Sidechaining with ReaComp and TapeStop effect using stretch markers: Difference between pages

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= Side-chaining with ReaComp =
This effect, also known as tape stop, or simply varyspeed, has been commonly used for spinning audio  up or down, just like a dj would do it. Here is an appplied visual reaper  [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShiNRm-UxUw example]
== What Is Side-Chaining? ==
In essence, a side chain is where you use the output of one track to control the output on another track. You could use Sidechaining if you want to have your background music on one track automatically lowered in volume, or ducked, when there is speech on another track. So for example your podcast intro music is ducked when you start speaking.
== How To Set Up A Side-chain ==
In the side- chain we will be setting up in this tutorial, we will be sending the audio from our vocal track to the music track. We will still want the vocal track to go straight to the master track so we can hear it. The copy that is sent to the music track will not be heard in the master, however it will be used to compress the volume of the music, or in other words, to duck the music.


First, create two tracks. In this example, track one will be called music, and track 2 will be called voice. This article assumes that you already know how to create tracks. If not, then [[Tracks_and_Track_Folders|read this article to learn how.]]
Stretch markers are what you want if you don't have a plugin to do it.  
There are various granular plugins that will do it - uhbik-g is one if
you use automation and most things by Glitch Machines wil allow it if
you configure them correctly. However it can be done for free.


Now we have a track with music, and a track with voice. The first step is to change the music track from a standard 2 channel stereo track to a 4 channel track. The first two channels are your standard left and right channels, channel 3 and 4 will be auxiliary channels, meaning that you won't hear the audio being sent to those channels.  To change the track to a four channel track, press I on the music track, to open the routing dialogue. Tab until you hear, “track channels.” Press Alt+Down arrow keys to open the combo box so you can select the number of channels. Arrow down to change from 2 channels to four channels. Press Enter to consolidate the change. Then press escape to exit the routing dialogue.


Next, setup a send, so that the audio from the vocal track is being sent to the music track. You can press I on the vocal track to enter the routing dialogue, tab til you hear, “add send.” Press Alt+Down arrow keys to open the combo box to select the destination track. Arrow down to get to your music track. When you're there, press Enter for the send to add, then press escape to leave the routing dialogue. Your send has now been added.
#Ensure that preserve pitch while changing rate is unchecked in the item properties of the item you want to spin down. Remember that, as you decrease the rate of the item, it will take up more space and may crash other audio further down the project in your time-line.
*Let's assume you want to do a spin down. Find the point in the item  at which you would like it to begin and press control m to add a stretch marker. (command+M on Mac.)
#Press control shift enter. (command+shift+Enter on Mac.) This will expose marker properties.
#Ensure link start and end rate is unchecked.
#Your start rate should be 1.0, which is normal play rate. Your end rate should be 0.001, the slowest it will allow you to go. And there you have it. One spin down.


Next, set the destination of the send from the vocal track to the third and fourth channel of the music tracks. This will send the audio from the vocal track to the auxiliary channels of your music track. This means that the audio on your vocal track is being heard through your vocal track, but is also being sent to the auxiliary channels of your music track, so that you can use it to influence the music track.


To send the vocal track to channels 3 and 4 of the music track, press I on the vocal track. Tab until you hear, “send to track one, music, delete button.” Once there, invoke your contextual menu with either the [[Useful Links and Resources#numpad emulation and applications key script|Applications key]] or the Shift+f10 combination. Use the down arrow key to get to the "Destination Audio Channel" setting. Press enter on that setting and, once again, make use of the down arrow keys to get to the 3/4 option, which will likely be the third option in most of the cases. Press the Enter key to consolidate the change and then press the Escape key until you land in the main Reaper window.
The difficulty is that it may not sound quite as you envision. The
deceleration curve may not be quite right. In that case you will need to  
add more stretch markers to adjust the shape of your curve and things
get quite messy because you need to make sure that the start and end
rates all match up.


Now, we can add a compressor to our music track. In this tutorial, we are using the included compressor, Reacomp. Press F on the Music track to open the FX dialogue. Add ReaComp.


Once added, tab through the settings of ReaComp until you get to “detector input.” Set the detector input of ReaComp to aux 3/4. This means the compressor will be influenced by the audio being sent to it on channels 3 and 4, in this case, the audio from your voice track.  
For example, let's say that you want the spin down to really get serious
on the last word and it isn't really doing that yet.


Finally, we need to set up the compressor suitably to compress the music enough to hear the voice over. Set the ratio to a suitable value, perhaps 4/1 or higher. You can use the precomp and attack parameters to affect how quickly the audio is ducked and the release parameter to affect how quickly the audio returns to it’s original volume once the voice over stops. The lower you set the threshold, the quieter the music will be while it is being compressed.


Obviously you will need to insert another stretch marker at that point,
the start of the last word, again with its start and end rates unlinked.
It's start rate will read as whatever point on the descent you reached,
much in the same way as putting another envelope point along an envelope
curve in automation will give you the reading consistent with that point
in the curve. You will have to change that start rate to a higher value
though.


We have now set up a side chain to duck our music while speaking. This may seem fairly complex at first, however understanding the concepts covered will help with lots of tasks you might want to undertake in Reaper, or any professional DAW


== Some Tips for Windows and Mac users ==
Let's say the start rate for our new marker is 0.094. You might want to
try changing it to 0.199. Thing is, you must make sure that you change
the rate of your previous stretch marker, the one we first added, to
match that start rate otherwise the rate will jump.


As with most things in Reaper, there are many ways of doing things, and the best way may be different between platforms. For example, in Windows, you can set up a send as described above from the "View I/O for current track"dialog by pressing "I" on the track. Alternatively you can use the alt plus [[Useful Links and Resources#numpad emulation and applications key script|applications key]] on the track and you will find the options buried in these menus. Once you have a send set up, when in the  I/O for current track dialog, you will find a delete button for the send. pressing the applications key on this button will bring up further options for configuring the send.


Setting up a send from track 1 to track 2, is exactly the same as setting up a receive on track 2 from track 1.
Now let's say you want to do the whole thing in reverse, a spin up. One
of the added difficulties here is that, for whatever stupid reason,
Reaper won't allow you to put a stretch marker right at the start of an
item. You will need to move a little bit in, meaning that the first part
of your item will play at normal speed and then jump to the start rate
of the stretch marker, which, for a spin-up, might be 0.001 assuming you
want to start very slow.


When on the Mac, the most efficient way of setting up the routing for the side-chain is to follow the below steps.
* Bring up the I/O for the Music track
* Change the Track channels: from 2 to 4
* Keep navigating through the dialog to  the "Add new receive..." pop up button and add a receive from the Voice Track
* navigate to the Destination audio channel selection box, and change from channel 1/2 to 3/4
The routing is now set up and you can now close the dialog and add ReaComp to the Music track.


==Audio Tutorials ==
You will also need to place a second marker at the point where you want
the spin-up to end with its play rate set to 1.0 and its start and end
rates linked this time. this is of course assuming that you don't want
the spin-up to last the entire duration of the item.


There are two tutorials on side-chaining, one based on MacOS and the other based on Windows.
In the MacOS audio tutorial, Garth Humphrey's talks you through creating a side chain in Reaper with ReaComp. [http://traffic.libsyn.com/iblindtech/RT08-DuckingWithSideChain.mp3 Download the mac audio tutorial here].


In Windows, Daniel Montalvo shows us how to accomplish side-chaining on Windows. He uses JAWS for Windows but he also explains what the differences are when somebody is using NVDA. [http://traffic.libsyn.com/iblindtech/RT10-SideChainReaperWindows.mp3 Download the Windows tutorial here]
You can get round this in a number of ways. Either create a fade so that
the resultant pop caused by the little bit of unaffected item at the
beginning is inaudible or, once you've placed the stretch marker, you
could shrink the left edge of your item by the amount that you moved
forward to place the stretch marker and then move the item back the
commensurate amount on your project timeline.
 
 
You navigate between stretch markers by pressing control+apostrophe (command+apostrophe on Mac)  to go
forward and control+Semi-colon (command+semi-colon)  to go back. Bear in mind though that this
navigation also takes you to the item edges so if you navigate around
and you're not able to bring up stretch marker properties by pressing
control shift enter, you're probably not at a valid marker position.
 
many thanks to Justin M for this information

Latest revision as of 22:56, 17 May 2023

This effect, also known as tape stop, or simply varyspeed, has been commonly used for spinning audio up or down, just like a dj would do it. Here is an appplied visual reaper example

Stretch markers are what you want if you don't have a plugin to do it. There are various granular plugins that will do it - uhbik-g is one if you use automation and most things by Glitch Machines wil allow it if you configure them correctly. However it can be done for free.


  1. Ensure that preserve pitch while changing rate is unchecked in the item properties of the item you want to spin down. Remember that, as you decrease the rate of the item, it will take up more space and may crash other audio further down the project in your time-line.
  • Let's assume you want to do a spin down. Find the point in the item at which you would like it to begin and press control m to add a stretch marker. (command+M on Mac.)
  1. Press control shift enter. (command+shift+Enter on Mac.) This will expose marker properties.
  2. Ensure link start and end rate is unchecked.
  3. Your start rate should be 1.0, which is normal play rate. Your end rate should be 0.001, the slowest it will allow you to go. And there you have it. One spin down.


The difficulty is that it may not sound quite as you envision. The deceleration curve may not be quite right. In that case you will need to add more stretch markers to adjust the shape of your curve and things get quite messy because you need to make sure that the start and end rates all match up.


For example, let's say that you want the spin down to really get serious on the last word and it isn't really doing that yet.


Obviously you will need to insert another stretch marker at that point, the start of the last word, again with its start and end rates unlinked. It's start rate will read as whatever point on the descent you reached, much in the same way as putting another envelope point along an envelope curve in automation will give you the reading consistent with that point in the curve. You will have to change that start rate to a higher value though.


Let's say the start rate for our new marker is 0.094. You might want to try changing it to 0.199. Thing is, you must make sure that you change the rate of your previous stretch marker, the one we first added, to match that start rate otherwise the rate will jump.


Now let's say you want to do the whole thing in reverse, a spin up. One of the added difficulties here is that, for whatever stupid reason, Reaper won't allow you to put a stretch marker right at the start of an item. You will need to move a little bit in, meaning that the first part of your item will play at normal speed and then jump to the start rate of the stretch marker, which, for a spin-up, might be 0.001 assuming you want to start very slow.


You will also need to place a second marker at the point where you want the spin-up to end with its play rate set to 1.0 and its start and end rates linked this time. this is of course assuming that you don't want the spin-up to last the entire duration of the item.


You can get round this in a number of ways. Either create a fade so that the resultant pop caused by the little bit of unaffected item at the beginning is inaudible or, once you've placed the stretch marker, you could shrink the left edge of your item by the amount that you moved forward to place the stretch marker and then move the item back the commensurate amount on your project timeline.


You navigate between stretch markers by pressing control+apostrophe (command+apostrophe on Mac) to go forward and control+Semi-colon (command+semi-colon) to go back. Bear in mind though that this navigation also takes you to the item edges so if you navigate around and you're not able to bring up stretch marker properties by pressing control shift enter, you're probably not at a valid marker position.

many thanks to Justin M for this information

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