Propellerhead’s Reason 4 – Top Ten Tips and Tricks

Hello again everyone, and welcome back to my series on Propellerhead's Reason 4. In this article I'm going to talk about my Top Ten general tips and tricks to navigate Reason 4 more efficiently. When I was first struggling to grasp the scope and utility of this truly comprehensive environment, I scoured the web night and day for quick tips and tricks to speed up my workflow - more often than not to only be left disappointed. First, before we get to the gist of this article, let's talk about Reason, and what it can do.

• The number of instruments in a mix is only limited to your computer's available amount of memory. (RAM)
• The mixing is modeled after the functions of ACTUAL real-world hardware mixers. I was surprised to find out that Reason 4 is actually a great learning tool for getting acquainted with audio gear; more or less all of the components and devices in Reason 4 are modeled and wired after actual gear, which can give you a great insight into a field you otherwise probably would have never been introduced to. Fun!
• You've got full automation of every conceivable parameter in Reason 4. Pan, volume, gain, EQ - if it's got a knob, you can automate it.
  
• MClass Mastering Suite - all the tools you will need to master your project.
• Recording overdub.
• Graphical editing of all device parameters.
  
• User definable quantization settings - really great quantization toolbar here, I have to say. I've seen a lot of MIDI editors and as far as quantization and ease of use goes, Reason 4 wins, hands down.
  

Ok, so now we know a little bit more about Reason 4, Let's get the tips n' tricks!

1. DETACH SEQUENCER WINDOW - Seemingly obvious, it's interesting to note how often this feature is ignored. The default Reason 4 rack isn't really a space suitable for complicated and large-scale editing. as you can see the little tiny sequencer space in the bottom is pretty "petite" by default.
   As you can see, not really working out. So navigate WINDOW > DETACH SEQUENCER WINDOW to get a nice lofty workspace, pictured here
2. QUANTIZE OFTEN - Quantize by either highlighting your MIDI track, right click, and on the bottom it should say "quantize". Or go to the Window > Show Tool Window and then a tool menu should pop up showing you the quantize options.  This can actually be essential. whether you want it feeling really loose or not, doesn't matter. If that's the case, quantize only 25% or 50%, but make sure you DO quantize often, because otherwise, if you don't have the best time (like myself) your projects' out-of-time'ness will COMPOUND more and more, until there is no hope of restoring quantization, and you've just got a big mess to clean up.
3. PLAN YOUR PROJECT - Sure, I know everyone likes to "feel it out" and add instruments and tracks as you go, this is a great and natural thing that Reason 4 does shockingly intuitively. However; the Reason 4 14:2 Mixer is not God, and does not always know your mind. If you randomly toss in an instrument here and there, with an MClass Mastering Suite here and RV7000 Advanced Reverb there, more than likely you are going to get a sloppy signal path, with wires missing and not everything working exactly like you wished it would. Get an idea of the instruments you will want, and effects you will probably use. Set them up first, so that you can stop worrying about it and just play your music. Set them up chronologically, navigating them by right clicking the Mixer board as I suggested in the previous Reason 4 article.
4. USE AUXILARY SENDS - A great tool for keeping your rack nice and clean. This applies to any effect really, not EQ though. Say you've got all your instruments laid out in your rack, and it's time for effects processing. You want to put a slight reverb on everything. Now, the Reason 4 noob will instinctively apply a Reverb patch like the previously mentioned RV7000 to every single instrument, resulting in potentially dozens of those suckers. This is time consuming. This is inefficient. This is bad !! Instead, right click the Mixer, navigate CREATE > RV7000 ADVANCED REVERB. you should see that purple component snuggled nicely beneath your mixer as so
   Now, observe the four red knobs on the mixer per track, labeled AUX - Confused? these are your AUXILIARY SENDS/RETURNS. See how it says REVERB in the tape on the right, under a red knob and the number 1? This controls the max level of whatever effect you've applied in this way. This is your first AUX, so now when you adjust the FIRST RED KNOB in the AUX box, you will hear more and more reverb being applied. You can manually adjust each track this way by using only this one reverb patch. Fun! Keeps it clean, too.
5. CONSIDER DYNAMICS - such as Stereo Pan (left and right), volume (obviously), EQ, and other general aesthetics of sound. It can really add another dimension to your music to hear the the melody 16% panned to one speaker, and the harmony panned 16% to the other. Constant sounds like percussion, strings/pads, bass tend to be centered at 0% pan, so they don't get annoying. It can be really refreshing, try it. Also consider which element is dominant in your mix; do you really want the drums louder than everything else? You have to consider aesthetics in music, as well as each instruments function in a piece of music. Drums are part of the rhythm section which is fairly continuous, therefore they don't need to be that loud. Otherwise they would really start to annoy you. The golden rule for mixing is always LESS IS MORE. Make your goal how quiet you can make something while still making it a functioning element in your track? take everything to all extremes to make the best judgement.
6. NAME YOUR TRACKS - Seriously people, if you are working on a track for a couple days, and it takes you 5-15 seconds to figure out which combinator is your piano and which is your percussion, you can waste lots of time. This is just an overall good habit to have, and will make you a little more speedy and professional.
7. USEFUL KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS - rack getting too big? Hold the ALT-key and minimize to minimize ALL of your rack. That would be this arrow Hit TAB to flip your rack around and wire everything the way you want it. Too many wires? hit L to hide them. Want to create a new instrument without it auto-wiring so that you can do it yourself? When you create an instrument hold the SHIFT key to insert it completely un-wired. Hit SPACE to play and stop. Of course, for a more in-depth look at Reason 4 keyboard shortcuts consult Propellerhead's PDF, located HERE
8. GET RECYCLE 2.0 - This truly unlocks Reason 4. Import any audio you want, create your own instruments and so on. Really amazing product.
9. STUDY BASIC EQ'ING PRINCIPLES - I might go into this in more detail in a later article, but for now it will suffice for me to suggest you do some reading. Use EQ to get instruments out of eachothers' way, so everything sits well in your mix. I highly recommend watching this Video Tutorial. This particular video helped me understand this stuff a little bit last year before I did my own in-depth research and study. Also, if you want to go nuts read Bob Katz' Mastering Audio. Great in depth book for engineers.
10. AUTOMATE EVERYTHING - by right clicking and knob or slider that you can interact with, a dialog will come up regarding AUTOMATION. Right click a knob, select EDIT AUTOMATION and the knob/slider will be highlighted in green. This means as soon as you start recording, WHILE you are recording whatever you do to that knob or slider will also be recorded. You can assign any knob/slider to a knob/slider you might have on your MIDI keyboard or control surface, and move it manually. Automation will add a whole new level of power to your sequencing. Start experimenting with it today, you won't regret it.

Well there you have it, my Reason 4 Top Ten list. Hopefully what you take away from this article will assist you on your path to Reason pwnage. If you have any comments or questions of course, please leave them in the comments below, I will answer any questions or suggestions for future articles promptly!

-Spence

Mooquu

Getting Comfortable In Propellerhead’s Reason 4

A Brief Introduction

I first was introduced to Propellerhead's Reason 4 oddly enough at the conservatory I was attending in Miami for classical guitar performance. I was taking a creative writing class and my wonderful professor Dr. Joann Falco-Leshin challenged the class to create an interactive website for the poetic and literature content we would create in the class. Upon learning I was a musician, she insisted I write some music for the site. Well, I had never recorded anything, and I knew I couldnt use traditional microphones for my guitar because it would just sound too amateur. I remembered hearing about a MIDI class some of my peers were taking and that the main software they used was called "Reason". I knew this would be the best way to create semi professional quality music in a digital medium, so I asked a friend to show me the ropes and help me record a piano piece I had written.

We had agreed on several times we would meet and record the piece, but he always had something else to do and bailed. Out of frustration, I figured I would just learn the software and do it myself. So I bought Reason 4, an 88-key semi-weighted MIDI keyboard and went to town. At first I had absolutely no clue where to begin. All I knew were the few immediate goals I had;

• Select an instrument
• Record the track, preferably in real-time performance
• Make it "on the beat, and in time" (quantize)
• Save as an audio file people could listen to

So I set about this in the slowest freaking way possible: Google. I googled the HELL out of that list, scouring forums and peering through questions/answers. I even made some posts as to how to do each and every one of these things in the most specific way possible. Well,  hopefully you will have found this article, and not have to suffer this daunting task yourself. Trust me, it took me a while to "get comfortable" in Reason 4.