Journey of a Novice Producer #2

Adding Virtual Instruments & Drums to Reaper DAW

Welcome Back!

This week, I experimented with using Reaper’s built-in Synthesiser and finally got my head around drum sampler plug-ins. Scroll on to learn more

Spent a decent amount of time on this one, learned a lot more about using Reaper and made some mistakes which I’ll discuss later and work on for next week.

Workflow:

I started off the same as last time by recording a backing guitar part into the audio interface - I went with an arpeggiated Ab minor/B major progression. Then I layered a simple bassline over the top. As I don’t have a bass, I recorded it on guitar and then pitched it down an octave to sound more bass-like.

Check out last week's post for how to do this.

The essential next step is adding the usual FX to the both of these. I kept it simple with just reverb and EQ.

Making The Beat - Adding Synths:

I wanted more of an electronic element this time. If, like me, you’re new to production then the easiest way to do this is with Reaper’s built-in synthesiser. It’s not the most advanced virtual synth but it does the trick.

After mapping the synth to the virtual MIDI keyboard (see image below), I set up a loop to go through the track and started messing around with a melody. When I had something I liked I recorded it, then edited it up to standard afterwards.

Adding Drums:

Now onto the drums. If you read my last post you’ll know I struggled within an inch of my life to set up an imported drum sampler plug-in. Fortunately, I stumbled on this video by Michael Annucci which made it real simple. I’m using Apasonic drum machine, which is free and pretty easy to get your head around.

Another essential step that you should really get to before anything else is to accurately set the tempo for the whole song. Without this, you’ll struggle to combine the recorded and programmed elements of a song. Check out this video here.

This makes it much easier to set up a drum pattern for your song.

My track is in 4/4 (4 quarter beats per bar) and the backing guitar has a triplet feel, so I used the beat division tool in Reaper’s drum MIDI to match this. After adding some reverb and EQ adjustment it sounded like this:

At this point I was pretty happy with what I had. However, I wanted to mess around with more plug-ins and see what I could find. I downloaded the Decent Sampler plug-in, which has a whole library of paid and free instruments, and used the Alt Strings cello with the virtual MIDI keyboard. This sounded awesome and added another dimension to the track.

Final Track:

Super happy with the final track, I think the strings really add something. I also like the synth, though I kept it to a simple repeated melody; I’d like to go for something more complex and musical next time.

One BIG problem that I noticed right as I was finishing up is that I dropped the tempo around the middle of the track on the guitar part. This means that the instrumental and the beat grows out of time at this segment. Might tool around and try to fix it next week but for now I just dropped the volume of the guitar at that part and cut down the beat earlier as a temporary, half-assed measure.

A BIG tip I’d give to anyone recording live instruments in production, and what I’ll do next time, is use a metronome to stay in time. You can find one easily online here.

Next Time

I want to step out of my comfort zone and focus on the electronic aspect, cut down on the amount of live instrumentation. I’ll see what I can do with just a super simple live guitar melody and maybe make something a bit dancier.

In the meantime I’ll brush up on my mastering know-how. It’s a bit shoddy at the moment, and it’s something my brother, who’s been producing for 3/4 years, wished he’d learnt about sooner.

Thanks for reading, drop me a comment on what you think of the track, any tips would be much appreciated too.

And of course -

It’s all you, baby blue

Callum