Tutorials Audio

Editing a Podcast in REAPER

By Infinite Creation · Intermediate · ~50 min

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A 1960s mid-century comic book style editorial illustration showing two audio engineers at a mixing desk, with a pair of studio monitors visible in the frame.

Overview

REAPER costs a fraction of Pro Tools or Logic, has a fully unlimited free trial, and is the DAW most audio professionals actually recommend to budget-conscious podcasters: it's fast, endlessly customisable, and doesn't compromise on core editing and mixing capability. This guide is a complete podcast workflow from import to final export.

What You Need

REAPER (free 60-day fully-featured trial, then about $60 one-time for individuals)
Your recorded episode tracks (see the Editing a Podcast in Audacity guide for comparison)

Steps

Set up your project and import tracks

Create a new project, set your sample rate to match your recordings (typically 48kHz), and drag in each speaker's track onto its own row. Label tracks clearly (Host, Guest 1, Guest 2) immediately.

Edit for content first

Use REAPER's ripple edit mode to cut dead air, mistakes, and tangents while keeping all tracks in sync automatically, do this full content pass before touching any processing, so you're not re-doing EQ decisions on material you'll later cut.

Build your FX chain per track

On each speaker's track, add ReaEQ (high-pass filter, presence boost), ReaComp (compression, 3:1-4:1 ratio), and ReaFIR or ReaGate for noise reduction, all included free with REAPER, no extra plugin purchases needed to get a solid result.

Add a master bus limiter and loudness check

On your master track, add ReaLimit set a few dB below 0 to catch any peaks, then use REAPER's built-in loudness metering (View → Loudness) or the site's LUFS File Checker to confirm you're hitting your target platform loudness.

Render to your final format

File → Render, choose MP3 (192-256kbps for most podcast platforms) or WAV if your host handles its own encoding, and confirm your normalisation target matches your platform's requirements before rendering.

Pro Tips

Save your FX chain as a track template once it's dialled in, apply it instantly to every new episode's tracks instead of rebuilding it each time.
REAPER's customisable toolbar and actions list (a searchable command palette"Actions" via the "?" menu) can automate repetitive tasks, worth exploring once you're comfortable with the basics.
Use regions to mark chapter/segment boundaries as you edit. This speeds up building a chapter file later with the Chapter & Timestamp Generator.

Knowledge Base

Why REAPER, Specifically

REAPER offers professional-grade editing, routing flexibility, and a genuinely capable set of free bundled plugins (the "Rea-" plugin suite) at a one-time cost far below subscription-based competitors. Its efficient engine also runs comfortably on older or modest hardware, which matters for budget-conscious podcasters who may not have top-tier machines.

REAPER vs. Audacity

Audacity is free and simpler, suited to quick single-track edits. REAPER costs a small one-time fee but adds proper multitrack routing, sidechain compression, a more capable native plugin suite, and far more flexibility as your production needs grow. Most podcasters who start on Audacity eventually outgrow it faster than they expect.

The Ripple Edit Workflow

REAPER's ripple edit modes (Ripple all tracks, Ripple per-track) mean cutting dead air on one speaker's track can automatically close the gap across every other track too. A significant time saver over manually re-aligning tracks after every cut, which is a common pain point in simpler editors.

Where This Fits

REAPER is one editing choice, and Best Podcast Setup for Beginners covers the recording before it and the publishing after.

FAQ

Q: Is REAPER's 60-day trial actually fully functional?
A: Yes. It's the complete, unrestricted application with an occasional reminder screen, not a limited demo.

Q: Do I need to buy third-party plugins to get a good podcast mix in REAPER?
A: No. The bundled Rea-plugin suite (ReaEQ, ReaComp, ReaFIR, ReaGate, ReaLimit) covers everything described in this workflow at no extra cost.

Vocabulary

Media item. A single piece of audio placed on a track, which can be split, moved, faded and level-adjusted independently of its source file. The unit that most editing operations act on, and the reason edits are non-destructive.

Region. A named span of the timeline, used to mark sections and to define what gets rendered. Turns a long recording into something navigable and makes exporting parts of it repeatable.

Render matrix. The configuration deciding which tracks and regions become which output files. Lets one project produce a full mix and separate stems in a single pass.

Project template. A saved starting point holding track layout, processing and settings. Removes the setup stage from every episode, which is where most of the repeated work in a podcast actually sits.