This is lesson for 2nd week of Introduction To Music Production at Coursera.org. Today I want to talk to you about basic sound editing and how to do it in DAW named “Cockos REAPER”.

1. PERFORMING THE BASIC
EDITING TASKS IN
COCKOS REAPER
BY ARTUR SHAMSUTDINOV
WEEK 2 OF INTRODUCTION TO MUSIC PRODUCTION AT COURSERA.ORG

2. HI!
My name is Artur Shamsutdinov.
This is lesson for 2nd week of Introduction To Music
Production at Coursera.org.
Today I want to talk to you about basic sound
editing and how to do it in DAW named
“Cockos REAPER”.

3. WHAT WE WILL DISCUSS
• Trim
• Separate
• Crossfade
• Merge
• Grid
• Cycle
• Markers
• Zoom
• Name
• Color

4. COCKOS REAPER
REAPER is a complete digital audio production
application for Windows and OS X, offering a
full multitrack audio and MIDI recording,
editing, processing, mixing and mastering
toolset.
Official website: http://www.reaper.fm

5. REAPER INTERFACE

6. TRIM
Trimming is the process when you
manipulate track regions. It is non-
destructive audio processing. You keep
the original recorded audio file, but you
tell DAW where is the start and end point
of current fragment.
To trim the audio clip just drag the left or
right side of your fragment. You will see
trim cursor icon.

7. SEPARATE
Separating is non-destructive audio editing.
It splits audio clip on several fragments as
many times as you want.
To separate audio in REAPER click on audio
clip that you want to cut, set time cursor
on certain position, and hit «S» key on your
keyboard. You can also do it from the main
panel: Item -> Split items at cursor.

8. CROSSFADE
Crossfade appears when you put one
clip on another. For the best transition
effect REAPER will create a crossfade.
You can manipulate the speed of
crossfading by dragging it left or right.

9. MERGE
Merge is destructive type of sound editing. It is not
references to source audio file but creates brand new file
on your hard disk.
To merge (glue) items you need to select items with Ctrl
or Cmd key and in main menu select “Items” -> “Glue
items”. New clip will replace selected clip.

10. GRID
You can stick your clips to the DAW’s grid to
make precise timing for all tracks in the
project or to move them as you want by
turning of the grid.
To turn on/off the grid you need to hit Alt+G

11. CYCLE
To repeat some region of your track many
times you need to select region, toggle repeat
(R key) and play the track (Space) or hitting
transport buttons below the DAW interface.

12. MARKERS
Markers help you to orient in you big
multitrack audio project.
To set the marker set your transport cursor to
position where you want and press M key on
your keyboard. To edit the parameters of
marker just click twice on its header.

13. ZOOM
In and out zoom can be done by simple
up and down moving of mouse wheel

14. NAME & COLOR
To rename you audio clip double-click your
left mouse button on selected clip. REAPER
will open “Media Item Properties” window.
You can change the name in “Take name”
field.
To change the color of selected track click the
right mouse button, choose “Item and take
colors” -> “Set items to custom color…” and
choose color

15. THAT’S ALL! 
THANK YOU FOR SLIDING
AND ENJOY YOUR DAW