How to Set Up and Record a Track
Introduction
Welcome to Part 1 of our Getting Started with REAPER series.
This series is designed to help you get up and running quickly—whether you’re recording a rough demo, capturing ideas, or simply learning how to put REAPER to work for you. It’s not an in-depth exploration of every feature just yet. That will come later.
After my previous article, Why I Switched to REAPER in 2024 as my digital audio workstation, many of you asked the same question: Where do I start?
This is the answer.
By the end of this guide, you’ll have your first track recorded and playing back in REAPER, with a basic setup you can confidently build on.
What This Guide Assumes
Before we begin, this article assumes that:
- REAPER is installed on your computer
- You have an audio interface connected
- You have a microphone or instrument plugged into that interface
If you haven’t installed REAPER yet, visit the official REAPER website, download the version for your operating system, and follow the installation instructions before continuing.
Step 1: Configure Your Audio Interface
The first thing REAPER needs to know is which piece of hardware you’re using to get sound in and out of your computer.
- Open REAPER and go to Options → Preferences
- Shortcut: Ctrl+P (Windows) or Cmd+, (Mac)
- In the left-hand menu, navigate to Audio → Device
- Under Audio system, select:
- ASIO (Windows), or
- CoreAudio (Mac)
- Under ASIO Driver (Windows), choose your specific audio interface
- For example: Focusrite USB ASIO, RME Babyface Pro, etc.
- Click OK to save your settings
At this point, REAPER knows where audio should come from and where it should go.
Step 2: Create Your First Track
Now that REAPER is configured, it’s time to create a track to record onto.
You can do this in any of the following ways:
- Go to Track → Insert new track
- Double-click in the empty space of the Track Control Panel (TCP)
- Use Ctrl+T (Windows) or Cmd+T (Mac)
A new track will appear, labelled Track 01 by default.
You can rename the track by double-clicking its name. While we’ll cover proper naming conventions in a later article (see Pro Track Naming Conventions in REAPER), it’s good practice to name tracks clearly. For now, something like Acoustic Guitar or Lead Vocal is perfectly fine.
Step 3: Select the Correct Input
This is the most crucial step—and the one many new users miss.
If you don’t tell the track which input to listen to, REAPER will record silence, no matter how well everything else is set up.
- On the track, locate the Input dropdown (it usually says In: None)
- Click the dropdown to see your available inputs
Choose one of the following:
- Mono input (e.g. Mono: Input 1)
- For vocals, guitar, or any single microphone
- Stereo input (e.g. Stereo: Input 1+2)
- For keyboards, stereo microphones, or paired inputs
Next, click the Record Arm button (the small circle on the track). It will turn red, indicating the track is ready to record.
Enable Input Monitoring
Right-click the Record Arm button and make sure Record Monitoring → On is selected.
This allows you to hear and see the signal coming into the track.
Step 4: Check Your Input Signal
With the track armed and the input selected, it’s time to confirm that audio is actually reaching REAPER.
- Play your instrument or speak into the microphone
- Watch the track meter to the right of the Track Control Panel
You should see the meter moving as signal comes in.
Adjust the gain control on your audio interface so the signal is strong but not clipping. A good starting point is:
- Mostly green and yellow on the meter
- Occasional peaks into orange
- Roughly –10 dB to –6 dB at the loudest moments
You may hear advice about aiming for –18 dB, which relates to gain staging. That’s an important concept—but for now, the goal is simply a clean, healthy signal. We’ll cover gain staging properly in a later article.
Step 5: Record Your First Take
You’re ready to record.
- Locate the transport controls at the bottom of the REAPER window
- Click the red Record button
- Shortcut: Ctrl+R (Windows) or Cmd+R (Mac)
- The play cursor will begin moving, and you’ll see a waveform appear as you perform
- Press Stop or the spacebar to finish recording
If you’d like, you can also enable the metronome (click track) to help keep time. We’ll look at that feature in a future article.
What Success Looks Like
At this stage, success means:
- You see a waveform on the track
- Pressing Play lets you hear it back
- The process feels understandable rather than mysterious
If that’s true, you’re exactly where you need to be.
My Final Thoughts
Setting up a DAW is often the most confusing part of the recording process. Once that hurdle is cleared, everything else becomes far more approachable.
Now that you know how to record a single track, you have the foundation needed to build an entire song. REAPER may not guide you automatically—but with a few deliberate steps, it becomes an incredibly flexible and reliable tool.
I’d Love to Hear Your Thoughts…
What was the most challenging part of setting up your DAW for the first time?
Share your experience in the comments below.
In the next article, Getting Started with REAPER: Part 2, we’ll look at how to create tracks for virtual instruments and MIDI, opening up an entirely new creative side of REAPER.