Second time covering this song on my YT channel, but this is my first ever Reaper (DAW) production. Thanks @LBro for the helpful links and tips. You were right, it’s completely intimidating, but I feel like I learned just enough to get my feet wet.
Mixed the audio and video in iMovie, including the lead guitar split screen bit. Next step will be to work on doing the video editing within Reaper as well, as I think that would be an overall improvement.
Let me know what you think, and of course, suggestions for improvement are welcome!
Well done, Tosh, you sure do nail those country tunes, be it Johnny or Willie.
Loved the tone of the acoustic and adding lead is an extra treat.
I’m sure LBro would have pointed you to Kenny’s videos. I did produce a video with 3 inserts in Reaper, mixing the audio tracks recorded into Reaper and rendering the video from Reaper. So it is quite doable, though not necessarily an improvement on iMovie. As long as you have a way of syncing the audio you may find iMovie easier to do your video editing than Reaper, particularly when you start adding text. Reaper can be a bit finicky.
The Country boy does it again, this time with fancy tech. Well done Tosh.
I did think you looked a little bit less relaxed though. Probably thinking about all the tech!
That was a treat, Tosh! Love some good country stuff!
Well played on both rhythm and lead, singing was on point too. I’d also prefer the acoustic a tad bit louder in the mix, but that’s matter of taste maybe. Overall, great production and glad you could learn a lot by putting it together!
Thanks to all for the comments.
I can definitely hear what several of you said, that perhaps the acoustic guitar was a bit quiet. Now I see that. Paralysis by analysis. lol. If I’d left it at the recording levels it probably would have been better. Live and learn.
@DavidP - yep, LB did point me to Kenny’s videos, which were quite helpful. So many though! And I appreciate your thoughts that maybe not necessarily an improvement to render the video and audio straight out of reaper as opposed to mixing in iMovie. That’s good to know.
@sairfingers : yeah, probably also a bit less comfortable since this song is a little out of my key. I played later with a capo on the first fret (so played in F rather than E, like many Johnny Cash songs), and it was much better. I also just don’t know this song quite as well as some of the others I’ve recorded here.
Hey Tosh,
I don’t know many Willie tunes, so good to hear you do one… Pretty good sounding mix and your video works well.
Here are a couple thoughts on how to improve what you have going on. Dual track your acoustic guitar and pan it out Left and Right a good deal. This will really thicken up the mix. You could then run both the vox and lead guitar in the center.
I woulld tend to agree with DavidP on using Reaper for video. It can be done, but Reaper is a DAW and was not really made to edit video. I don’t know iMovie at all, but do know it was built to edit video. So it should be much stonger in most video aspects. Your task then becomes what David eluded to, namely in syncing up the audio and video to each other. For this a lot of folks use a hand clap at the start as a timing aid. In my case I found a recorded drum beat or fast decay cymbal hit works well. I always do my drum track first and then those cymbal hits are useable for all the other tracks.
I hope to hear more from you soon and keep up the good vibe and DAW work!
LB
Loved the laid back country vibe on this one Tosh.
Good on you for stepping into the world of DAWs. There’s a lot of power there. My only advice would be take it slowly and learn a little each time rather than trying to become an expert quickly, otherwise you might find there’s so much to learn it won’t leave much time left for guitar!
Great job Tosh sounded good to me but yes the acoustic could come up a level, as previously mentioned. Congrats on your first Reaper project, the more you use it the easier it becomes and I see @DavidP reference Kenny G, always a good source if you are stuck.
I’d also prefer the acoustic a tad bit louder in the mix, but that’s matter of taste maybe. Overall, great production and glad you could learn a lot by putting it together! 
