REAPER 5 Explained - 3. The Tracks Video Lecture | A Complete Course: Reaper Tutorial - Video & Sound Editing

okay next we're going to take a look at
tracks in Reaper as I mentioned in the
intro over here is considered a track
control panel well a TCP as I also
mentioned you deal with tracks and
Reaper all tracks are the same there's
no such thing as a different track type
there's no instrument tracks aux tracks
bus tracks any track can do anything and
to create a new track we can go to the
menu here the track menu
insert new track
we could right-click over here insert
new track
well we could simply double click
double-click we get a new track we could
duplicate a track by selecting it go
into the track menu hit duplicate tracks
but we could right click and we get the
same menu as the one up here right click
it duplicate tracks
we can reorder tracks just by moving
them around let's put this one up here
or this one down here
sighs them right here
one smaller this one bigger and we can
name them right over here just double
click and give it a name drums
peace and we
tab to the next track guitar and now
attracts an ain't now we could delete
tracks with the menu as well just click
on it right click
and hid removed tracks well we can
simply select it and hit delete
we can insert multiple tracks using the
insert menu and going down here to
multiple tracks in this dialog opens now
this is very helpful for naming our
tracks because it'll automatically name
our tracks and put a number at the end
let's say I want to add four vocal
tracks changes to four
type in vocal
it okay
we have four new tracks named vocal 1
vocal two vocal 3 and vocal 4 that's a
lot quicker than creating four tracks
and renaming them and we could also add
color to our tracks if we select one and
right click it go down here to track
color
we could choose set tracks to custom
color and a co wheel opens up but we
could choose sliders or a picker based
on the name or this or even crayons
let's go back to this make it brighter
and let's choose green hit ok now this
track is green let's make this one red
tract color
make it brighter make it read hit okay
truck is right
we can also randomize the colors let's
select them all bow and then shift
go to track color and set tracks to
random colors and we get random colors
from tracks
now we could also add icons to tracks to
make it easier to see what's on each
track what's renamed these drums bass
guitar
and vocals now to make that stand out
let's say an icon to each track so over
the drums we right-click
and go down the track icon set the icon
and this dialog opens up so you can
choose an icon for our drums
which shoes this one right here now as
an icon make this bigger showing us a
drum set let's do the same thing for the
bass right click it go to track icon
which is base
and it looks like this with two of a
guitar
and that looks like this what's doing
for vocals
now four vocals like to choose a
microphone
like this one here
and it looks like this letting us know
that this track is a vocal it's a little
quicker to see than looking at the name
let's take a closer look at each track
if we go up here this is our fader
we make it lower the sound will be
quieter if we bring it up the sound gets
louder we can double click it to put it
back so if we bring it our way down we
want to go back to our default just
double click it and it goes back to zero
with default the same with our pan we
can pan it to the left so the sound just
comes out of the left speaker or the
right
just comes out of the right speaker
double-click it to put it back to the
center we can also mute our track which
turns the track off and also turns off
the computer processing power for that
track so for Munich track is not taking
up any resources we're also not going to
hear
we could also solo each track which is
the opposite of mute if you hit it only
that track gets heard we can add effects
which we'll do later
we could invert the phase or polarity
right here and some automation or
envelopes and set our inputs and
recording modes over here but we'll get
to that later what I want to show you
now is some modifiers for adjusting our
tracks
the first one is audition mode let's say
we have a fader in good position let's
bring it down to about minus 7 dB now
let's say we like this level right here
but we want to audition another volume
level we can do that by holding down a
modifier for PC it's alt for Mac it's
option and if we hold it down and move
our fader we're going to hear the volume
change but if we don't like it we want
to go back we could just let go and it
jumps back to minus 7 dB
so we didn't lose our level so it's a
great way of auditioning and it works
the same way for pan
set over here we want to try a different
paying position hold on alt on the PC or
option on the Mac and move it
and if we don't like it just let go it
jumps back now if we decide we do like
it like with the volume we could let go
of that modifier and it'll take us out
of audition mode so let's do that
go on audition mode for let go
jumps back but if I do it again and this
time let go of the modifier the level
stays so I can decide to come out of
audition mode and change the level more
permanently and it works the same way
for pan if it's over here I can move it
in or addition mode to over here let go
of the modifier and then it stays
now there's also different modes for our
mute and solo let me show you those put
these back to the default now just
hitting the mute just me to that track
but we could also unmute all the tracks
so let's say this track this track and
this track are all muted if I go up here
and hold down the modifier on PC it's
control on Mac its command and just hit
it all the tracks in our project get
unmuted and they could be any track so
there's a lot of different tracks and we
don't see them all we want to unmute
them all in one shot like this one in
this one just hold on the modifier hit
the button and they all get unmuted
which we could also - by using
right-click let's choose this one in
this one right click this and choose
unmute all
that does the same thing but it's
quicker with the modifier
just click it and all the tracks that
are muted become unmuted and we can do
the same thing with solo let's solo this
track this one and this one hold on the
same modifier ctrl on PC or command on
Mac just hit it
tracts in the project become unsolved
this one or this one hold on the
modifier and they're all unsolved which
again we could do by right-clicking the
menu
choosing it right here on so all in all
the tracks that are sold
become unsold again it's much quicker
than finding each track that's so load
there's another mute mode I want to show
you called inverted mute that's going to
do the opposite of muting a track if we
hold on alt on the PC or option on the
Mac
hit the button all the tracks get muted
in the project except for that one so
it's kind of like solo do the same thing
over here all the tracks get muted
except for that one and this one and
this one and we can undo it with the
other modifier that's called inverted
mute
which we could also right click right
here and choose mute all others which is
the same thing as inverted mute
click it
and all the tracks in the project get
muted except for this one we can also do
exclusive mute so only that track will
be muted so if this track and this track
are muted
we choose exclusive mute for this one
the other ones get unmuted and just this
track gets muted we can also do
exclusive soul so there's a few tracks
that are already sold like this one and
this one we want to solo this track
without having to unsolo
these two we could right click and
choose exclusive solo
or
we can use the modifier on PC it's alt
and ctrl on the Mac it's option and
command and just hold them down and hit
it and just that track is so load which
is really good for soloing through the
song
if want to solo this one and this one
and this one
I don't have to keep on sewing each one
like this
I can just quickly so this one then this
one then this one and all the other
tracks get unsolved it's pretty handy
and a lot quicker than soloing a nun
souling
now we could also mute and solo by
dragging but this only works with tracks
that are next to each other so let's say
want to mute these three tracks just
hold down here
drag to this one and this one and all
three tracks are muted for this one
and can unmute them the same way click
it and just drag each one and then get
unmuted and the same thing for solo want
to solar drums and the bass and the
guitar we can do it like that and undo
it by going back
but again they have to be next to each
other but it's still quicker than
hitting one at a time just quickly grab
it
Mintos tracks
now we could also create temporary
groups in Reaper later on I'll show you
more advanced grouping creating groups
and saving them but if you want to
quickly create a group we can create
temporary ones by simply selecting
multiple tracks you can hold down shift
to do tracks that are next to each other
like this this one this one and this one
or if they're not next to each other you
can hold down ctrl on the PC or command
on the Mac to toggle them take this one
out put this one in
so temporary groups don't have to be
next to each other
quite a temporary group with all these
tracks a hold down shift select them all
and now there's a temporary group for
these four tracks so if we grab the
fader all the tracks move together for
the pan
while the mute
with a solo so it's a great way of
creating a group very quickly although
it's temporary and everything else still
works with them like WA dissing mode so
I could pull this down but hold on alt
or option
and then that go it jumps right back
same with our pan and we could also
disable a temporary group so it's a
moving these faders together because
they grouped in a temporary group
but we want to change the drum level but
we don't have to unselect it we can hold
down shift and move the fader and just
the drums move
or the base well the guitar
but we don't have to unselect them to do
that stead of doing it here we can keep
them selected so the behave as a group
for muting or sewing
hold on shift and it disables the group
for soloing
for muting moving our pan
and moving a fader
so it's very helpful if you don't have a
time or it's not necessary to create a
real group which we'll get to later
you should also know everything we doing
in the track control panel in this
window can be done in the mix window
what's open the mixer everything we've
been doing can be done here as well
you can mute all tracks by dragging
or sewing
we can create a temporary group by
selecting them all they move together
hold on shift to disable it
unselect them all and right click over
here for
coos of so long
turn off all the soloing with the
modifier or the mute
or unmute them all everything I showed
you early in the video will work on the
mixer the same way
so that's pretty much it for now that's
the basics of tracks in the next video
I'm going to go over the track manager
where we can manage the tracks a lot
more efficiently so let's go
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