You can see this process in action in Video 1. So if you’re getting into varispeed recording it’s best to either bounce your MIDI tracks to audio, or use Reaper’s freeze function. The playback speed of your virtual instrument tracks will change, but the pitch won’t modulate. Keep in mind, though, that varispeed doesn’t work in quite the same way for MIDI tracks. It’s a very easy technique to reproduce in Reaper: the varispeed control is sitting right there on the transport bar, and it really is as simple as adjusting it up or down, arming a track and recording as normal, before resetting the playrate to the default for playback. The late Sir George Martin famously played an acoustic piano part with the tape running at half speed, resulting in a tinny, harpsichord-like timbre when played back at the normal rate in the finished mix. Another example is the instrumental bridge to The Beatles’ ‘In My Life’, from the 1965 album Rubber Soul. For example, recording something at a lower speed then playing it back at the standard speed would yield a high-pitched, squeaky tone, perhaps most famously exemplified by the Chipmunks albums, from the late ’50s onwards. This had very practical uses (I remember varispeed saving the day once when I had to record an acoustic piano that had been tuned a quarter-note flat), but it could also be used to create interesting timbral effects.
Varispeed Recordingĭecent open-reel tape machines had a varispeed control, which would modulate the rate at which the tape travelled across the heads. I’ve also created a few videos to help you get a better feel for each example. Thankfully, Reaper allows you to replicate them all fairly effectively, and in this month’s column I’ll take you through a few tricks, explain how we did them back in the dark ages, and how to achieve the same thing in Reaper. While it’s not something I feel huge nostalgia for - computer-based recording has been a revelation in terms of efficiency and workflow - I still like to employ a few creative techniques from those days. I’m probably among the last generation of people who learned to record on open-reel tape.
How to recreate open-reel tape trickery in Reaper.
Setting the folder track record mode, ready to bounce down a guide track to record the reverse recordings against.
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