PERFORMING THE BASIC EDITING TASKS

IN COCKOS REAPER

BY ARTUR SHAMSUTDINOV

WEEK 2 OF INTRODUCTION TO MUSIC PRODUCTION AT COURSERA.ORG

HI!

My name is Artur Shamsutdinov. This is lesson for 2nd week of Introduction To Music Production at Coursera.org. Today I want to talk to you about basic sound editing and how to do it in DAW named“Cockos REAPER”.

WHAT WE WILL DISCUSS

• Trim• Separate• Crossfade• Merge• Grid

• Cycle• Markers• Zoom• Name• Color

COCKOS REAPER

REAPER is a complete digital audio production application for Windows and OS X, offering a full multitrack audio and MIDI recording, editing, processing, mixing and mastering toolset.

Official website: http://www.reaper.fm

REAPER INTERFACE

TRIMTrimming is the process when you manipulate track regions. It is non-destructive audio processing. You keep the original recorded audio file, but you tell DAW where is the start and end point of current fragment.

To trim the audio clip just drag the left or right side of your fragment. You will see trim cursor icon.

SEPARATESeparating is non-destructive audio editing. It splits audio clip on several fragments as many times as you want.

To separate audio in REAPER click on audio clip that you want to cut, set time cursor on certain position, and hit «S» key on your keyboard. You can also do it from the main panel: Item -> Split items at cursor.

CROSSFADE

Crossfade appears when you put one clip on another. For the best transition effect REAPER will create a crossfade. You can manipulate the speed of crossfading by dragging it left or right.

MERGE

Merge is destructive type of sound editing. It is not references to source audio file but creates brand new file on your hard disk.

To merge (glue) items you need to select items with Ctrl or Cmd key and in main menu select “Items” -> “Glue items”. New clip will replace selected clip.

GRID

You can stick your clips to the DAW’s grid to make precise timing for all tracks in the project or to move them as you want by turning of the grid.

To turn on/off the grid you need to hit Alt+G

CYCLE

To repeat some region of your track many times you need to select region, toggle repeat (R key) and play the track (Space) or hitting transport buttons below the DAW interface.

MARKERS

Markers help you to orient in you big multitrack audio project.

To set the marker set your transport cursor to position where you want and press M key on your keyboard. To edit the parameters of marker just click twice on its header.

ZOOM

In and out zoom can be done by simple up and down moving of mouse wheel

NAME & COLOR

To rename you audio clip double-click your left mouse button on selected clip. REAPER will open “Media Item Properties” window. You can change the name in “Take name” field.

To change the color of selected track click the right mouse button, choose “Item and take colors” -> “Set items to custom color…” and choose color

THAT’S ALL!

THANK YOU FOR SLIDINGAND ENJOY YOUR DAW