but does that make your edit better when your narrative is not hitting home? Your story is not as well-crafted as it can be."
The Technical Trap
There's a seductive logic to technical skill development. Learn this effect. Master this plugin. Buy this course. The improvement feels measurable. You can point to what you learned.
But technical skills are a ceiling, not a differentiator.
"A lot of people just wanted to look cool. The actual story, the actual emotion might be lost by applying these quick fixes."
Tommy isn't saying technical skills don't matter. He's saying they're table stakes. The thing that actually separates editors, the thing that makes clients come back and networks take notice, is taste.
And taste isn't taught in courses.
How Taste Actually Develops
Tommy described a habit that sounds almost compulsive:
"If I'm watching something good and I hear something cool, I'll scroll back 20 times. My girlfriend will be like, 'Stop doing that, I want to watch the entire film.' And I'm like, 'No, I need to know what the sound is and why it's making me feel this way.'"
This is the behavior that builds taste. Not passive consumption but active interrogation. What did I just feel? Why did I feel it? What specific choice caused that response?
"You need to be that hyper-analytical person to figure out what these little nuances mean in the moment and learn from them."
He framed it simply: "Consume, but also contemplate."
You can watch as much content as you want. But if you're not thinking about what you're watching, not asking why it worked, not rewinding to isolate the moment, you're entertainment. You're not learning.
The Rick Rubin Principle
Tommy drew a parallel to music production:
"A lot of the great musicians can't even read notes. You create a feeling for it. You become one with the craft without actually understanding the technical parts of it because you have a gut feeling and experience."
Rick Rubin is the obvious example. The legendary producer doesn't explain frequency response or mixing theory. He knows what feels right after decades of doing the work. The technical knowledge matters less than the accumulated judgment.
"There's no theory that can be applied to how your brain works in that moment, but you know that it works."
This isn't anti-intellectual. It's recognition that creative judgment is built through repetition, failure, and reflection, not through courses that teach you what buttons to press.
What AI Can't Do
Tommy mentioned AI directly, and not as a tool that would save editors.
"Especially now AI is taking over. A lot of people just wanted to look cool. The actual story, the actual emotion might be lost."
AI can generate transitions. It can apply effects. It can probably handle the technical layer of editing faster than any human. What it can't do is understand why a specific moment needs to breathe, why the silence after a chaotic scene creates impact, why leaving good material on the cutting room floor makes the final product stronger.
"Crafting an emotion that will reach your audience and touch your audience is not repeatable. That is something that requires love and attention and hard work."
The technical layer is increasingly commoditized. The taste layer is not.
What This Means for Your Career
If you're an editor or creative professional watching the AI wave and wondering where to invest your development time, Tommy's perspective offers a clear answer.
Don't chase effects. Chase understanding.
The next time you feel something watching content, stop. Rewind. Ask why. Write it down if you have to. Build the muscle of noticing what works and interrogating why.
Technical skills will keep you employed. Taste will make you irreplaceable.
"The work is the work," as one of my colleagues puts it. No shortcut changes that. No course compresses the reps. The editors who stand out in five years will be the ones who spent those years actually paying attention.
