Lesson Summary
Set up your REAPER project properly before recording and you’ll save yourself work later. This lesson covers creating your project folder, choosing the right microphone input, setting a safe recording level, positioning yourself at the microphone, and preparing your script and surroundings for a smooth session.
Transcript
We’re almost ready to begin, and now is the time to put on your headphones. Before we record the vocal track, however, we need to create a project folder so the audio and project files remain together and easy to organize. This is a good habit to establish before every recording session.
Go to File, select Save Project As, and choose the location where you want to keep your materials. In this example, I’ll create a folder on my D drive. Right-click inside the file pane, create a new folder, and call it “Meditation Sample.” Open that folder and save the master project file inside it, also naming the project “Meditation Sample.” The project title now appears in REAPER.
To begin a new recording, select Track and then Insert New Track. Although we configured the signal path in Preferences earlier, we can check the settings for each track. Open the track’s input menu and make sure “Record: input (audio or MIDI)” is selected. Then choose the mono input for the Samson Meteor. In my example, the listed input reflects my own audio interface.
Select the speaker icon and set it to “Record Monitoring: On.” Then select the red button to arm the track. You should now hear yourself through your headphones.
The individual channel meter on the screen shows the incoming signal level. The master track meter displays the combined level of the tracks you add in the mixer pane. Ideally, keep the vocal signal around −12 dB and no higher than −6 dB. A level that is too high produces clipping: the meter turns red and the recorded voice becomes distorted and unpleasant to hear.
You can change the incoming level with the control shown here or move farther from or closer to the microphone. You will generally capture a cleaner, stronger signal when you stay close to the microphone and reduce the input level as needed.
For your recording position, keep your mouth a couple of inches from the pop filter and aligned with the upper, wire-mesh half of the microphone. Place the script where you can read it easily without moving your mouth away from that position. Secure the pages on a music stand or lay them on a surface in front of you. Don’t hold the script in your hand, because the microphone will capture the rustling paper.
Test plosive sounds through the pop filter. Make sure hard B and P sounds don’t make the incoming signal peak. Practice reading the script so you become comfortable with its pace and meter as well as the sound of your own voice.
If you’re seated, minimize your movement. If you’re standing, be aware of where your feet are in relation to the microphone stand. Accidentally bumping the stand during a live recording will definitely be audible. Secure the USB and headphone cables so they cannot fall against or touch the stand, as that sound will also enter the recording. Keep plenty of water nearby to keep your throat lubricated throughout the session.
Before we begin, there is one more point that relates to the script advice in Module 2. A meditation script often calls for silence between spoken passages so listeners can focus on their breathing or visualize. Because we’ll edit the vocal and music later, you don’t need to record those silences in real time. If the meditation requires 90 seconds of silence between spoken sections, you don’t have to sit quietly for the full 90 seconds while recording.
Simply read the script from beginning to end in a linear fashion. Adding 90 seconds of silence later is very easy, and editing also lets you shorten or lengthen those quiet sections if you change your mind.
Now we’re ready to record. Prepare yourself and, when you’re ready, press the Record button. I’m going to use the script I edited earlier as my test piece.