Audio-Technica AT2020USB+ Review

by Jeff Kaiser, 30 July 2020

There are many situations where a person’s recording/microphone needs are minimal, and a limited budget—along with the desire to limit interaction with new technology—have a greater influence on mic purchase than grand ideas of “what is the best sounding mic for_____.” All of us in this business get many requests along the lines of, “What is the best mic to do ____?” and “What interface should I get?” and even, “Should I get a USB mic?” There is no single, simple answer to these questions. Whatever you purchase is always going to be a negotiation between your budget, purpose of recording, equipment features, audio quality, and more. And remember: whatever you get, there will always be an audio engineer nearby that will say, “you should have purchased this one!” and another engineer over their shoulder to give totally different advice. (Usually such advice involves a rare $6,000 vintage microphone, $2,000 interface, and $3,500 preamp.)

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9: Creating Complex Click Tracks – Two-Minute (or so) Tutorials for Reaper DAW

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Creating complex click tracks is a treat in Reaper. For basic click tracks just use the metronome on the tool bar and right-click it for options including sending to headphones, enable or disable during playback, customize the sound, divisions of the sound, and many more possibilities. And just a reminder, Mac people (like me), check out my tutorial on right-click and the Mac.

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8: Take FX, Take Envelopes/Automation, Parameter Modulation, Item Groups – Two-Minute (or so) Tutorials for Reaper DAW

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In Reaper you can add effects, effects modulation, and automation to specific media items that will only affect that specific item. These effects will then travel with that item as you copy or move it about. This is nice for standard audio work, but it is particularly exemplary with sound design, especially when combined with layering and grouping items in a track lane for any sound effects that might reoccur in a project.

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7: Introduction to Folders (Folder Tracks) – Two-Minute (or so) Tutorials for Reaper DAW

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Reaper’s folders—also called folder tracks—are a great way to create submixes and organize your mixing sessions. In Reaper you can use Sends and Receives with Aux tracks as in any other DAW, I do this regularly for reverb and other effects that I want to use consistently across many tracks. But when it comes to creating drum busses, organizing groups of related instruments, voices, and other parts for stems, it is much more quick and efficient to use folders. In this example, I will create a submix for drum parts that are already recorded but there are many more uses for folders.

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6: Mac and Right-Click in Reaper DAW – Two-Minute (or so) Tutorials for Reaper DAW

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Just a reminder:

If you are on a Mac using a trackpad, the default equivalent for right-click is a two-finger tap or click.

In the Mac world, right-click is called a “Secondary Click” and can be modified in your computer’s System Preferences in the Trackpad section. You can also change it to “Click in bottom right corner” or “Click in bottom left corner.”

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3: Basic Creation and Editing of Automation Envelopes – Two-Minute (or so) Tutorials for Reaper DAW

Please note, the following are with default settings, behaviors in Reaper can be modified in so many ways.

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Automation Envelopes

An automation envelope is a visual representation of a parameter such as volume or panning that changes over time. A common use, among others, is to automate the raising or lowering of a track’s volume.

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