automation.....

[bryan_kilco]

Guys, I'm a newb yet. I hear you guys talking about "automation", and I'm not totally certain what exactly that is. Can someone help the newb out?

I feel like there's soooo much for me to learn and each day is something new!

 

[Jind]

Automation is essentially recording and playing back any changes made to the controls within a DAW or other recording device. you can write/read automation of things such as volume, pan position, or for that matter just about any value within a DAW. You can use it to make changes within plugins, synths, you name it and it can probably automated. Say you have a track and you want the vocal to have a slight volume boost during the chorus - you adjust the volume fader while playing the track or simply "draw" in the automation to the track - when played back it will perform the volume adjustment just as if you were physically riding the fader. It stores the automation in the track. With a control surface with motorized faders, you would see the fader moving with the automation you recorded.

 

[Skinny Viking]

Automation is basically "programming" something to make automatic changes at certain points in your timeline.

Example ... Fader Automation. In your DAW you can setup your volume fader on a track to automatically make changes in volume based on what is happening in the song. So if its on a vocal track and you want the vocal to be lower in volume during a verse part than in the chorus, you use automation to make the fader decrease a few dbs during the verse sections, and then go back to their original setting in the chorus parts, or louder. You can also apply this concept to panning and sends as well as to making automatic changes in a plugin during parts of a tune. So if you want an EQ sweep in your vocal track you set your plugin to the beginning part of the sweep and then as the track is playing you essentially "record" yourself making the manual adjustment to the EQ ... sweeping it across to where you want it to end. Then when you play it back, the EQ will automatically do what you just programmed it to do each time it gets to that exact spot on your timeline

 

[bryan_kilco]

thanks guys!! I'm not exactly sure how to start going about this but I'll mess with Reaper a bit today since I have off.

 

[Skinny Viking]

there are quite a few Reaper users here, unfortunately I'm not one so I can't offer any more help on how anything is setup in it

I'm sure others will chime in soon enough though

 

[bryan_kilco]

I just watched a youtube video on it. I'll have to play with it for a bit before I can really get a hold of it. I dont think I have a need for it right now anyway, but every little bit of info counts.

 

[plague_rider]

Automation is king!!!!

Unfortunately i'm also not much of a Reaper user... i'm sure someone on here would be able to help with a few basic steps...

 

[Jind]

Strike 3 - Also not a Reaper user so perhaps someone will come along with specific Reaper knowledge.

 

[Ol'Dirty Bastard]

To automate parameters in Reaper just click the "envelope" icon (button between the routing and fx on each track) and enable or check the parameters you want to automate.
If you have a midi controller and you enable "arm visible" it will record all data and update the display when you playback the track.
If not you can set anchor points and manually program the envelope with your mouse. I tend to do a rough run through with the fader and then adjust the points etc with the mouse until they are perfect.