Exporting a single track from Reaper

Jack Stanton · Post by **Jack Stanton** » 22 Sep 2020 4:37 pm

I'm a newbie at using DAW's. Can anyone give me some direction on how to send a track back to an engineer? A studio sent me an MP3 of a project and wanted me to record my parts which I have done with reaper with no problem. I now need to figure out how to send back my single track to them. Also, if I put any of the onboard reaper effects on the track do I have to do something special to make sure they get sent as well?
Thanks!

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 22 Sep 2020 8:15 pm

You can mute all the other tracks and just render your single track. Do you know how to render?

Kenneth Mennen · Post by **Kenneth Mennen** » 23 Sep 2020 7:20 am

Hi Mike - I would also highly recommend REAPER Mania on YouTube. The videos on that site are short, to the point, and cover a great variety for beginners using Reaper.

Jack Stanton · Post by **Jack Stanton** » 23 Sep 2020 8:42 am

Thanks, guys. I'll check out the videos( i've checked out some, but didn't know the term I was looking for). Does "stems" have anything to do with this?

Kenneth Mennen · Post by **Kenneth Mennen** » 23 Sep 2020 10:17 am

Sorry, I said Mike before instead of Jack. Mike's suggestion is correct - watch the REAPER Mania video about how to render. Also, I'd guess an engineer will probably want it to be rendered as a WAV file, since it has all the sound information in it. They may also not want any effects if possible. If you add them with pedals, etc., then you have no choice. If not (recorded dry), and you add effects in your DAW, you can send both a clean and an effects version. Why dry? An engineer may have plugins (DAW effects) that are higher end. Why an effects track too? To either use directly, or as an example for the engineer to get the vibe you're looking for....

Jack Stanton · Post by **Jack Stanton** » 23 Sep 2020 12:54 pm

Thanks again, Kenneth

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 25 Sep 2020 4:12 am

Most if not every DAW can export a file in MP3 or Wave, to a specific folder, to be used however the USER defines. Be sure to make note of where that Exported or Bounced file is heading or create your own folder for the target, OR you may be asking "where is my exported track" ?

Typically the top DAW primary toolbar menu , under FILE, includes an IMPORT command and a EXPORT or BOUNCE command. As stated, be certain to MUTE the music tracks that you DO NOT WANT to Bounce or Export, or they will all go as ONE. In addition, some DAWS like it if we HIGHLIGHT the track length ( beginning to end) to identify the Exported or Bounced FILE length.

As Kenneth mentions, sending a file to another to use should be DRY, no effects, no processing , maybe not even any EQ . This allows the person you are sending it to, to import the track and have it sonically match the session they are using it with. They can't modify anything that you have embedded. It is what it is.

Also keep in mind, Wave file lengths can easily be greater than 4x the file size of an MP3 file depending on bit rate and compression sizes. In some cases this can cause EMAIL issues, depending on Server to Server. We don't know if there is an issue until there is one !

Often clients have DROPBOX accounts which are very handy.

Jack Stanton · Post by **Jack Stanton** » 25 Sep 2020 5:54 am

Thanks, Tony!

Bill Terry · Post by **Bill Terry** » 25 Sep 2020 6:05 am

FWIW, I've gotten frustrated with Dropbox, it seems to get clunkier and harder to use with every update. I was turned on to this free file transfer web site that is MUCH easier to navigate. It's all I use when sending files now. Of course if your client has an account on Dropbox he wants you to use your stuck with that.

The interface is dead simple, and you can optionally create an account if you don't want to verify your email address on each transfer. Drag and drop, enter the recipient and add a message.. done. The receiver gets an email with a link to the download.

www.wetransfer.com

John Macy · Post by **John Macy** » 25 Sep 2020 6:53 am

I quit Dropbox a long time ago. Iâ€™ve been very happy with WeTransfer and use the pro version. Most of the people I work with have moved too.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 25 Sep 2020 8:35 am

John Macy wrote:I quit Dropbox a long time ago. Iâ€™ve been very happy with WeTransfer and use the pro version. Most of the people I work with have moved too.

Listen to John , he would know. I personally stopped using Dropbox years ago but never heard of WeTransfer !

Thx John !