Basic Voice Recording in Reaper

Getting Started with Recording in Reaper

Create a New Track
Start by creating a new track. Right-click in the track control panel (the left section of your track area) and select “Insert New Track.”

Tip: It’s a good habit to name your track. Double-click the track name area and type “Voice” or whatever is relevant for your recording.

Enable Record Mode for the Track
On the newly created track, locate the red circular Record Arm button and click it. This puts the track into record mode, letting Reaper know that you want to record audio here.

Select Your Input Device
Once your track is in record mode, you’ll see the track input section (near the volume and pan controls).

• Right-click the input area and select Input: Mono > Input 1 (or whichever input your microphone or audio interface is connected to).
• If you’re using a built-in microphone (for example, on a laptop), this will typically be Input 1 as well.

Set Your Recording Levels

• Before recording, make sure your levels are correct to avoid clipping or too quiet recordings. Play some sound or speak into your microphone and watch the meter.
• Adjust the input gain on your audio interface until peaks land between -12 and -6 dB, with the average sitting around -18 dB. This gives you a good balance between loudness and headroom. The next section explains where these numbers come from.

Important: Always adjust your input gain while monitoring the meter – never guess.

Start Recording

• With everything set up, hit the Record button in the transport bar at the bottom of the screen (the button with a red circle).
• Reaper will now start recording audio on the armed track. To stop recording, press the Stop button or the spacebar.

Playback Your Recording
After stopping the recording, Reaper will automatically place the recorded audio as a media item on the track. Hit Play to listen back to your recording.

Gain Staging: Set It at the Knob, Not the Fader

One distinction clears up most recording-level confusion:

If a recording clipped, no fader move will ever fix it. Set levels at the knob, while watching the meter.

The two failure modes

• Too hot: the signal hits 0 dB and clips. Digital clipping is permanent distortion, recorded into the file forever.
• Too quiet: the recording seems fine, but when you boost it later, the noise floor (hiss, room rumble, preamp noise) comes up with it.

These are not equally bad. We record in 24-bit, and the noise floor at 24-bit is so low that a quiet recording is almost always recoverable. A clipped one never is. When in doubt, err quiet.

The numbers

Why -18? It’s roughly where the old analog consoles ran their meters at “0,” and audio gear has been designed around that level ever since. There is no prize for getting close to the top of the meter.

Set gain at performance volume, then back off

Have the speaker or performer do a real-volume rehearsal while you set the knob, and then back the gain off a few more dB. People always get louder on the actual take than they were on the run-through.

Reading the meter: peak vs. RMS

Reaper’s meters can show you two numbers at once. Right-click any track meter and choose Peak + RMS.

• The peak value is the instantaneous maximum. Its job is to protect you from clipping.
• The RMS value is a short average, and it tracks how loud the signal actually sounds to your ear.

A snappy sound (a hand clap, a plosive “p”) can peak high while its RMS stays low. That’s why both numbers matter: peak guards the recording, RMS describes it.

Resources

• REAPER Metering: RMS vs Peak , a Reaper-specific walkthrough with tracking targets
• The beginner’s guide to headroom and levels

Monitoring Modes in Reaper

Input Monitoring
By default, Reaper is set to monitor your input, meaning you can hear yourself through your headphones as you record.

• You can toggle monitoring by clicking the small speaker icon on the track control panel.
• If you prefer not to hear yourself while recording, disable monitoring, but Reaper will still record your audio.

Punch-In Recording
Sometimes you need to re-record a specific section of your take, and punch-in recording is perfect for that.

• First, position your cursor at the start of the section you want to re-record. You can press Cmd+R (Mac) or Ctrl+R (Windows) to punch in.
• When Reaper reaches the punch-out point, it will stop recording and keep all the takes. You can later choose which take to keep by selecting the media item and right-clicking to choose your preferred take.

Auto-Punch Recording

• If you want to be precise with punch-in recording, use the Time Selection Auto-Punch feature.
• First, create a time selection by dragging in the timeline above your track.
• Then go to the transport bar, right-click the Record button, and select Record Mode: Time Selection Auto-Punch. Now, when you hit record, Reaper will only record within the selected time area.

Auto-Punch Selected Items
Another useful punch-in mode is Record Mode: Auto-Punch Selected Items.

• First, select the item(s) you want to re-record by clicking them.
• Then right-click the Record button and select Record Mode: Auto-Punch Selected Items. Reaper will now only record over the selected items.
  Tip: To make multiple selections, split the item first by pressing S at the cursor where you want to split the recording.

Final Thoughts on Recording

Reaper provides a lot of flexibility when it comes to recording and managing your takes. Experiment with different modes and find what works best for your workflow. Remember, Reaper will always keep your original take, so don’t worry about losing previous recordings.

For a more detailed overview of all the recording modes and their use cases, check out this helpful recording modes summary .