Audio Routing Explained - DAW signal flow tutorial
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 25 авг 2024
- In this video Jon Tidey explains the differences between various audio routing terms.
Learn common terms like Send, aux, return, bus, folder, prefader, post-fader.
Learn the signal flow of your audio inside the DAW through signal flow drawing and real world examples.
Thanks for watching!
Subscribe and hit that LIKE button!
Visit The REAPER Blog for lots more tips, tricks and tutorials.
reaperblog.net
Awesome video. I was mainly relying on folder tracks before, and not really seeing that everything had the automatic master send. Super informative!
The folders are reliable. If you put things in a folder it no longer has a master send. Only if you want to bus it manually (without placing it in a folder) then you have to disable the master send, which is still there.
Stellar job on this information. You cleared up so much.
Fantastic info, Kind Sir! So hard for us 'basement' musicians to discover these tidbits of gold because, as you say, mixed terminology, none of which I understood in the first place. This information helps to simplify the mixing of several tracks.
Now I can fit all faders on my screen instead of scrolling the long list of tracks to find the one I need to adjust. Thanks again for a concise and well demonstrated tutorial.
Cheers!
happy you liked it!
Great explanation! Love the idea of one track for everything. Makes much more sense imo. Just made the switch from Pro Tools to Reaper a week ago and couldn't be happier. Now I have to sell my HD-rig and C24 :)
Dino Medanhodzic, Hi, are you still using Reaper?? I too am starting to use Reaper...I have Pro Tools as well. :)
Thanks a million for this. I am just preparing to quit using protools (for obvious reasons), and I seriously needed this.
I will be watching this video multiple times. Very very good.
Thank you!
Thank you Master. The PreFX was really what I was looking for ...
intelligent and articulate - well done
thanks for this excellent information.
The right click trick in the Grouping Matrix was a godsend for me :)
Sharpie sounds needs more reverb. In all seriousness, super informative video and well presented! In the future, i'd suggest taping the paper down to keep it still.
Not taping the paper down added to the "clever side note to my friends" feel of that scene.
Just crystal clear! Thanks a lot!
BTW, this vid was super clear and easy to understand!!! Amazing job! Thank you!
Excellent explanation! Thank you so much
Thanks for this! Very informative and easy-to-understand. :)
YOU ARE EXCELLENT! Thanks, This vid is just what I needed. I have 7 mics on the drums and now that I know how to do this ,the folders made my life easier.
Very helpful video!
thx Jon, that was so helpful
Thanks so much for this, Jon. This is the most helpful Reaper video I have ever seen (sorry, Kenny Goia). I wish that I had had this when I made the decision to go from GarageBand to Reaper, but I had to work this out mostly myself (and with your help, Jon, and Kenny's help, too).
The only aspect of this I am still trying to understand the purpose of is VCA's. I understand what they do in Reaper - would it be accurate to say that they, in effect (ha, ha) act as a kind of meta-folder (which handles the output of whatever folders/tracks one sends to them, even though they do not have the audio routed directly through them)?
Can you do one of these on automations? this format its so good.
good idea. I'll have to think about what visuals I can use to explain the different modes.
yeah because I watch your stuff in i go like oh cool but after a month i am like how was that? at which video have i to look? and i cant find it. this insted is really complete, and if i forgot something about routing I know where to look.
I think automation, also editing (grouping splitting stretching etc) will be very useful.
nice one Jon ;)
I have a question, can you route an audio signal outside from Reaper, for example, if I'm using asio that means I can only use the audio in one program, can you actually input audio from a different program using asio?
something like input spotify, winamp or a browser, also can you route an output for a program that uses audio signal, like an external visualizer, like a rgb keyboard audio visualizer?
I understand the 'Folders" etc., but why when I turn the Master Mixer Volume down my guitars DO NOT TURN DOWN??? I checked the Send Matrix and all looks ok... ?????????????? (Only the MIDI TRACKS drums, synth etc turn down)
UPDATE: Found shortly after this posting... When setting up my main guitar tracks I saved them as a TEMPLATE with an accidental HARDWARE BUS added that caused above issue. I was setting REAPER up and assumed it was what I had to do...then saved this BAD SETUP to load into REAPER on the fly...OOPS!
Thanks for your efforts and time spent on your videos! They are great!
This is a very good video but it would be helpful for noobies to explain why you would route tracks a certain way and why we would ever use a VCA. Might seem self-explanatory to anyone who has mixed before but this would be a good insight to add.
Thank you for the explanation! At this point I'm asking myself: When and why should I route my tracks? I've been using folder tracks for a while now, but I never routed my tracks otherwise.
reverbs, chorus and delays can be shared by any tracks in the project when you have them set up on separate tracks and it's easier to add more or less of the effect using sends. Instead of 5 vocal tracks with 2 reverbs for Each, you can use 2 reverbs on separate tracks and sends from the vocal tracks to add the effect.
Hi Jon,
I do have some questions please:
1. At the moment I'm routing through my sends on each track of a specific section to an Aux Track, then I group then into that folder.
Q: Am I doing Double work here for the same result?
2. Then when I send to an FX - I set my volume & pan state on the actual send.
Q; Is that Pre-fader or Post-fader information to the FX Buss? (I suspect Pre!)
3. I noticed when I do Automation, I don't see my faders move accordingly, but when I raise the level on the fader, my automation base is raised accordingly.
Q: Whats happening there? its hard to keep track of whats been done & where you have automation. (I guess this might be for another Vid Right :-) )
Thanks for all your input, it is of Great Value & has helped tremendously already!
Have a Stunning Day!
1 - yes I think that's extra work.
2 - by default you should have post-fader sends so vol and pan go along with it. pre-fader sends would need that stuff set. It's rare that I pan my sends.
3 - tracks need to be in Read mode to see the automation moving the faders. You still hear the effect in Trim/Read. I mostly automate in Trim/Read mode and sometimes latch.
This problem has been plaguing me for weeks: My rendered mix levels were somewhat different than my session mix. Some tracks were louder, some softer than the original mix. I figured out that on some of the tracks, Audio Hardware Outputs were sent straight to Main Out 1-2 / Main Out 1-2 . Some tracks were not set to anything. So I deleted all the Outputs going to Main Out 1-2 because I know they are going to the Master track anyway. Thing is, now it seems that has effected my panning. So I'm not sure when to send track outputs straight to hardware or not and why.
no, don't send any tracks (other than master) to hardware outs in a mix.
Thank you. So what happened to my panning!?
Figured out the panning issue. Pan Width on the Master Fader was set at 0% (default I guess. I didn't do it!).
Thanks I hope this is what I'm looking for. Here's my problem:
I make podcasts using Reaper and want to make phone calls and record there voice in Reaper. That is easy using an audio interface (8 channels). What I want is play audio I can hear and the caller can hear. But I do not want the caller to hear there return signal.
Can I send a separated output to the caller with all the audio channels I hear but without there own audio signal?
(I'm using M-Audio M-Eight audio interface with 8 outputs and using Rode SC6 and Rode SC3 linked to my iPhone for input and output to my audio interface.)
Bit of a complicated setup.
Might be better to make the call through skype or google voice instead of the phone.
But essentially you would be listening to output 1-2, and they would be listening to output 3. You have to send them your voice, and the pre-recorded clips with output 3-4 from reaper/your interface.
I guess headphone out 2 connected to mic 1 of SC6, headphone out of SC6 to interface input 2.
You can record and monitor input 2 in your headphones but don't send input 2 to output 3.
Thanks to your tutorial I nailed it! I made a second masterchannel and that channel I send to the caller. In the routing Matrix (alt R on Windows) I disabled the caller signal so no feedback.
Thank you so much you made my day.
DISABLE the master send on child tracks, Holy crap that's what my life has been missing!!!!
why? can you explain how does that make a difference? thnks
I'm feelin you on this.
A tricky subject this, at least tricky to explain and you did great.
May I ask for for a video on using VCAs? I think I know how they work I'm just not sure when,why and how to use them.
I feel like I've already covered them fairly in-depth in the reaper 5 tour at 5min ruclips.net/video/zmRndKJExvg/видео.html
And also in Q&A #6 at 2min ruclips.net/video/3MLstFwOyKE/видео.html
Wouldn't hurt to have the info in one place and easier to find though.
Thanks John, years ago I tried all this in REAPER with VCA VST's and gave up. This is so much easier!
Thank You!!!
I have a very basic question. Why route?!
Thankyou !
mind Blown. will try again tomorrow. :o)
I only use machine drums like Battery4, Kontakt's Studio drummer, etc. In this case would you still send separate tracks (HH, Kick, snare...) to drums folder, or record them on single track and use their own fx for mixing?
If you want to use plugins/effects that aren't built into battery and kontakt on separate sounds you'll need to create sends for each of the sounds you want to process separately, and one for the rest.
Other than that it's up to you. If you want to treat the whole kit as a single "loop" just route it all to one track.
Great!!Thanks!!!
wait wait wait ..... you typed a name into the track, and it automagically turned it to a (pre-determined?) color
which script does this? I'm assuming it's one of the myriad SWS extensions. there's SO FRICKEN MANY of them LOL
another great video. thanks :D
EDIT: nevermind. i figured it out. i'd just never actually looked at those particular options before.
SWS is SO deep :)
for anyone else reading the comments, SWS Auto-Color/icon can do tracks, markers, regions. A real great time saver.
Tracks in R.E.A.P.E.R. are a tough one to explain...because its not like your tradition daw (more like a track and patchbay in one) Tracks are define by the input type...Ex...set track input to a MIDI channel its a MIDI track...set track input to a Mono input its a Mono track..stereo input etc... Folder tracks would blow your mind if you don't pay attention to the track indentations but are super powerful....I think It would have been a better demo if you had used audio to visually show where the sound is going
I may come back to this more organized as a cheap course on the website.
BTW, Kenny Gioia has a nearly 3hr course on the subject. "Reaper signal flow explained" at Groove3.com
But Kenny sounds too much like Christopher Walken. :)
Hi there ! I need help with backtracks for live performance. I want to make it work through an Steinberg UR22 audio interface.
So, I have the following:
- one mono track with samples that need to go to PA
- one mono track electric guitar backtrack + click metronome from Reaper that do not need to go to PA but on the drummer's phones together with the samples.
In other words, the drummer needs to hear everything (click, guitar, samples) in his phones center panned and the PA needs to receive only sample track.
How do I do that or ... can it be done using only Steinberg UR22 and Reaper Routing or for the drummer I need a Samson S-Monitor to sum up the signals center panned ?
Regards !
he said a little confusing, a little different. LMAO! damn it is WAAAAYYYYY different from the majority of DAWS.
Question. I've recently started using Reaper again going through old mixes and my work flow is pretty simple but very inefficient on CPU. What I normally do is record my tracks, for instance multiple guitar tracks, then apply the same vst effects to these tracks with the FX button. What I should be doing is sending all these tracks using the same effects to a delegated effects track so my CPU isn't hampered so badly. The problem with this, is it ends up sounding completely different from my original method and not in a good way. Even with the master send disabled under these tracks before they go to the guitar effects track. The same thing happens when I group these tracks under a bus folder and apply that effects track to the master bus instead of using the effects routing send method. Can someone explain this? Hope this makes sense.
Is there a tutorial on the "FX Input" or an example of it's use? Not talking about FX or track FX. It's the little FX button near the input selection. I was wondering what other uses it would have, the only one I saw a reference for is using it for a plugin like Midi Guitar 2. It isn't explained anywhere that I have been..
the input fx chain. I don't use it but maybe I can come up with a list of a few uses for it.
hi jon. i have recently bought some outboard gear for tracking and hybrid mixing. i have an analog eq,and compressor. i hope to use a few pedals too. could you do a video on how to set up something like this? any tips would be great. i have bought a patchbay too . wow. what a headache that is lol
These videos should help.
ruclips.net/video/0tJPetOYsIc/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/dMAup8OQ_7s/видео.html
thanks jon.i really am grateful you take the time out of your day to help us all. it is very much appreciated. i think i speak on behalf of everyone following the reaper blog. really cool man. thanks again
And this lesson in advanced trigonometry is exactly for what? to know that a+b will always be ab or c?
don't know what you mean
So I’m having an issue when I put anything into a folder: anything inside that folder I try to pan right disappears completely, but seems to act normal when I pan something to the left. Why can’t I hear my guitars when I try to pan them hard right? Does it have something to do with my master/slave settings in groupings?
follow the signal flow, bypass the plugins one at a time to find the problem
@@TheREAPERBlog Gosh... I think I figured it out. My cla mix hub and c4 compressor were both the mono plugins lol... I just changed it to the stereo and that seems to have done the trick. I was thinking there was a different setting for that, just way overthinking it I think. Thank you for the response! Now if I’m using amp sims on my guitars, should I still keep those mono? The sims I use give me the options “mono, mono/stereo, and stereo.”
@@FesteringGhoul I always do separate guitar amp plugins for each performance.
thank u
Awesome video!!! Im new to recording with a daw. Im using a Xenyx 302 usb mixer in Reaper, when I record with vst fx i hear the dry signal too. Do you have a video that covers that, or can you explain how to not hear it? Thanx
Didju get it figured out? Maybe you need to go to the track that you are running your dry signal into and click on the routing settings for that channel and uncheck "Master Send?"
Is there a way to set a buss/folder hierarchy system where I can have
individual reverb sends going on? For example, using parallel
compression on a buss/folder for drums while having individual reverb
send settings for each separate percussion instrument with the
buss/folder fader effecting the reverb settings.
That's what automation does, you can set the volume, effects, panning and many other settings of individual tracks or parts of a track separate from other tracks routed to the same parent or Effects or any buss. If that's what your asking.
Add an FX "Folder" at the bottom of the track-stack in the TCP. Add the FX you want in each track inside that folder, e.g. a ping-pong delay, or a plate reverb (with an instance of ReaEQ for taste). On the original track you want to add that effect to the signal, simply click the "I/O" button of that original track and send signal to the FX track, (The Send Dialogue Box also includes a dedicated fader for that individual track's send, and even a mute and pan slider), which makes adding reverb, etc. to individual tracks a breeze!
Choose this FX folder, right-click on it and "Save as Track Template" to quickly add it to any project.
I had a question when using busses along with tracks dedicated to FX: (time And modulation based).
My question is if I had drums routed to a parallel compression/eq and disabled the master send on those tracks being sent to that drum buss (because that's what every other video tells me to do in reaper)
How would I send select tracks such as Snare, HH, Toms, etc. to an Fx track? Because other videos tell me not to disable the master parent sends when routing to an FX track.
Currently im routing all drums to a buss for parallel processing (disabling master parent send on those tracks) and im also sending some of those tracks to a dedicated FX track, I feel like im doing wrong by this way. Thanks in advance for helping clear this up if possible!
usually you're sending to reverb or delay tracks in parallel. disabling the master/parent send would prevent the original signal to be heard.
I have several videos on mixing drums and using reverb if you want to see some more examples
Doesn't having a prallel send result in getting the same audio file playing simultaneously, with and without the effects?
Exactly what you want for parallel processing. :)
In plugin (eg. Reverb) on Send FX track need to set only Wet 100%/Dry 0% signal, or mix 50%?
because the clean signal will be heard from the sending track, the reverb aux/bus/return will need 100% wet effects.
reverb on same track - blend wet/dry to taste.
reverb on separate track - 100% wet, with send level or reverb track volume creating blend.
One thing I've wondered and don't understand:
Why can't a parent track send to a child track?
I've tried this with a "master" MIDI track, as the parent folder for instrument tracks that I want playing the same MIDI. Doesn't work. No MIDI gets routed.
I've also tried this to record the output of one track to another track (say, recording the output of a virtual instrument, or recording some effects applied to audio -- such as reverse reverb or reverse delay) with the recording track as the child of the recorded track. Again, nothing gets sent.
Is this simply not possible, or am I doing something wrong?
Thanks again :D
reaper prevents you from making feedback loops in the mixer. There's a toggle in project settings/advanced to override it.
Oh, THAT'S what that option is for. Thanks :D
Any way to control where the fx themselves get panned using this method? For example: If i want a dry vocal on side, but it's reverb on the other.
one way to do that that would be a pre-fader send from the vocal to reverb track, pan reverb track opposite.
Great video, thanks. Is it possible to host an fx bus/track that receives from 2 (or more) other tracks, processes said fx independently and then route them back to the same tracks (or 2 new tracks) for further processing ? The reason I ask is that UAD h/w cpu processing limits the number of fx instances you can have (DSP is on board the uad device but they are still vst/au plugs). That way 2 or more tracks could benefit from the same FX track and then be subsequently processed differently (other FX/pan etc). The caveat is the FX on the bus track must be the first FX the 2 (or more) tracks hit (as it is a pre-amp for said UAD device). I've been racking my brain how to do this but not worked it out... The FX bus would not (in theory, if this works) send to the master (so uncheck box) but would push the 2 or more respective processed signals back to where they came from or 2 or more new tracks...
Sounds like a lot of work! Don't think UAD pugins run on more than 2 channels, but if they did they'd still require additional dsp for each channel.
Something you might want to try is forcing the uad plugins to run in mono where possible (any track with a mono source), that may free up some DSP for more instances.
reaperblog.net/2012/09/this-tip-could-save-up-to-50-cpu-in-your-next-mix/
Actually, it is possible as I found out this w/e.
If the UAD fx are placed on Track 1 and we have 5 tracks total.
The i/o for T1 is:
Receives from T2 Channel 1>1
Receives from T3 Channel 2>2
Sends to T4 Channel 1>1/2
Sends to T5 Channel 2>1/2
Master send is disabled for T1/T2/T3, instrument / uad input plays into T2 and T3 and goes via FX Bus on T1 and then out to T4 and T5 respectivelty
The suggestion you had was good but not applicable (i think) for UAD h/w as the processing is on-board as opposed to on the reaper host o/s CPUs.. That way you can effectively double the instance capacity of all uad effects on T1 chain by having them serve a 2nd track (thus leaving the same headroom for other uad plugins on other tracks)..
Whenever I render in Reaper the quality is noticeably quieter and nowhere as good as have the actual mixed. I’ve tried rendering as MP3, WAV and FLAC and the quality is the same for each one.
Can you please offer any advice on how to solve this?
the most likely answer is that the master track's send to hardware is not at 0, meaning you're hearing it louder than it actually is when mixing. Or you have something in the monitoring fx chain that changes the sound.
How do you keep the pan set in "slave" tracks once it is routed ?
I pan where I want the instrument. Do you mean with routing through folders or for automation?
I want to route clean signal through à guitars bus with one fx : amplitube (amp simulator) while keeping the tracks routes panned. I'm reading at the moment that my Amplitube must have a stéréo output, how do I do that ?
it's really best to insert one amp + cab per guitar track and treat it like you would with the real thing. Get a great sound then commit by freezing the track.
But to answer your question you are looking for the numbers 1-8 at the top of Amplitube, click "2", then where it says "MONO IN" in orange, click it to say "STEREO IN". That gives you two independent pedal, amp, cab, fx chains. Hard pan the two source tracks left and right.
Thank you a lot ! I got my answer and did what I wanted. I've got 4 rythme guitar tracks, so I don't have enough UI (with all clean guitars, and solo etc.), now it's so much better. Just one more thing, what is it to freeze a track ?
freezing will apply the effects chain to the items on the track, and lock the item to prevent changes. Completely frees up the CPU resources. You can still add more effects and you can unfreeze if you want to change those amp settings later. Right-click on the track or in the fx chain to find the freeze options.
Is there a way to apply the same sends to every new track I'm adding to my current project automatically?
Provided that the receiving track exists in the project, you can save it with track templates.
Can you explain what you need to do with this?
If i have a aux/bus i use all the time like a certain reverb, i don't want to manually set up the routing (I know it's just drag and drop) everytime i add a new track to the project.
ok i kinda found a solution, to add tracks which automatically (with help of this stash.reaper.fm/v/25209/send_track.lua#comments script) send to my fx bus :>
a small thang, having troubling finding the way to name multiple tracks without the mouse, as you did at the beginning.
tab key
cheers jon
I just miss an explanation on Auxiliary Tracks. Everything else is spot on I'd say
Quick answer is reaper doesn't use them.
So hard to read the text.
routing is my 1st world biggest problem.......... the minute i try take it in or understand it my brain fucks off ........ especially when u have a work flow that includes machine/kontact/reaktor all going through logic......o well :)
I made a mistake - see note below
(It's a shame the picture quality is so poor.
It doesn't really help trying to see the options being chosen)
which part? are you watching on a computer?
@@TheREAPERBlog Woah - sorry
I just noticed that the playback quality defaulted to 480.
When I changed to 1080, things are fine.
Everything is too small to see in your video - but thanks.
Make sure you're watching in 1080p, then it is much clearer and easier to see. :)