Setting up Reaper for Voiceover | part 1

Welcome back to crown stag voice over. after My laptop blew up I needed to rebuild my set up, so thought it would be a good opportunity to walk you through setting up reaper for voice over. I'll show how I set up reaper and provide some great hacks for those who don't know what they are doing with things like E.Q and Noise gates.
Ill talk you through Reaper and some of its setting and how you can turn Reaper into an amazing work station for voice over.
My goal in any of my videos is to give you the voice over information that will help you become the most successful you can be when you start out in voice over as a career.
if you find this video helpful, leave me a like and subscribe and don’t forget to share with your friends.
Remember you can absolutely be a voice over artist.
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[@dvalward]

Neil, I couldn't find the Music Comp preset. It wasn't in my list.

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

Yeah, that has happened with a couple of people. you can re-create it to the exact settings you see in the video and you will be fine. just remember to save is at a new pre-set using the +

[@dvalward]

@@CrownStagVoiceover Doing it now! Thank you.

[@luisamedina1]

Hi Neil. Out of curiosity, do have a tutorial about setting up EQ, Noise Gate, etc as well? Do you use that at all on your set up?

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

I don’t and I alway say no to copy the settings you see on a video. Eq, noise gates and compression are always going to be specific to your voice abs booth setup. I would suggest looking into what your setup can do and maybe engaging an audio engineer to help you get your settings locked in.

[@luisamedina1]

@@CrownStagVoiceover I didn’t mean to copy your very own settings per se. I just wanted to see how you would do it for your particular case maybe using some samples, and then tailor those similar steps for my voice. Hope this helps. Thank you very much Neil!

[@harryvendryes]

Sitting in a dark room for hours on end. Talking to yourself. Developing multiple personalities who interact with each other. Yep, they have places set aside for people like you :-) Subscribed!

[@patrickd.quance8650]

Thank you, Neil! I have also appreciated the work of our colleague Mike D., but he is using a Mac OS, and my current computer is a Windows one, so it's a little easier to follow your setup method. Both you guys are amazing, but I am especially grateful for your patience in presenting a slow, analytical pace. As a music composer and computer programmer type, I relate well to that kind of approach.

[@harryvendryes]

Yet another KZbin video that really should have many, many more views. Voiceover, voice over, voice-over, VoiceOver or VO. I'm always confused about that one :-) Looking forward to more of your uploads.

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

If I am honest…. So am I

[@davidsillars3181]

Wow! For me totally what I was looking for. So used to my workflow in the excellent Audacity and being an old dog that canny be bothered learning new tricks, very clear and to the point. There seem to be advantages with Reaper, and certainly for drama or more complex productions than vo it definitely fits the bill. Thanks Neil.

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

Audacity is a really great tool and lots of people use it. for a more professional tool however I would always use something like reaper.

[@WEDZGAMING]

Just started with reaper, that is exactly the kind of tutorial I needed! Thx bro!

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

My pleasure

[@TowerKenny]

I've been using Reaper myself for about years now for VO but I always like to see what others are doing and what I can add to my own setup or workflow. I look forward to Part 2. Thanks!

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

no worries. glad you found it interesting. part two launches Wednesday

[@mamandapanda185]

Oh my gosh. That would have taken probably never for me to figure out on my own. Thank you.

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

No problem 😉

[@christianmahne]

Cheers for sending me to this Neil, excellent guide. If you re-visit it perhaps it's worth mentioning the "Export Configuration" to save a backup of all your settings, the block size settings in Audio device to reduce latency and maybe the coloured Spectral Peaks in View to help identify sibilance and breaths.

[@fluffstuff2954]

Having the hardest time moving/docking . Doesn't seem to work as explained. Anyone?

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

Drag it to the far right. There is a hidden segment.

[@fluffstuff2954]

@@CrownStagVoiceover Thanks

[@livebydesignlaurie]

@@fluffstuff2954 THANK YOU FOR ASKING THIS! I have been trying to make it snap for at least 30 minutes and thought I was going crazy! Got it thanks to your question. Thanks @Crown Stag Voice over for answering--and thanks for these awesome videos to get set up. I've been looking for something "for Dummies" and SO GLAD you did these!

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

My pleasure

[@Ikawa123]

Hi Neil, in the min 16:25 in my case Reaper doesn't show up the option "Auxiliary Imput L+R", in Detector Imput. It shows another options but no the one that u showed. I wonder if this is very important when recording and editing audio? And another question that I had is, Im having a little of delay and reverb while speaking to the mic. Im using the Audio Technica 2005 via USB to my PC, Win10, and my Options- Audio-Device preferences in Reaper Im using WASAPI, because it handles better the delay and reverb than Wave out, but there's still some delay and reverb. Also I have my headset conected to the microphone imput audio jack, so that way I can hear myself while speaking. Could be this the source of the issue? :(

[@voiceovervandeen]

After you mentioned the dynamic split on Reddit I was thinking a 2nd track of room tone side chained from the vocal track would be a way to get around the emptiness caused by the "silencing" :-) It's always nice to see another persons editing process, especially when it brings up something new/different/faster to experiment & play with. We often get stuck in our ways & just repeat a process that works for us without searching out possible alternatives.

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

Yeah the room tone segment is definitely needed for that hack to work. I’m always looking at ways to improve my work flow.

[@balmeros272]

Hi. Looking for some advice Im using Reaper/Zoom R16. On Reaper Im sure I have all the settings correct, monitors, 48v mics and faders are operative on the screen ftom the R16. Sound settings are on zoom. Only one remaining issue as follows - Faders are 48v switched on phantom power. When playing a track on input 1 for example the mic faders on 5/6 do nothing, the audio from the mics are only controllable by adjusting knob at top of fader daw/line. So when I turn knob to Line the mics work however fader makes no difference. I want to be able to play a track and use fader to control mic, bit like what a DJ would need. Hope that makes sense ! Everthing else seem fine so Im guessing something simple ? Tia.

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

Are these the digital faders or on your pre-amp?

[@balmeros272]

@@CrownStagVoiceover The faders on the zoom r16 interface. I am able to control the faders on reaper via the interface.

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

I could only really help if it’s the digital ones. I’m not familiar with that interface. Just make sure that if you are fading down 5/6 it’s being taken from 3/4 or 1/2 I don’t think reaper fades multi tracks from a single source.

[@robs4441]

Keep up the good work, I’ve been watching your videos and find it very informative. I am a newbie to voice over and am trying to educate myself. Please can you do a review on Findaway Voices?

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

Thanks Rob!, a new one will launch later today. I appreciate you watching.

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

Sure I’ll take a look at them. I’m not familiar with them but leave it with me

[@TheUberSchattenjager]

Thank you for this PERFECT video for a VO upstart. Really appreciate the time you invested in this. Regarding versioning - has Reaper fixed the issue that had us download the Oct 2020 version? Or shall we not update further from that iteration? Thanks! and Cheers!

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

Honestly, I haven’t updated since then so I wouldn’t know. Sorry.

[@jazznutz]

Exactly what I needed today. Also new to Reaper from Audacity. I needed that snap together edit thing that is called ripple in Reaper. Couldn't figure it out and had to drag splits together.

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

Glad it helped

[@shilohmc]

I found that WASAPI has been a lot better for my PC then WaveOut. It could just be me but I get more Dynamic range without peaking on my mic plus it stopped the delay on my Scarlett monitoring. I just wanted to throw that out there because I stumbled on that by accident. I love the video and thanks for putting this out there!

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

That’s a new one for me. Just be cautious as I’m not aware of any client asking for that as a file format. Usually it’s MP3 or WAV. If you are peaking I would try adjusting your gains down a bit or adjust your compression maybe from a 2:1 - 3:1 ratio if you haven’t already

[@shilohmc]

Crown Stag Voice over You can still render it to be an MP3 or wave or any file you want I’m just talking about audio devices for when you select which audio system to use. I was using wave out for a long while and I was having some issues with the gain being super sensitive but when I switched the audio system to WASAPI it was night and day difference for me.

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

Oh sorry. I miss read. Need more coffee

[@shilohmc]

Crown Stag Voice over no worries man, this is a hard subject to explain through writing that’s why we watch your videos 👍

[@ApeSenseJerry]

Loving your video series, Neil. Thanks for all the work. Can you clarify how it is you're seeing your master VU seemingly while just monitoring the mic? It doesn't look like you're actively recording, which is the only time the master volume shows any levels for me at all, but I can't find any clear way to get its levels to show UNLESS you're doing a playback. How, for instance, did you get the master volume to show when you were tweaking your compressor settings? I can bring up the same control panel that you have, but all I'm getting is the levels for the track mic and not the master volume. Or is all of this somehow demonstrated while we're seeing a playback of a track happen in the background?

[@ApeSenseJerry]

Hi, Neil. Loving these videos. There's a reason I've subscribed and liked each I've seen so far. :) I'm just trying out Reaper for the first time, and I've been able to get it to behave the same way I'm seeing in your videos, except for the master showing its volume (yours looks more like it's monitoring, but mine doesn't show up unless I'm actively recording), and the compressor FX window isn't showing me any track or master levels even when recording. Both are totally dead, very much like something isn't turned on. Is there an option somewhere to have those levels show as you have them?

[@thomasrizzi1470]

I appreciate this tutorial Unfortunately I can not find October 20th version. I see October 25th and October 14th. I don't know if I can compete the process using the incorrect version. What should I do?

[@alisonhalsteadofficial]

Hi Neil. I had my 2 files set up nicely...top track and room tone. Today, playing on mic, the i above the room tone is highlighted in green, and I'm getting the message 'Resampled from 48.0KHz'. I don't know why. I have closed Reaper, but nothing changes. I can redo (remove and add another room tone track), but might you be able to explain, if possible, what I did, so I don't know it again? Thanks,

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

Sorry Alison, I really dont know. is it doing this on every new track you open?

[@alisonhalsteadofficial]

@@CrownStagVoiceover Yes.

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

@@alisonhalsteadofficial It may be worth a call into reaper support or on the reaper reddit. I'm afraid I can visualize what you would have done.

[@ytt8729]

I have MAC Os and it won't let me use the older version.

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

I’m afraid I don’t know anything about the Mac set up

[@planetside2thechanglee427]

very useful video.

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

Glad it helped

[@jeffrolan2576]

Hi Neil! Do you still recommend using the October 20, 2020 version? Just wondering, since it seems we would then be ignoring/missing out on any updates or fixes since then. Cheers! Jeff

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

Honestly, I havent updated since that patch. I have it just the way I want it.

[@JTS-gj6dr]

@@CrownStagVoiceover Hi Neil... great videos. Why exactly, are we using an older version? Is it because newer versions close up the spaces created by Dynamic Split and don't leave them open for insertion of the room tone track? I'm just learning about reaper and audio engineering and am a layman.

[@thomasrizzi1470]

@@CrownStagVoiceover Hi Neal: I was trying to find the version you said to use but I can't find the "October 20th. I see REAPER v7.26 - October 25, 2024. -When I Google the issue - I get "No, as of current information, there is no specific "October 20th" version of REAPER; however, the latest major version of REAPER, version 7.0, was released on October 16, 2023, which is close to the date you mentioned" when I google it. But I understand your point, once yo get a useable version "dialed in" there is no reason for any upgrades. Thank yo very much for doing this training , I really need it - T. Rizzi

[@alMubarmij]

@CrownStagVoiceover Could you re-upload the file, please?

[@Melevity]

I downloaded the October version, but mine does not have Music Comp as an option, an other ideas of what I can do instead?

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

You can create one like the voice over preset. You can copy those settings I have shown. 5/1 ratio for the knee and about -27-32db on the threshold. Inputs need to be auxiliary l+r and then hit the + icon to save

[@Melevity]

@@CrownStagVoiceover Thank you so much!

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

@@Melevity no problem at all.

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

@@Melevity make sure you increase your wet setting by +3-5db to equal out your render

[@energyman83]

The master track on mine isn't active (no green bar), a little help?

[@RichardSpeights]

Neil...this vid is two years old. Reapers is now version 6.73. Do you still say go back and get the Oct 20th 2020 version or shall I upload the latest and greatest for voice over work? Does a newer version have dynamic split?

[@jadedphoenixprojects]

Do we still need to download the version from Oct 20, 2020? Or has that changed since you made this video?

[@steff8540]

@Crown Stag Voice over do you have an answer for this question. Because I'm in the same situation, looking for a good DAW. Thanks a lot

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

Honestly I haven’t updated it Sice so I couldn’t say if they have changed it.

[@steff8540]

@@CrownStagVoiceover thx for your feedback.

[@trestristes1]

i didnt understand the problem with the dynamic split, can u explain me that? Good video, thanks a lot!.

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

The latest versions of reaper added a ripple edit to dynamic split which I couldn’t figure out how to turn off which is why I revert back to the old version.

[@trestristes1]

@@CrownStagVoiceover I understand, thanks for the reply, i think that could be change, but i actually dont know how, if someone know, please share!

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

@@trestristes1 Im sure there is a way but i played about for ages and couldn't figure it out. For Voice over you aren't losing any functionality you need by not having the latest version. as I say they update regularly and most iteration amend things that a musician would notice.

[@basildubose]

HELP...I seem to have a delay & reverb sound as I speak, but i have the same setup as you have showed. Where should I check to fix this and get a good clean sound. I also get some feedback squel coming through my headphone or speakers. HELP??????

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

Ok, turn you headphone volume right down. Keep mine at 12/ 100. You want to check you input devices in the setup and make sure that they are set only to the mic / preamp you are using. It sounds like you have multiple inputs set which is causing feedback somewhere

[@TareqPetros]

Unable to record vocals, Mic is on, levels showing, press record and i get nothing. I just bought an SM7B(waiting for the cloud lifter to arrive), please help. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

It seems like a silly thing to miss but I have been known to do. Have you armed your track? Is the record icon on your track highlighted in bright red? Bright for armed dull for off.

[@brycewilson8883]

Hey Neil! I'm looking into buying Reaper and I'm unsure if I need to buy the commercial license. I know you mentioned the $60 one in your video which is the discounted license. However, it states on the website that you can use the discounted license if "You are an individual or business using REAPER commercially, and yearly gross revenue does not exceed USD $20,000" Now, I'm relatively new to voice over, and don't make that much per year, but I am hoping to make more than that per year as I'm trying to make a career out of it. In that case, would I want to buy the commercial license to be safe. Since I'll be using it for all my audio editing needs, my understanding is that anyone in a VO career who uses Reaper and makes over $20,000 per year would need to buy the commercial license. Would you say that's correct, or am I misreading something?

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

You are fine with an individual licence. This business one is more for multi user studios

[@brycewilson8883]

@@CrownStagVoiceover That's good to know. Thank you so much!

[@billallender39]

Compression has always been an issue for me. I use Audacity at the moment and the compression facility is very basic, which is why I'm now considering Reaper. I understand why we shouldn't copy your settings exactly but how do I find what settings might be right for me? A lot of trial and error? I'm not an engineer but have had to learn what I need for the job in hand, so I'm really after some general principles here, I guess.

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

Starts with a 2:1 ratio and make sure to adjust your wet signal afterward. If you need more then go to 3:1 and then 4:1. You want to get it so your render after compression still hits around -3db

[@jazznutz]

Hi! Back again. Have you done part 2 yet? I'm really needing help with saves and organizing projects and backups.

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

Yeah there is a part 2 and 3 they are on my channel

[@wanderingwithali5138]

@@CrownStagVoiceover Is this different for women's voices vs mens Voices as well?

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

No I wouldn’t say so, the only thing I adjust when I have women in the booth is occasionally the gains or render volume

[@michaelcoss4866]

Can anyone help me out here. I did something wrong and now messed up my "view". I am trying to reset everything to start over. I am using a Macbook Pro, there doesn't seem to be any info out there for Mac. Thanks in advance.

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

If you go to your programs menu - before you launch. The is an option to reset to factory settings

[@michaelcoss4866]

@@CrownStagVoiceover unfortunately that is in Windows not Mac

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

So if you go the the reaper (x64) file location would you not find it in there?

[@michaelcoss4866]

@@CrownStagVoiceover nope, not on Mac

[@fmj4138]

Reaper Rocks! But it will not load on to my new mac mini .... frustrating! Anybody got any ideas? (Please don't say reboot your computer .... holly molly!)

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

I’m not really helpful for mac but you might get a quicker answer on the reaper Reddit page. They are really helpful

[@jazznutz]

If I have a newer version of Reaper, do I have to uninstall it first to get older version?

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

No, when I made the video I just couldn’t figure out how to turn of ripple editing on dynamic split

[@jazznutz]

@@CrownStagVoiceover Thanks Niel. How do you do it? It's essential.

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

Take off ripple edit? Honestly - I never upgraded the software so I stopped looking but if you jump onto the reaper page on Reddit I’m sure you can get some help.

[@mamandapanda185]

@@CrownStagVoiceover It might be the "set ripple editing off" action.

[@CrownStagVoiceover]

I found that you can mess with the actions but then you have to do multiple steps. I have kept the old version for a couple of years now and it just works

[@justnotg00d]

Even with only two active brain cells, I got it. I think?

[@RobotTwinkie]

I tried, got confused, brain hurt