Arranging music in a DAW

benmurray85

Recently I've been really getting into messing about and trying the create pieces of music within a DAW. So I'll record loads and loads and try to piece bits together in some sort of form within the DAW (in my case Reaper)

I'm getting mixed results and wondered if anyone had any tips for this sort of thing. I'm thinking more in terms of the workflow and how to be a touch more productive instead of just aimless messing and tinkering, whilst that can be fun I guess I'd like to be a bit more streamlined and knowledgable 

stratman3142

I like to use 'Regions' in Reaper. You can see them colour coded at the top of the picture (below), which is a screen capture of my Reaper set up for my entry for the current Composition Of The Month #18.

While I'm developing a tune I often start with just a few ideas and then copy, paste and move Regions around to sort out a basic arrangement. That gives a basic start structure. I later modify and re-record what's in the repeated Regions to add variation, so it's not literally a copy and paste job throughout. Then there'll be more moving and editing of Regions to experiment with different structures and variations in an iterative process.

I find that Regions allow me to easily shuffle things around and experiment.

http://i.imgur.com/BVcrM34.png

benmurray85

ahhhh @stratman3142 you absolute legend! I didnt think this was possible in Reaper. I had seen other people do it in other DAWs but not Reaper. Thank you so much thats really gonna help!

guitarfishbay

stratman3142 said:

I like to use 'Regions' in Reaper. You can see them colour coded at the top of the picture (below), which is a screen capture of my Reaper set up for my entry for the current Composition Of The Month #18.

While I'm developing a tune I often start with just a few ideas and then copy, paste and move Regions around to sort out a basic arrangement. That gives a basic start structure. I later modify and re-record what's in the repeated Regions to add variation, so it's not literally a copy and paste job throughout. Then there'll be more moving and editing of Regions to experiment with different structures and variations in an iterative process.

I find that Regions allow me to easily shuffle things around and experiment.

http://i.imgur.com/BVcrM34.png

The way Studio One handles this, along with the scratchpads, is very cool. You can drag and drop whole sections very easily.

You can have multiple scratchpad arrangements and try them to see what works. I scratchpads for arranging harmonies and find it very quick

Funkfingers

One caveat.

Since the possibility exists to chop and change a sketchy music project out of all recognition, it is a good idea to save more than one copy. Experiment on the duplicate. If this goes horribly wrong, you can revert to the unmolested version. 

guitarfishbay

Funkfingers said:

One caveat.

Since the possibility exists to chop and change a sketchy music project out of all recognition, it is a good idea to save more than one copy. Experiment on the duplicate. If this goes horribly wrong, you can revert to the unmolested version. 

Exactly why the scratchpads are great in S1. You can leave the original arrangement as it is and do all the chopping and changing on the scratchpads. 

octatonic

Different DAW's have different approaches.

I mostly use Pro Tools and Logic and they handle arrangement very differently.
Pro Tools is like Word- it is a blank page and you can do what you like in it, up to a point although the key commands are not configurable.
Logic is much more structured- you have folders and screen sets that allow you to customise things to your liking, including key commands but it feels much more like you are doing it 'their way' rather than yours.

Essentially it doesn't matter what your system is, providing it allows you to be efficient and use the medium as a way too channel what you want you want to say.
If you get bogged down in one DAW because of how it works then switch to something different.

In my experience though you tend to adapt to whatever you first learn.
I need to know PT in order to mix but I started with Logic- I will always bet better at Logic.

stratman3142

Funkfingers said:

One caveat.

Since the possibility exists to chop and change a sketchy music project out of all recognition, it is a good idea to save more than one copy. Experiment on the duplicate. If this goes horribly wrong, you can revert to the unmolested version. 

I've got Reaper set to save time stamped backups every time I hit the Save button, and I make sure I remember to regularly hit the Save button. Plus it saves backups automatically every 15 minutes. See settings below:

http://i.imgur.com/2ZUsLxr.png

benmurray85

Thanks all. I'll work on all this!

stratman3142

benmurray85 said:

Thanks all. I'll work on all this!

As you're using Reaper, it's worth looking at the Kenny Gioia videos at the link below, if you haven't already.

https://www.reaper.fm/videos.php.

Video 19 is a tutorial on Markers and Regions. The part about Regions starts at 7:04.

https://www.reaper.fm/videos.php#fuatZlqqXac

Just in case you don't already know, SWS extensions (link below) give extra functionality.
http://www.sws-extension.org/

benmurray85

stratman3142 said:

benmurray85 said:

Thanks all. I'll work on all this!

As you're using Reaper, it's worth looking at the Kenny Gioia videos at the link below, if you haven't already.

https://www.reaper.fm/videos.php.

Video 19 is a tutorial on Markers and Regions. The part about Regions starts at 7:04.

https://www.reaper.fm/videos.php#fuatZlqqXac

Just in case you don't already know, SWS extensions (link below) give extra functionality.
http://www.sws-extension.org/

Thanks pal. I had actually been working my way through the Kenny stuff a little while back, thanks for reminding me! 

My main issue usually is my complete lack of any level of IT skills but I'm trying to improve that!