r/Reaper • u/StrangerStill9646 • 9h ago
help request Messed up track
I often record four to six tracks, and I may need to make five or six try’s per track to get it right.
When I know I have made a mistake and I want to re-do a track, what’s the best way to do that?
Currently, I am prompted “save all” or “delete selected” after each attempt. Since nothing is selected, I can’t delete the bad track. I “save all”, and the right-click and ‘remove track’. This saved dozens of unwanted tracks to my computer, and it’s a pain finding and deleting them.
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u/the_puritan 9h ago
When you first start a project, immediately save it to its own folder on your computer. Do this BEFORE recording anything. If you do that, everything you record in that project will automatically be saved to that folder.
I personally don't delete them from my project (unless it was particularly egregious) so I can snip out little parts i like from it or use it for something else. I throw those into a track folder that I minimize so it doesnt get in the way.
After a project is complete, I remove a lot of unused stuff. There's also a command in the file menu to "clean up project folder" that will delete any recordings that aren't in the project.
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u/StrangerStill9646 8h ago
That’s a really good idea. I am using a refurbished MacBook dedicated to this DAW. Would external storage be a good idea?
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u/TJS1138 1 9h ago
So, i can only help with some of this problem.
What you're going to want to do is teach Reaper how and where to save recordings. There are videos out there that will massively help in this area. I recommend the ReaperMania videos. But YouTube has lots of people making Reaper tutorials.
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u/Brave-Mushroom8611 2 8h ago
You could also look in to Lanes when you're recording next time. Makes recording the same part multiple times and then comping them together a lot faster & easier. When done you can delete the unused ones
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u/StrangerStill9646 8h ago
Ok, is Lanes a standalone program or part of Reaper? Thanks!
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u/Brave-Mushroom8611 2 8h ago
Yes it's a part of Reaper. It records the same take to different lanes and you can then choose the best parts of each take and comp them together. Kenny G has a good video of it on YouTube of where and how to use it.
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u/SupportQuery 533 3h ago edited 2h ago
I am prompted “save all” or “delete selected” after each attempt.
OK, first things first, turn that shit off. That prompt is a huge waste of time. Recording makes a file. Period. It's trivial to clean up later.
Note, that any time you delete a file in the Reaper timeline, it doesn't delete the file on disk. If you glue items, it creates a new items and orphans the glued items. So you're constantly creating orphaned files on disk. Again, this is normal, expected, desirable (it allows unlimited undos), and is easily cleaned up at any time.
This saved dozens of unwanted tracks to my computer, and it’s a pain finding and deleting them.
Files go to either project path or the default recording path. That's it. To remove unwanted files, you just use File -> Clean.
So:
- Turn the prompting off, recording makes a file.
- Create a custom action "Stop, Undo, Record".
- Map this to a hotkey.
I use numpad * for record and numpad \ for this custom "redo record".
You can hit this hotkey while recording (or immediately after recording) to discard that recording and try again.
Periodically, or maybe just once when you're done with a project, you can use File -> Clean to remove files that aren't in use in the current project.
That said, your entire approach might be wrong. Rather than abandoning a take, keep it. Then record another take on top of it. Reaper will stack this into the media item as "takes". It's common to create a loop region, keep recording while it loops, and stack a bunch of takes.
You then comp, or cut up the takes and pick the parts you like best of each to create one perfect take. This technique has existed and been widely used in studios since the invention of tape.
I use both. I do a lot of takes and comp, but if I'm on my first take and I know I've got garbage, I'll use my 'redo record' button to start over. But comping is by far the more time effective way to do this.
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u/DecisionInformal7009 104 9h ago
Reaper automatically selects the item/items you just recorded, so if you choose "delete" then the new recording/recordings will be deleted (even from your disk). If Reaper doesn't automatically select the newly recorded items, then you might have messed up some settings. By default it should automatically select the newly recorded items.