In this video I share two tips that will help you out and save you time when you want to record a song.
1 – dedicate time to learning your tools – that means play time without an agenda
2 – make your own presets and templates – to get from idea to song in fewer steps, with great tones of your choosing
Now I want to hear from other REAPER users. What things do you do to get your ideas out easier?
Share your tips in the comments, get a discussion going and I’ll make another video with the best community tips.
Comments
5 responses to “Tips to work smarter in DAWs – Share your tips!”
Hi Jon, Great subject.
Someone has probably already said this, but, developing your own favorite presets on plugins helps to give you a starting place, and can save time mixing.
Also, I love the SWS extensions Auto-Color and Auto-Icon Functions; all I have to do is name the track and the color and icon pop in automatically.
And the SWS – “Normalize Loudness of Selected Tracks” is a time saver, as well. It allows you to quickly set good levels on all your tracks, so the VST’s and VSTi’s are happiest!
Wow jafmusic mix! I was just thinking this week what a pain it is to color code and icon each individual track separately and how clumsy a task it is within the workflow. Could you tell me where to get this SWS extension and maybe a tip on how to use it? Thanks!
I have a video on that
track colors and icons
You can also color your markers automatically
here’s why you should be using colored project markers
Use a source code repository tool like mercurial to store snapshots of your project file.
That way you can experiment like mad but easily ditch the experiment and go back to an earlier state of the project if you decide you didn’t like the idea.
Some thoughts: Rendering your vsti tracks to audio tracks in early stage if possible (limits your options of modifying, but works for me). I made a custom toolbar that I can use to transpose midi tracks octave down/up or semitone down/up quickly (Not sure if there already is a similar way of doing this). Create quick commands for everything you need 5+ times a day. Use time to work on your specific sounds when recording and do some fast mixing on the fly. “Well, it will be fixed in the mix” is not a good idea