[production-notes] Episode 7.4 (Patreon)

I have SUCH AN UPDATE TODAY. Did you notice a difference in the episode? I hope not. I have changed editor from Bitwig (my loop-based music editor) to REAPER (a linear editor), with SUPER MAGIC POWERS.

I must gush about REAPER a bit. Firstly, it's created by the person who made WINAMP!

Remember WINAMP?!

Well, Justin Frankel, the guy behind WINAMP, nowadays builds REAPER. From music playing to music creation! A delight. Just as with WINAMP, you can use REAPER for as long as you like to trial it (shareware style) and the licence fee for personal use is just $60. For music software, this is a steal, let me tell you!

OK, Enough nostalgia, let me tell you two features that REAPER has that my music workstation, Bitwig, doesn't have.

1. VIM hotkeys. REAPER is so extensible that someone has built a plugin that enables a very comprehensive command mode for it! It's difficult to explain how revolutionary this is if you don't know VIM, but in short, I'm now editing without the mouse at 10x my previous speed. (also, no RSI!)

2. Auto-splitting. The first pass of my editing workflow is to cut my sentences up and remove any sounds, breathing, or noise in the background. This is vital for Seth, who doesn't breathe. I gave myself an editing nightmare with Lost Terminal! However, REAPER has an ingenious feature that guesses where to put the splits in, doing 99% this first pass for me. I'm gobsmacked.

So! Big news on the back-end. Did you hear a difference? You might have, I'm still getting used to reaper, even though I've used it for film music years ago.

Lastly, did you recognise the horse? More to come there...

Thank you all so much! Without your support I don't know where I'd be. Talk to you next week,
Tris <3