Hi Neil,

As you probably already know, I've been using Reaper for many years.

For my last few songs, I've worked in BIAB and then jumped straight into Reaper. I normally go through Realband to Reaper but because I wanted to get a handle on how best to help Mac people if needed, and they don't have Realband, I thought I'd develop a productive approach using only BIAB and a DAW. With this in mind, my present plan of attack is as follows...

1. I write my song in BIAB.

2. I settle on those instruments that will provide the harmonic foundation and texture of my arrangement. Such instruments are usually, rhythm guitars, drums, piano and bass.

3. In BIAB, I set the mix to 'centre, flat and dry' and generate two tracks of each of those instruments. To do this, I always load the same Realtrack onto a pair of BIAB tracks and then generate. Let's call these two Realtracks that have the same number RT-A and RT-B. I save each Realtrack individually as a WAV file.

My reason for doing the above is because I usually need to copy and paste some sections of Realtrack to compile a single RT that flows how I like it to. Having two tracks means that I have enough audio to work with when compiling the best overall track.

It's not something often discussed these days but when the same Realtrack is generated on multiple tracks in BIAB, the track generations do not parallel one another. That is, each section of RT-A will be different from comparable sections in the generation of RT-B. This is very useful because it means that when I'm compiling, the comparable section in the other track will be the same chord but played differently. It makes it easier to mix and match.

4. Once I've done the above, I find soloist and background RTs to sweeten the arrangement. With these, I usually generate five instances of the RT by loading the same RT onto five BIAB tracks.

In Reaper, I once again compile a single track from the multiple generations and obtain what I think is the best possible soloist or background track.

5. When I am happy with my final product, I often delete the Reaper tracks that I no longer need.

Hope this is useful information for you,
Noel



MY SONGS...
Audiophile BIAB 2026