A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

I get a lot of questions about how I am able to record so many tunes so often and how I get them to sound as good as they do. (I still think they need a lot of work but I digress)

The secret is prep. Prep is EVERYTHING, in pretty much anything you tackle in life. Be as prepared as possible. I spent a lot of time over the last few years setting up a template in reaper that works for me. The goal was simple, I don't want to have to re-mix, reset or fumble around when inspiration hits. So I spent the time setting up Reaper to do just that. I set up my volume, panning, presets, eq, reverbs so that I can lay a track down whenever I get the itch. Same goes for the mastering side of the house. I truly, have no idea what I'm doing or the ins and outs of how and why things affect tone, or overall sound quality the way they do, but I did research on youtube, books etc. and then through lots of trial and error, set it up the way it sounded good to me.
To be clear, I didn't take settings and just said hey it sounds good for him so it should sound good for me, I used those as a baseline sure, but I took the time and used my ears to tweak everything to my liking.
I think that part is super important because all of our gear is different, the way we play is different, and while you can accept baseline settings and sound "OK", you won't get your sound until you put in the time.
All that being said, I figured I'd share a screenshot of my template and the plugins I use on the master bus. Some of the instruments have a few plugins on them but it's minimal. I use a slight limiter on the drums and just EQ to tame some of the frequencies of the guitars to clean them up prior to adjusting the whole mix.

Anywho, Its not perfect but it works so if you have questions, hit me up. I'll do my best to give you an answer.

Ok, this may be a dumb question, as I've never mixed anything, nor run Reaper or anything like it, but here goes: in the template, are there literally almost 30 tracks that you're mixing together? Or is that like the master list, and you use some, and not others?

Also, the little green icon for pan left/right almost looks like its not completely panned left/right...is that just the icon, or is it set to be slightly set to the middle?

Thanks for posting the info...its a visual indicator for why your tracks sound so damn good!

bleys21 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 18, 2020 1:07 pm Ok, this may be a dumb question, as I've never mixed anything, nor run Reaper or anything like it, but here goes: in the template, are there literally almost 30 tracks that you're mixing together? Or is that like the master list, and you use some, and not others?

Also, the little green icon for pan left/right almost looks like its not completely panned left/right...is that just the icon, or is it set to be slightly set to the middle?

Thanks for posting the info...its a visual indicator for why your tracks sound so damn good!

No question is dumb so ask away - I think I can speak for everyone on here when I say we are all here to help so don't hold back!
1. # of tracks vary. I usually start with these 21 and add/remove as needed. Sometimes I'll another VST track for piano, orchestra etc. This is my starting point and most of my tunes have at least 15-20 tracks.

2. Panning Varies - It depends on the track & tune. Some are in the middle, some are 10%, 20%, 50% etc.

Hope that helps!

I set up a bunch of Reaper project and track templates last time I pestered you about your methodology... and it’s sped things up quite a bit.

Now, I’m just dialling in 6 or 8 tones that I’ll use regularly and have those set and ready to go too.

Thanks [mention]Narsh[/mention]

Thanks for this.

Being new to Reaper, ive been using a toolbar with fx chains for vocals, bass, acoustic, etc. Do you have any inputs about this? I rarely record straight into reaper. I usually record our band on an old con sole, import the tracks and apply the chains once they are placed onto a track.

If I understand your advice, I would import the acoustic track onto a template trck that I have already designated as such.

Now that Im thinking about ir, my way is adding an extra step.

[mention]tlarson58[/mention], I have a project template set up called “Basic Rock Song“, for example, which includes tracks for drums, 4 electric guitars, 2 acoustic guitars, bass guitar, 2 lead vocals, and 4 backup vocals. Each track already has my preferred effects chains loaded in, but they are disabled at start up. Each type of instrument is grouped in a folder to add control over the overall mix.

This way, I can create some drum beats, and start recording instruments relatively quickly... before my addled old brain fails me.

This could work for a band too, with inputs and routing already assigned in the template.

Thanks for sharing this!

tlarson58 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 20, 2020 5:15 am Thanks for this.

Being new to Reaper, ive been using a toolbar with fx chains for vocals, bass, acoustic, etc. Do you have any inputs about this? I rarely record straight into reaper. I usually record our band on an old con sole, import the tracks and apply the chains once they are placed onto a track.

If I understand your advice, I would import the acoustic track onto a template trck that I have already designated as such.

Now that Im thinking about ir, my way is adding an extra step.

tlarson58 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 20, 2020 5:15 am Thanks for this.

Being new to Reaper, ive been using a toolbar with fx chains for vocals, bass, acoustic, etc. Do you have any inputs about this? I rarely record straight into reaper. I usually record our band on an old con sole, import the tracks and apply the chains once they are placed onto a track.

If I understand your advice, I would import the acoustic track onto a template trck that I have already designated as such.

Now that Im thinking about ir, my way is adding an extra step.

MIlkman is on point here. Although there isn't a "right" way to set this up, certain setups will make it easier to record, or mixdown. On my template, I have a bus for each instrument or track grouping. A Bus is just a fancy name for a top level group. Think about it like a parent folder with sub folders where you can add effects too and files which are the tracks themselves.

Example:
Parent Rhy Guitar Folder (Contains FX -> EQ High Pass/Low Pass)
- Child Kemper Folder (No FX but Volume set slightly lower)
--Right Rhy Guitar Track (No FX Pan L 100%)
--Left Rhy Guitar Track (No FX Pan R 100%)
Child AxeFX Folder (No FX but Volume set Normal)
--Right Rhy Guitar Track (No FX Pan L 100%)
--Left Rhy Guitar Track (No FX Pan R 100%)

This gives you a heck of a lot of control but remember, the more FX you use, the more CPU usage so be careful not to go nuts.

One thing you can do, is turn off all non essential fx/plugins that aren't critical for recording and flip them on at mixdown. (You can automate that as well)

I usually, leave off all the mastering plugins during recording to reduce lag, and flip on the master switch right before rendering. (You see the button red in the 2nd screenshot)

Hope that helps!

The problem that I have with templates is that my songs may sound the same.

Open G wrote: ↑Wed Oct 21, 2020 11:55 am The problem that I have with templates is that my songs may sound the same.

Curious as to why/How? It's a track template not a song template.

I also tend to “freeze” tracks while multi-tracking to reduce the risk of glitches, pops, or lag.

Milkman wrote: ↑Thu Oct 22, 2020 8:27 am I also tend to “freeze” tracks while multi-tracking to reduce the risk of glitches, pops, or lag.

YES!!! This would save me! Had my old PC last 5 years longer than it should have.