REAPER Audio Workflows

How to set up a new REAPER project before you record (so nothing goes missing later)

By StudioRescue Editorial

Published October 30, 2026 · Updated October 30, 2026

Most REAPER problems that feel like disasters, such as media offline, a project that will not move to another computer, or a folder of takes you cannot tell apart, start in the first minute of a session. REAPER lets you open it and hit Record straight away, which is great for capturing an idea and bad for keeping the result organised.

This is the checklist to run once per new song, episode or voiceover. Once it is done, you can save it as your default so most of it happens on its own next time.

Step 1: Save the empty project first, in its own folder

Before you add anything, press Ctrl+S (Cmd+S on Mac). Because the project is new, REAPER asks for a file name and shows extra options in the save dialog. The official REAPER User Guide describes the key one: you can choose to Create subdirectory for project. Tick it. REAPER then makes a folder named after the project and puts the project file inside it.

Why this matters: when a project has no recording path of its own, the user guide explains that REAPER records into the folder where the project file was saved. Save first into a dedicated folder and every take lands next to its project. Skip it, and an unsaved project records to whatever default recording path for unsaved projects is set under Options › Preferences › General › Paths. That is how takes from different songs end up mixed together in one folder.

Step 2: Give the audio its own subfolder (optional, recommended)

Open File › Project Settings (or press Alt+Enter) and go to the Media tab. The user guide describes the primary and secondary paths there as places to store media files as a sub-folder of the project folder, and notes that if they are left blank, the project file folder is used.

Leaving it blank works. Typing a short name such as Audio into the primary path keeps recordings in a subfolder, separate from the project file, its backups and REAPER’s peak files. That is a convenience, not a requirement, and it is a common practitioner habit rather than an official rule.

Step 3: Check the sample rate and recording format

Still in Project Settings, the first tab holds the project sample rate, and the Media tab holds the recording format, normally WAV, with its bit depth. Check both now, because changing them after recording does not change files you have already made.

For most home vocals, podcasts and voiceover, 48 kHz or 44.1 kHz at 24-bit WAV is a sensible starting point. Which of the two rates suits you depends on where the audio is going, and the full reasoning is in what sample rate and bit depth to record vocals at. The most important part is that the project rate matches the rate your audio interface is actually running at, which you set under Options › Preferences › Audio › Device.

Step 4: Set the tempo and time signature, if you need them

If you are recording a song to a click or to a beat with a known tempo, set it now. Type the BPM and time signature into Project Settings, or click the BPM box on the Transport Bar and enter a number. Both routes are in the user guide.

The reason to do it first: the project’s timebase setting (also on the first Project Settings tab, with options for Time and for two kinds of Beats) decides whether items, envelopes and markers follow the beat grid when the tempo changes. Change the tempo after recording and audio may move against the grid in ways you did not expect. Setting the tempo before the first take avoids that question entirely.

If you want a click, turn it on with Options › Metronome enabled and set it up under Options › Metronome/pre-roll settings. That window includes Count-in before recording, which the user guide recommends when you are recording yourself, so you are not singing the first word as you reach for the mouse.

Recording a podcast or voiceover? You can skip this step. Spoken word is not played to a grid, and the default tempo does no harm.

Step 5: Add your tracks and name them before you arm them

Add one track for each thing you will record. A quick way, described in the user guide, is to double-click in the empty track area just below the last track. Then double-click the track’s name area, type a name and press Enter.

Do this before recording, not after. The user guide says it plainly: it is advisable to name tracks before you start recording, because the media file created when you record is given a name that matches the track. A take called Lead Vox is easy to find in a folder months later. A file named after nothing in particular is not.

Short, consistent names work best. For a song: Lead Vox, Dbl L, Dbl R, Adlibs, Beat. For a podcast: one track per person, named after the person. Then set each track’s input and record arm it, as covered step by step in how to record vocals in REAPER.

Step 6: Drop markers for the parts you plan to record

Markers are bookmarks on the timeline. According to the user guide, M inserts a numbered marker at the edit cursor, and Shift+M does the same and asks you for a name. The number keys 1 to 0 on the main keyboard jump straight to markers 1 to 10.

• Songs: mark Verse 1, Hook, Verse 2 and so on, so you can jump to a section and punch in without hunting.
• Podcasts and voiceover: you cannot mark sections before they exist, so drop markers while recording, at a flubbed line or a topic change. They save a lot of searching during the edit, as shown in how to cut a long podcast interview down to length.

Step 7: Make it the starting point for next time

Once the settings are right, you do not need to repeat most of this. You have two options:

• Save as default project settings. This button sits at the bottom of the Project Settings window. The user guide says it saves all your project settings as defaults for new projects, which covers sample rate, recording format and the media subfolder. It does not save tracks.
• Save a project template. If you want named tracks, inputs and an FX chain ready every time, save the whole setup as a template. That is covered in how to set up a vocal template in REAPER.

Either way, Step 1 still applies to every new project. A template gives you the tracks, but you still save into a new folder before the first take.

Already recorded without doing this?

Do not start moving WAV files around by hand. That is the most common way to end up with media offline. Instead, open the project and use File › Save Project As. Pick a new folder, tick Create subdirectory for project, and tick Copy all media into project directory. The user guide describes this option as copying the media the project uses into the new project folder, so the new copy is self-contained. Keep the old files until you have reopened the new copy and confirmed everything plays.

If the audio already shows as offline, follow REAPER says media offline? How to get your audio back first.

What this will not do

• It will not make your recording sound better. Mic technique, the room and your level still decide that.
• It will not back up your work. A tidy project folder is easy to back up, but you still have to copy it somewhere else.
• It will not rename takes you have already recorded. Naming a track later does not rename files already on disk.
• It will not carry your plugins between computers. Projects store plugin settings, not the plugins themselves.
• It will not fix a tempo that was wrong when you recorded. If the singer did not follow the click, setting the tempo afterwards does not line them up.