Tempo Mapping a Full Song in REAPER

[@johnnymansfield6181]

You are the only one making useful, up to date, and simple and easy to follow Reaper content...thank you from the world.

[@andy_182]

He literally invented reaper

[@shepherdpablo8257]

I guess it's kind of off topic but do anyone know a good place to watch new tv shows online?

[@maxwellkenzo468]

@Shepherd Pablo Flixportal :P

[@shepherdpablo8257]

@Maxwell Kenzo Thank you, signed up and it seems to work =) Appreciate it!!

[@maxwellkenzo468]

@Shepherd Pablo no problem =)

[@Streck0_909]

Not sure where I learned this, but here's another useful tip using the SWS extensions: 1) make sure to have a simple shortcut for the action "insert marker at play cursor" 2) play the song and tap along with every bar (or half note, or quarter note, depending on how fine you want the tempo map to be) 3) zoom in and match markers with transients if necessary (the more accurately you tapped, the less there is to do here) 4) go to the menu bar and look for "Extensions -> Tempo -> Convert project markers to tempo markers..." 5) set the correct time signature, indicate how many markers count for a measure (depending on 2), check "Remove project markers", and press "Convert" This will not only create a tempo map as in the video, but also add stretch markers to all items which give the flexibility to move items around and quantize them to the grid. This is useful when trying to sketch out a song from fragments of a jam session that was recorded without a click. Unfortunately, the process is just as tedious as in the video. Wish there was an easier way to do this.

[@zachmillerdrums]

well, you’ve just saved me hundreds of hours

[@yossarian022]

I almost crashed in tears when you showed that you can move the "in-between markers" with ctrl+alt ! THE AMOUNT OF HOURS THIS WOULD HAVE SAVED ME. Great vid as always

[@realbourbonniere15]

Same here... What a relief to know that now.

[@Streck0_909]

Yeah, wish I'd known this before. Unfortunately, in my case it's more like THE AMOUNT OF HOURS THIS HAS ALREADY COST ME.

[@lolilollolilol7773]

In REAPER, when something is repetitive or tedious, the thought "there has to be a better way" often turns out to be true. So browse Kenny's videos and the documentation or as a last resort go to the REAPER forums and eventually you'll find it.

[@adriatic.vineyards]

​@@lolilollolilol7773 more like ALWAYS turns out to be true lol It's just a matter of weighing the cost of interrupting the creative flow of the song making process vs the benefit of learning a new future-time-saving technique!

[@PunchDrummer]

A potential easier solution is to create a Tempo Map by installing SWS Extensions and using "SWS/BR: Move closest grid line to play cursor". Assign a shortcut key to this custom action (I use "." (period)). Set your grid to ~quarter notes, move the play cursor to the beginning of the transient closest the beat 1 of each measure, and press the shortcut key. This will make your click fall on that transient. You can do it on each quarter note, etc., or skip a series of bars that stay on beat. You will end-up with a variety of (closely matching) tempos, and the rest of your tracks and MIDI will quantize to the grid that now matches the tempo of the audio. I had a difficult time moving the markers to the exact position using the method in the video, and It sure is a lot easier and more accurate than splitting and chopping-up your audio. Best, and thank you Kenny for all of your great instruction. :)

[@marfaxa]

This might be the best one of all the videos of yours I've seen. It's a feature I knew had to be possible but had no way to search without knowing the terms or the method.

[@javiramallo]

I have been needing this tutorial for a long time. Kenny, thank you very much. You are the best.

[@georgebarry8640]

Same...last year I slaved thru a song TRYING to get this to happen. ..it didnt work out.

[@lkentertainment8760]

Literally just as I needed this! Thanks Kenny!

[@timinglismusic6707]

A friend of mine recently asked me to add production to an earlier recording (add drums, bass, some keys and BV's etc.) but the original recordings had no click track. This will come in extremely helpful. Thanks Kenny, love your work, mate.

[@pablobelasteguimusic]

Kenny Gioia you are one of my favourite people! Thank you for your work. An absolute pleasure

[@deanandthebeans857]

This is such an incredibly useful technique! It means I can use all my old recordings and add new tracks, remix etc. Thank you so much!

[@falsaapariencia5898]

Thank you so much, Kenny. I've needed this for so long!

[@georgebarry8640]

SAME.

[@arthursoghoyan3471]

Thanks Kenny !!! You can also do this during playback. 1.Detect approximate tempo of song. 2.Line-up the first beat of audio to start of measure. 3.Playback song, and use the action - SWS/BR: Move closest grid line to play cursor, to create tempo track during playback.

[@rrrstudios2054]

That's a really quick way to achieve the result. Seems pretty slick so far (quick test). I'm going to do a song with it and see if it stands up. I can't believe this comment has sat here for a year and no one seemed to notice.

[@jonathanreus1969]

you're mine and so many others' Reaper sherpa, thanks for putting out all of these fantastic and helpful tutorials.. every time I wonder "How can I...?" when working in Reaper, 99% of the time you've got a tutorial on it.

[@elypelowski5670]

This is fantastic !! I have fellow musicians that hate recording to clicks and insist on recording to their own tempo. This creates a huge headache for adding MIDI instruments.

[@Windiguana]

This definitely gives you the best of both worlds, you still get the feel of a human performance and you can still work with a sort of humanized grid

[@nulodgerecords4861]

I never got this far before abandoning ProTools for Reaper, but I can only imagine how many crashes PT would give you doing this technique! Thanks Kenny, you are the master,

[@artysanmobile]

I do this regularly in Pro Tools, with zero crashes. However, there are more hoops to jump through and it takes on the feeling of a science experiment. Despite maybe 100 full song maps, I still have to experiment to remember the unintuitive sequences. I would suggest for a future Reaper version that the process of delinking tempo from tracks be made a single operation covering all track types selected. That is a constant stumbling block and time suck.

[@Adam-hs1ft]

It's doable with Beat Detective in ProTools without any system issues, but it definitely feels much more tedious.

[@moedemama]

Thanks for also explaining the concept of tempo mapping. Great tutorial as always. Youre a real treasure

[@baiduryabhattacharyya]

You don't know how big of a blessing this video is! thank you

[@HugoRibeiroDrummer]

I had to do this for a session job a few months ago but did it in logic. It would be great if Reaper had smart tempo like logic. It would do this automatically. Maybe in a future update.

[@elblopex]

you can do a custom action for it. Thats the power of reaper! Takes a bit to create but stays there for ever

[@AndyCampbellMusic]

@@elblopex Can't find anything on automatic tempo mapping in Reaper anywhere.. That would be brilliant.

[@lolilollolilol7773]

@@AndyCampbellMusic there is automatic time selection on chosen bars kzbin.info/www/bejne/bKS0h5idndyFqas so it must be possible to create a custom action that does what you want automatically. Also search "Why doesn't reaper have an automatic tempo mapping function?" and you'll find a reddit thread with some answers.

[@AndyCampbellMusic]

@@lolilollolilol7773 I used to use Samplitude Music Studio a good while back and it had a much easier to use tempo finder than Reaper. Considering all the amazing things it does do. I just surprised nobody has come up with a more efficient way to do this in Reaper. There are a lot of very clever people in the Reaper community...

[@davidgerowmusicchannel]

you are the only person i've found who explains this stuff so i can understand it. thank you thank you, please keep it coming...

[@rikepi507]

Kenny, you mind-reader!!!! I´m dealing with a whole session that has 9 different songs on it, each one with different tempos. I was all worried about how I was gonna deal with the tempo changes when it came to compressor´s release times, delays, editing vocals to the grid, etc... And then you post this!!! Thank you, once again, Keep them coming!!!

[@trevorgray3160]

This video is GOLD. Thank you again Kenny.

[@alanj9849]

This only appears to work if -- at the time you're setting the source properties of the MIDI items to "Ignore project tempo" -- you make sure the BPM and time signature in that same dialog are set to the same BPM and time signature as the underlying project settings. Otherwise, the MIDI items still stretch/compress and get all messed up just as they did in the beginning of the video. Kenny didn't have to update these values because, when he checked "Ignore project tempo", the BPM/time sig beside the checkbox were already the same as the project settings. I tried this approach by importing and an audio track and a MIDI track (both recorded in another project at around 90 BPM) into a project where the project BPM was around 110 BPM. It took me hours to figure out why I couldn't replicate his results. I had to set the BPM/time sig to 110 when I checked "Ignore project tempo".

[@offset5549]

Been looking for something like this! Thank you!

[@ulfsvensson9710]

Wow! I usualy start my songs with rhythm guitar. This will save me from a lot of work and pain! Thank you!

[@garyk4417]

These videos are most excellent. The whole library of tutorials are informative and useful. Thanx KG.

[@MichaelKochSchulte]

The "click" may be convenient for producers (especially ones using a lot of MIDI) but "tempo rubato" is very a real thing and the norm used by conductors and many musicians when playing actual musical instruments. The tempo map technique here solves the problem of the click "killing off" the feeling and expression an artist puts into a piece, aka the ability to play freely. A tempo map would also be more foregiving of concepts like tenuto, caesura, and fermata in a song or score. It's a slower and more difficult way to produce but in the end can preserve a great performance without making it sound robotic. Thank you Kenny.

[@dagamusik]

Best video on earth you're the Reaper man!

[@philcaffrey]

Thanks Kenny. Because of your videos I have learned more about real world uses of Reaper than I ever knew in 20 years using Cubase. A thousand thanks.

[@etiloyon3681]

Your supposedly quickly made musical examples sound better than my for-ever worked out songs. Anyway, good pedagogy, clear, efficient, well spoken. Thanks a lot.

[@rocketman374]

Kenny saves the day yet again. Thank you!

[@eugeneerdozain7483]

Super useful for when you don't want the click to dictate! Thank you!

[@martinbulmer1868]

This is just what I was looking for last week! Unfortunately, I didn't know what to search for, and didn't see it until after I had done a work-around. I went through the song in 4-bar sections, making a time selection each section and checking the bpm indicated by that selection then setting a time change marker with that BPM at the start of each section. Hey, it worked, but your way is quicker.! You made this 2 years ago. Just my luck that it doesn't pop up until the day after I finished the song!

[@ericgamliel8500]

This is one of my most favorite features of Reaper--being able to make the grid match my tempo as it drifts all over the place.

[@MexicanJumpingLlama]

3:44 I did not know you could make MIDI items ignore tempo! Crazy good tip, thanks so much!

[@cgsmithinnola]

This is exactly what I needed to learn to record a singer/songwriter who isn't fond of playing to a click track! Thank you Kenny!

[@tommacmillan8831]

I wish I had known before now about the 'ignore project tempo' for midi items!

[@dodgyscampton5668]

Excellent and well-explained as usual.

[@SunAndMirror]

Foawkin Ell m8 ive been searching through endless forums with no luck, THANK YOU KENNY!!

[@BrandochGarage]

These Reaper dudes thought of everything... beautiful!!

[@shauntheron9653]

So helpful and concisely explained. Thank VERY much!!! This is really going to speed up my workflow.

[@ethnopiper1]

Many thanks for this video Kenny/Reaper, it has helped me a lot, tempo was also a big issue for me, either it changed my creativity flow, or it made things complicated in matching other instruments afterwards. you sorted it... yet again. many thanks for all your videos, you have opened up a world a music to me that would not have been possible. they have been a inspirational and have created lots of music... kept me sane. Thanks.

[@HCGonzalezJr87]

Incredible, great stuff as always Kenny.

[@johngiovanni]

This is so f.. helpfull. Thank you for saving my life. Best tutorials ever

[@djfull4442]

At 4:45, you move the items "anywhere after bar 2", but then you undo it and, when at 6:02 you drag the grid to line up with the music, the initial tempo magically becomes 111, which is precisely what the song is... To achieve this, the position of music can't be "anywhere after bar 2", but precisely somewhere. How did you know where to put the music so the following dragging of the grid would generate exactly 111? Was it a coincidence, or am I missing a step?

[@code_for_music]

u are a beautiful genie kenny thanks to your work REAPER will allways RULE!!!

[@nyamnyam1416]

Logic and Studio One can do beat mapping automatically (as of Oct 2024), but have never been satisfied with the results. I am much happier to do this manually in Reaper. So good to know how to do it.

[@Thoracius]

Been doing this technique for years in Cakewalk but have been thinking of switching to Reaper. Good to see it's possible.

[@yingyang8190]

Thank you so much! New to reaper and I really appreciate your content! Please continue to help peeps like me try to make something 🙃

[@talktokale]

Wow, you read my mind with the timing of this tutorial. I was just wondering about this! Thank you.

[@maxchershe9222]

Same here :)

[@michaelschnell5633]

GREAT ! FINALLY ! Many thanks !!! -Michael

[@TheOligoclonalBand]

This is incredible. I am always unsatisfied with how little movement there is when I use drums on a set tempo. Now I can really use my guiding tracks an capture the feel of the song. Thanks!

[@ramspencer5492]

Super cool. You could also use a similar adjust a performance to line up with an "accurate" click as well, if you wanted?

[@raymondcurrie605]

As always, you knowledge and expertise are supreme. Thank you for making this video.

[@arashdara]

Thankyou very much Kenny, I requested this a few weeks back.. you are awesome sir 👍🏽

[@Windiguana]

Really recommend checking out this action: sws move closest gridline to mouse cursor It's mu h easier than what's shown in pretty much any tutorial, including this one, sry love you Kenny

[@Michel_Gougeon]

I've been using Reaper for years now and I think it's the best DAW out there. But one thing I hate about it is the fact that when you choose "TIme" as timebase in "Project Settings", midi items are still affected by tempo changes. This is very counter intuitive especially when dealing with a mix of audio and midi tracks.

[@mr_stix]

Hi, great video. Just 1 question, I'm making a backing track for live performance with existing audio and have tempo mapped the entire song so the click follows the bad timing of the audio. Is it possible after tempo mapping to change the project timebase for items back to beats (position, length, rate) and change the tempo markers to one constant tempo to correct the timing of the existing performances. Would this stretch the audio into perfect timing? I've tried it but everything goes out of sync so must be doing something wrong, thanks in advance

[@jimbeaux4988]

Oh man, this is great! The song sounds so much better leaving the tempo fluctuations in.

[@c0untbakwerdz]

Thanks as ever Kenny, this has left me with some nice ideas buzzing round. One question tho - Reaper detects transients, is there a way to do that and apply it to the tempo map? Like when splitting stuff. Even if you had to check em through that'd make it a lot quicker..

[@MrAxel1892]

Great as always. Thx, mate.

[@donmakowski71]

Love this Kenny! Thanks so much!

[@jl1848]

Thanks for this. I think I found an even faster way. Tab to transient, then "SWS move closest grid line to cursor" at the downbeat.

[@atomicvinylreviews3420]

beautiful tutorial. thank you so much man ! This is literally game changing! I'm going to use this heaps for sure!

[@Eduaro2U]

Brilliant - excellent. That's exactly what I need. Thanks so much Kenny. Now - can we take an audio track that was recorded as rubato and change its timing to be rubato in a different manner?

[@quecano999]

You are the best Kenny! Thanks.

[@remizik]

Amazing explanation, thanks a lot

[@dnashofficial]

amazing tutorials AND beautiful music. you've got it all, Kenny!

[@REAPERMania]

Thanks so much!

[@lcsproductions3736]

How do you know what tempo to start at? I see you put the first tempo marker at beat 2 but how does it know to start at 111bpm?

[@yovannifloreslopez]

Very useful. Thank you Kenny.

[@mabian69]

Very nice! Wouldn't it work even better by using linear tempo changes instead of abrupt (square) nodes?

[@IFeeeeelGood]

Is there a way to do tempo mapping based on transients like Pro tools does with beat detective?

[@--..__]

it's been ten years and reaper still refuses to fix the way midi items interaction with bpm. so ridiculous that that bug hasnt been patched yet

[@Isaacthompson]

Wow! Thank you so much!

[@patjackmanesq]

Brilliant. Thanks Kenny

[@asbmud]

Such an amazing video. Thank YOU.

[@mareksliwinski1343]

Hello Mr, Congratulations on all the material on YT about REAPER. I am very impressed with the possibilities of this program and I am still learning it ... I recently had the following case: I recorded a soloist (soprano) to the received background music. However, the tempo of this backing track was too slow (at the bottom of the screen in the BPM window it was 120. I raised it to BPM 132 and everything looked normal until I started recording vocals with this modification ... Some crackling and noising during the recording started to be heard. I don't know where it came from and I still don't know. I tried to look everywhere: power, cables, interface, computer restart etc. but nothing helped .. What could it be?? I suspect this change of pace in this BPM window! Maybe somewhere else I should also change something ?? Thank you in advance for your help and best regards Marek Sliwinski

[@deskypoo]

Simple and powerful technique, thanks!

[@lukewarm5356]

Gold dust, you're a diamond Kenny

[@sidripster506]

Nailed it Kenny, thanks

[@timnewsham1]

This is really powerful and I thank you for the tutorial. As I'm trying it out, its more difficult than it seems at first, and it requires working strictly from start to end, since editing earlier points drastically affects the alignment later. What I really am trying to do, is "pin" certain points of a sample to certain time/beat points in the song. Does reaper have a way to say "this point of the audio track should be at 25.1.00" and "this point of the audio track should be 49.1.00" and have reaper compute the tempo map from those points? It seems like a job that a computer could do much better than I could. It would be even nicer if the shape of the curves between the points could be selected (linear, ramp up fast, ramp up slow, etc). If this feature doesnt yet exist, it really should. It would make this task very easy and powerful.

[@XRaym]

Why not setting envelope default point shape to linear rather than square? (note I personnaly use mouswheel on tempo marker pos to set speed, to avoid click and drag :P)

[@XRaym]

Answer is because linear envelope are very limited in reaper. it basically makes any mouse modifier on tempo envelope inactive.

[@christopherheadcase6886]

Is there a way to move the tempo markers when you move regions? For some reason when I move a region that has a tempo next to o e with a different tempo the marker disappears and I end up having to undo everything reinsert a tempo marker just to move the existing one to where I want it

[@CrCr-cl4rk]

Kinda reminds me Alleluia. Awesome tutorial! Thank you!

[@MrJpbmusic2005]

Is there anything that this Amazing DAW Can't do, compared to say..Appleton or Logic/Cubase even "ProTools"..... Well it seems to me that Reaper can hold its own against much more expensive DAWs

[@yosuanicolaus]

Reaper is the only DAW I'll ever need

[@eloureirotubeyou]

Is it possible to combine two tracks, each with its own tempo map? For example, I'd like to combine a guitar played without a click with some percussion also played without a click. But they were not played together, so their tempo maps are different.

[@Kitebrice]

Hi Kenny ! It would be very nice if you could tell us once for all how to uniformize the tempo (to a constant value during all the song) of an "unconstant" track that has been mapped as you just described how. I found a post on cockos forum where it is proposed to split the track at each tempo marker. I did it ; next I had to copy/paste the split track to a new project in order to obtain something that works not too bad but I am sure there is a far better way to do it. I am quite sure you are the ONE to tell us !?!? Thank you very much

[@bagoflicksguitarstudio466]

Thank you Kenny! Super Useful!

[@leotravaglia6857]

Buenísimos tus tutoriales!! Sería genial que pudieran agregar subtitulado en español. Aún así excelente canal! Muy útil y directo, sin vueltas. Felicitaciones

[@fractalist]

Now if we can only drag that last Wurli note in bar 18 down by a half step to the flat 6, everything will be copacetic ;-)

[@SteveSensenig]

Yes, that note bothered me, too! LOL

[@cerebralcoma4850]

Is it possible to add tempo markers on transients with a script?

[@twinpumpkin]

Is there a way to lock the tempo map after the whole process?

[@Drumsholic]

Hello Kenny, i wanna ask you if here exist any topic or tutorial for some setting to automate the counting of any song you load to program so it matches with metronome if we want to set it ON while recording?? If you didn't understand i'm asking for setting to autofinding from program the bpm of any song loaded! Is this possible?? I'm asking cause some songs have multiple tempos instead of a song as Dream Theater as example or Iron Maiden.If with some setting i can have a tempo detection?Thank you

[@stargazergirlst]

Awesome tutorial! But has anyone else had issues with MIDI not responding to the tempo mapping and being skewed in relation to audio tracks? I've followed all the steps and now the MIDI is out of time.. what am I doing wrong?

[@brandnewage1]

hello ken, i was wondering if you tempo map a song can you go back and put bpm markers after?

[@g-rom3152]

As always, Great Video . Thanx

[@georgebarry8640]

I have version 5.99...will this video apply to me? I have waited for a Video just like this for a long time THANK YOU, KENNY!!!

[@Ronbo765]

Question: Why didn't the new midi drum track at the end of the video need its source property changed to "time base"?

[@Mority90]

Great stuff. Can you interpolate the tempos to be smoothly changing instead of making discrete jumps?

[@olymoon2008]

Extremely useful video, thank you. Question: Once the tempo map is done, is there a way to "force" the audio to really be in time? Maybe using the tempo map as markers to change each audio part speed?

[@chicochowster2505]

Thanks so much for the making such an easy to follow video! I do have a question. I am trying to implement time signature changes (making click track for musical theater) and was wondering on how to implement this... (ex. 4/4 -> 5/4 -4/4). any suggestions?