Reaper DAW Tutorial and Getting Started Quick Guide for Beginners

This is a tutorial for Reaper beginners. This should help you get started quickly in recording and mixing Reaper as fast as possible. You can bookmark this post as a guide. As a requirement, you should know how to install Reaper in Windows XP or Windows 7; it should be fully working.

Setting Recording bit depth and Sample rate in Reaper

The first thing is to configure your audio device to work with Reaper. And also to set the desired bit depth and sample rate to use in recording. Supposing you would want to record at 24-bit/48KHz, these are the things you need to check if Reaper is recording at your defined bit-depth and sample rate (enclosed in yellow box):

If it is not showing correct bit depth/sample rate, you can configure your audio interface (using the provided software or driver like the mixer control) first to record at the define bit depth/sample rate, then Reaper would automatically use that setting. If you click on that, you will see the device configuration:

As you can see, audio system should be set to ASIO then the ASIO driver showing your audio interface driver. And well as to enable the inputs 1 to 8 (using Saffire Pro 40 which has around 8 inputs, it may be different depending on the number of hardware inputs). For configuring sample rate; you can adjust it on your audio interface (for example 48 KHz is set on audio interface mix control which is also the one used by Reaper in default):

Inserting new Tracks, Media Items and Configuring for Multi-channel Recording

This is very simple to do:

1.) Go to Track – Insert New Track. This insert one track. Repeat the process if you want to insert more than one track to your session.
2.) If you want to insert media items (audio files such as WAV, mp3, etc.), go to Insert – Media File.

Most of the time, you might want to insert a new track for two reasons:

1.) Mix existing wav files in your computer (so you would be inserting media items such as illustrated in the procedure above).
2.) Record new tracks in Reaper using your audio interface.

For the second reason, you need to add several new tracks in Reaper and configure it for multi-channel recording. As an illustration, supposing you are recording drums using 4 microphones (one microphone for each of the following: snare, kick, overhead 1 and overhead 2)

There will be four simultaneous channels to be recorded at the same time (from four microphones pointing at snare, kick drum and overheads). If you have an audio interface capable of multi-channel recording and accepts more than 2 inputs (for example a Saffire Pro 40 audio interface) at the same time; then you need to connect those four microphones to each of the audio interface preamp inputs (total of 4 inputs used). Then in your Reaper DAW, do the following:

1.) Insert 4 new tracks.
2.) Configure each of those tracks to receive inputs from each of your microphones in audio interface. For example look at the screenshot below:

You noticed that there are four tracks added (snare, kick, overhead 1 and 2). And then if snare microphone is connected to input 1 of your audio interface; then snare track is configured to receive IP 1 input (signifying audio interface first input) as seen in your Reaper input device (see enclosed yellow boxes). The name of your inputs might change depending on the type of audio interface used. Some might be using “analog 1”, “analog 2”, instead of “IP 1”, “IP 2”, etc. The key is to match the track name to the correct inputs you set in the hardware (audio interface). Then the rest would follow as shown in the screenshot below:

You can configure each track to choose a specific input by clicking on the drop down arrow – select “Input: Mono” then choose the corresponding audio interface inputs.

3.) Finally when you hit the record button, the drummer would then perform and Reaper would be recording all these 4 tracks simultaneously.

Duplicating items/media files within the track

Sometimes you are working with drum samples which are only loops (not actual recordings). In a certain drum track consisting of samples, it is looped thus you need to duplicate it. To add and loop samples (or any items or media files):

1.) Insert media item (a drum sample for example). See screenshot:

2.) Position the marker to the end of the sample and make sure the track is selected (it will highlight to white):

3.) While the track is highlighted and marker placed at the end of the sample; press Control + C in your keyboard.

4.) Then press Control + V. It will paste/duplicate another sample next to the original sample. To make several copies/duplicates, continually press Control + V until you have the desired number of samples. See screenshot:

Managing the Audio Mixing Process in REAPER

This section assumes you already know how to track/record in Reaper but does not know the fundamentals in mixing. At the end of this section, you should have pretty solid skills in mixing inside the box using Reaper Digital audio workstation.

First Skill: Adding Plug-in to Reaper

Plug-in is the heart of digital audio mixing in Reaper. You will be using this to apply some effects that are vital to improving the quality of your mix. The following are the general steps on how you can add plug-ins in Reaper:

For DirectX:

1.) Install first the plug-in installer. In Windows, this is an exe file. Restart your Windows PC after installation.

2.) Launch Reaper then go to Options – Preferences – Plug-ins – Rewire/DX then make sure “Enable DX Plug-ins” are checked.

3.) Click the button “Scan for new DX Plug-in”. The press OK; exit Reaper and start it again.

4.) To check if Reaper recognizes the plug-in; go to Track – Insert New Track. Click the FX button on the track, see screenshot:

5.) You should then see the list of Direct X plug-in you have installed:

For VST plug-in, you can read some tip mentioned in this post: How to Install Focusrite VST Plug-in in Reaper

The illustrated VST plug-in is Focusrite VST and same procedure applies to all other types of VST plug-in. The VST plug-in would also appear on the Reaper list of plug-in after successful installation.

Second Skill: Knowing the Master Fader & Individual Level meters

In mixing, the goal is to mix all mono recorded tracks (which are mostly the case) to a master stereo output. The summing volume of all individually recorded tracks can be seen at the master fader. The individual volume of each mono track in your mix can also be monitored. It is shown below (using the default skin configuration of Reaper):

It is important that the master fader level meters should not clip (which results to red) at all. If it clips, you have two options:

a.) Lower the master fader volume until it is not clipping (-not recommended because clipping might be caused by a clipped mono channel also)

b.) Lower the volume in each individual track in the mix by lowering their fader until the master fader do not clip (-recommended, more safe)

Allow some -3dB maximum headroom on the master fader at all times. This means that the maximum peak of the mix should not exceed -3dB at anytime. For example in the screenshot below, the master level meter hits at -5.4dB, -5.3dB (there are two values since the master output is in stereo, left and right channel) which is OK since it’s below -3dB maximum.

The individual level meters can also be monitored and it is also very important to avoid clipping anytime. For example, in the screenshot below; there is no clipping on all mono recorded tracks level meters (enclosed in yellow box):

In the above screenshot, there are 9 mono tracks and each has its own level meters. During the entire mixing session, make sure there is no clipping on each of these channels. Lower down the volume on the affected channel if it clips to red.

Third Skill: Panning mono tracks in the stereo field

Panning is a technique to place different mono recorded tracks in different locations in the stereo field. For example, vocals, bass guitar and kick drums are commonly placed in the center. Guitars on the hard left (100% L) and hard right (100% R).

You can assign panning settings to mono tracks by using the panning knob, see below:

It defaults to “center” as the location. Feel free to change from hard left to hard right or even in the mid left (50%L) or mid right (50% R) in the stereo field.

Panning is important so that the listener can visualize the artist and the band performing in the live stage. Do not pan all instruments in one location because it will not sound good.

Below are the panning settings of all tracks in the mix (enclosed in yellow box):

Fourth Skill: Applying Volume Envelopes, etc

Say for example, you want to silence all the recorded sections before the guitar starts because it contains a lot of background noise. To do this, you will use volume envelopes. Aside from minimizing or adding silence, it can be used to add fade out or even boost specific sections in volume.

This is done by adding automation controls in the mix, for example see screenshot below:

To do this, please read the volume automation and envelope tutorial in Reaper.

Fifth Skill: Adding Effects to your Tracks using Plug-in

In the mix, the most important effects are EQ, compression and reverb. If used properly, these very sufficient enough to create a great mix. Assuming you already added this plug-in in Reaper, its time to use them:

Supposing you want to add effects to your vocal tracks

1.) Click FX button of vocals.
2.) Select any effects you want to add to vocals. Select and click OK.
3.) You can add as many effects you want on a single track (e.g. vocals). For example, you would like to add these following effects in series: Parametric EQ – Compressor – DeEsser:

This is how it looks like in the vocal effects rack in Reaper:

For details about how to use the plug-in in the mix; refer to the plug-in manual for details. For example, Waves plug-in releases manuals on how to use their plug-in. And it contains a lot of tips and techniques regard its use. You should understand it thoroughly before using the plug-in in the mix.

Using MP3 with Reaper

You can use Reaper to convert any audio file to mp3:

1.) Download lame dll file here.

Make sure you correctly downloaded a DLL file that corresponds to your operating system.

2.) Put the DLL file in your Reaper directory (where you can find Reaper exe), see screenshot below:

3.) Launch Reaper.
4.) Go to File – Batch File/item converter.
5.) Click “Add” to files to convert to MP3. You can add more than one audio file.
6.) Assign a filename; configure the output directory of the resulting MP3 files.
7.) Set the output format to Mp3 Lame, and have the rest at default, see screenshot:

8.) Click “Convert all”.

Content last updated on October 8, 2012