EDM Production in REAPER: Part 1 – Sequencing Drums

This week DJ Django is our guest and he’s created a couple of awesome videos on producing EDM in REAPER.

In part 1 he goes through preferences to set in a new install and his workflow for sequencing drums in the arrange view.

Stay tuned for Part 2 on Friday

Actions discussed:

• “Duplicate selected area of items”; “copy selected area of items” (these two are integral to my workflow)
• Changing the grid size – “Grid: set to 1,” “¼”, “⅛”, “1/16”, “1/24”, or “4” (4 bars)
• “Item: select all items in current time selection” (useful for copying whole sections of a song)

Handy Preferences discussed (note that these are purely subjective):

• General > Paths > store all Reapeaks in alternate location
• Project > Media Item defaults > untick automatic fades on new items; turn off “loop source” for items
• Project > Track/send defaults > I set my default “track volume fader gain” to -5dB so I have a bit of headroom (bonus tip – not mentioned in the video)
• Editing Behaviour > untick “link loop points to time selection”
• Editing Behaviour > tab through MIDI notes
• Editing Behaviour > set zoom center to mouse cursor
• Media > “copy imported media items to project media directory”
• Mouse Modifiers > Arrange View; right drag > “marquee select items and time” (If you want to change the left drag setting instead, it’s under “Track” instead of “Arrange View”)
• Snap settings (right-click the Snap button) > snap to items on 1 nearby track instead of 10

Django’s Website: http://django-dj.com
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