Like ProTools, REAPER is a professional grade DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). It runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux, and a license can be purchased for as little as $60. Like most true DAWs, REAPER is designed first and foremost around music production. So, some configuring is needed to optimize it for audiobooks and other voiceover work.
You can watch the video below to preview the workflow before you change anything…
Before I begin, here’s a bit of a disclaimer…
There are many ways to set up REAPER. Some of them will look/act quite differently from what I am going to present here. This is one of those situations where there really is no one right way to do things.
What I am about to present is a simple way to configure and use REAPER for audiobook work that I have developed over 7+ years of use this software as a professional narrator.
I am running REAPER version 6.25 as of the time of this article. If you are running v5 or earlier, I cannot guarantee that my settings will work for you. Future versions of the software should be able to import these settings without an issue.
The theme that I am using is called ClearView. You will get it (along with some of my other favorite themes) as part of the preference pack you’ll be downloading.
Also, I have run REAPER on macOS, Windows, and Linux. The software runs exactly the same on all 3 platforms (something that cannot be said about ProTools). So, if the images look like a different operating system from the one that you are using, don’t worry.
INSTALLATION
Let’s start by installing REAPER. Head over to http://reaper.fm and download the correct version of REAPER for your computer. If you are unsure of which version is correct, please consult with more tech savvy friends before continuing.
Once you have installed REAPER, please head over to https://www.sws-extension.org and install the version of the extension that matches the version of REAPER that you installed in the previous step.
The SWS/SM extension adds features to REAPER that we will need later on. Please follow all instructions and get this properly installed before continuing. On some versions of macOS, you may need to allow this plugin on a Security Control Panel in order to enable it fully.
START REAPER
If you have never run REAPER before you are likely to be greeted with the following screen.