ABSTRACT
At the heart of a game audio designer’s station is their digital audio workstation, aka their DAW. There are many popular choices available, but the information and examples provided here are in the context of REAPER, a powerful DAW which is widely used in the game industry and is also free to evaluate indefinitely. The reader will take a tour through this DAW environment as they learn about nonlinear audio editing. The chapter begins with setting up tracks and channels, importing media, volume and panning envelopes, along with creating fades and crossfades. More advanced topics include time compression and expansion, as well as folders (busses). The chapter ends with a section on rendering files, common file format choices (with a chance to revisit sample rates and bit depth from Chapter 1), and a look at finding a personalized workflow. Everyone has a slightly different approach to postproduction, and it’s important for the reader to know there’s more than one way to get from point A to point B!
