Best way to save files?

[moozicow]

I am trying to create a new file for each song from a gig of 9 songs. This is so I can mix them all separately. I have split the main audio file (about 50 mins) into the 9 songs but when I try to save each one it takes forever. Do I have to render my tracks a certain way before I save them? I am using Reaper.

[James Perrett]

I do quite a few live recordings in Reaper and my advice would be not to try splitting things up completely. I would keep the audio as long files and just save separate Reaper projects in the for each song using those same audio files all in the same directory.

For most live recordings you are going to want to use similar settings for most tracks so I would first mix one typical song completely while keeping all the audio in the project. You will then find that you will probably only need small adjustments on the other songs - when you make these adjustments you can save a separate project for that song.

In fact, if you make use of item effects and item envelopes, it is nowadays fairly easy to mix all the songs in one project in Reaper.

[moozicow]

I was splitting things up and drag dropping them to a new project tab. When I save them it says 'copying from [main project file]' or something in that vein. Should I change directory settings in preferences or something?

[James Perrett]

If you select the items that you want to copy and then just use a normal copy and paste (Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V on Windows) between different project tabs then it should be instant (or at least it is on my setup).

[Sam Spoons]

I'm guessing that, in James' case, each different project is referring to its own section of the raw files. If you are making new projects, I know there are options to copy or move files into a separate project folder, which would take a while for several large, 50 min WAV files.