How do you stay organized?

[teleblaster]

Offhand I'd say you might have too many shades of grey in your projects Brian. The amish addage, 'Filling your life with lots of choices is another way to not make a decision' might apply, but only you can say for sure.

For me a project either passes the bar being worthy for completion or it doesn't. I have a folder structure similar to Mazz, BlackDogMusic\Projects\<year>\<DAW I use Reaper and ACID>... Under that are all the folder projects that are in progress; a folder called 'Revisit'(good stuff but not hi pri right now), and a folder called 'Shelved' for projects that don't pass muster right now, (i.e. 'what was I thinking...?').

I make quick decisions around things like 'does this track sound better with Voxengo Elephant's limiter or the T-Rex limiter, and never save more than one mix of a track for more than overnight unless I need an alt mix for a client (a stem or a specific request of some sort) then I use my DAW's feature to save a project file when I make that mix.

I also render all completed projects out to a 192kbps mp3, and a 16/48 .aif. Those files go in a common folder labelled by year. Then I have a database with a table for each song, a publishing table that links a record in the song table to publishing info. The song table has a 'status' field that says 'in progress', 'shelved' or 'completed'. I'm also going to add a link to the mp3 file in the song table so the mp3 can be pulled up quickly for playback. The base path for the file will be set in code so that some day all of this can sit up on the cloud (MS Azure).

Finally I chose the carbonite backup system for my DAW. For $50/yr it's a compelling product. The original upload is slow, but once that's done it's more than adequate to keep things safe

[fusilierb]

Too many shades of grey is an understatement. One obvious thing that I've already learned here is that I need to separate out my playing around and my work files. I think that alone is going to really help.

I like the database idea. I've been considering building something like that. Not really to keep track of things I'm working on as much as keeping track of things that are out there. But maybe things I'm working on makes sense also.

[fusilierb]

I use iTunes to organize my catalog until something better oriented towards composers comes along.
Mazz

That line has stuck with me all day. What kinds of things would something more oriented to composers ideally do?

[matto]

Hey Bryan,

I think all you need to do is spend a small amount of extra time when you're "playing around" to do two things: 1- put the date in the file title, and 2- render an mp3 of every idea, with that same title/date.

"SD2_PlayingAround_01212011" could be the file title if you were playing around with SD2 today. Any idea you like, you render as a quick mp3.
"SD2_PlayingAround_01212011_1", "SD2_PlayingAround_01212011_2", etc. Have those mp3s in a dedicated "mp3 idea folder" (possibly grouped into genre subfolders, but this isn't even necessary).

It's MUCH faster to audition mp3s than to load up sessions. When you hear an idea you like that you want to expand on, it's easy to locate the corresponding session since it has the same name.

This is not a "scientific method" like mazz uses, but it's quick and dirty when you're just messing around and don't really know what a given idea might be useful for later. Considering that ideas are often barely 30 seconds long, and that you can use non realtime exporting in Cubase, this method will barely slow you down but pay big dividends later.

BTW I realize that sessions and mp3s are date stamped so having the date in the title is not necessary, strictly speaking...I just find it easier to keep track of since I'm kind of (s)low tech...

matto

[matto]

I use iTunes to organize my catalog until something better oriented towards composers comes along.
Mazz

That line has stuck with me all day. What kinds of things would something more oriented to composers ideally do?

Ideally, I would be user friendly and intuitive enough so I wouldn't have to call mazz everytime I want to do something really basic...

[Casey H]

Hey Bryan,

I think all you need to do is spend a small amount of extra time when you're "playing around" to do two things: 1- put the date in the file title, and 2- render an mp3 of every idea, with that same title/date.

"SD2_PlayingAround_01212011" could be the file title if you were playing around with SD2 today. Any idea you like, you render as a quick mp3.
"SD2_PlayingAround_01212011_1", "SD2_PlayingAround_01212011_2", etc. Have those mp3s in a dedicated "mp3 idea folder" (possibly grouped into genre subfolders, but this isn't even necessary).

It's MUCH faster to audition mp3s than to load up sessions. When you hear an idea you like that you want to expand on, it's easy to locate the corresponding session since it has the same name.

This is not a "scientific method" like mazz uses, but it's quick and dirty when you're just messing around and don't really know what a given idea might be useful for later. Considering that ideas are often barely 30 seconds long, and that you can use non realtime exporting in Cubase, this method will barely slow you down but pay big dividends later.

BTW I realize that sessions and mp3s are date stamped so having the date in the title is not necessary, strictly speaking...I just find it easier to keep track of since I'm kind of (s)low tech...

matto

It's a really good idea to put date stamps in file names and not just depend on the operating system file stamp. Lots of things can mess with your OS date stamp. For example, let's say you have a 192K mp3 with an OS date stamp of Jan 5, 2009. On Jume 15, 2010, a library wants a 128K version for quick audition. You make a copy of the original file, append "128K" to the title, and convert it to 128K. That new copy will have an OS date stamp with the day you made the copy-- June 15, 2010... Had you kept the creation date as part of the title, both would still be labeled correctly.

Also, the "Date Modified" OS stamp will get changed when anything is done to the file such as editing it's properties. So for an mp3 file, editing the track tags for Title, Artist, Album, etc will update the "Date Modified". That one's probably not as important as the date of creation but it still can be confusing.

Casey

[deankripp]

I think my system is a combination of some of the above ideas. Like Mazz, I have a main folder for each year. Inside of the "year" folder I have a folder for each "library" that I work with. Then, I usually have a "due date" folder inside of each library folder. A typical folder path would be 2011/Library/Feb14/Song.

Also, inside of the 2011 folder I have a few folders for non-library "songs" and collaborations. They are labeled by genre: "rock," "country," "pop," etc.... Currently, my 2011 folder has these parent folders in it: (Library names excluded)

Library 1 folder
Library 2 folder
Library 3 folder
Library 4 folder
Library 5 folder
Pop folder
Country folder


I back up all of my files onto a separate hard drive each week. I should probably do it every day.... but I am lazy

I also have a totally separate folder where I catalog final mixes and stems....

For bits and pieces, song ideas, etc... I use a small digital "hand held" device. It is a cheapo recorder and the sound quality sucks but I find it quite useful. It's great for those times when I just want to get out of my studio and write in a different environment. Usually, when I get about 40 or so "ideas" I will load them into a file on my office computer as mp3s and title them in whatever way is most apropos. As Matto said, it is then quite easy to screen 40 mp3s and see if you have anything useful per whatever you are working on.

I've also go a similar filing system for "lyrics." I write a lot of lyrics - my goal each month is 30 new ideas of at least verse/chorus... The pathway is much the same as my library stuff. LyricFolder/Year/Month.... Having this filing system makes it really easy to screen my lyrics before going into a co-write to see which 5 to 10 lyric ideas I might want to bring to any particular writing session...

I find it absolutely imperative to have a filing system that makes sense to me so that I can move quickly. Especially, in the early morning before my first cuppa Joe has kicked in and again late at night - after the scotch has kicked in... Last year I recorded 141 instrumentals for the libraries that I work with and an additional 26 lyric songs... It would be way to confusing for me without some sort of "system."

...what am I saying - I have a pretty good system and I am still confused


dean

[Len911]

I like the folder inside a folder inside a folder inside a folder method myself, and always naming and renaming the folder as many times as necessary to adequately describe the contents.

[fusilierb]

Hey Bryan,

I think all you need to do is spend a small amount of extra time when you're "playing around" to do two things: 1- put the date in the file title, and 2- render an mp3 of every idea, with that same title/date.

"SD2_PlayingAround_01212011" could be the file title if you were playing around with SD2 today. Any idea you like, you render as a quick mp3.
"SD2_PlayingAround_01212011_1", "SD2_PlayingAround_01212011_2", etc. Have those mp3s in a dedicated "mp3 idea folder" (possibly grouped into genre subfolders, but this isn't even necessary).z

It's MUCH faster to audition mp3s than to load up sessions. When you hear an idea you like that you want to expand on, it's easy to locate the corresponding session since it has the same name.

matto

Now why didn't I think of that? That's a great idea!

[fusilierb]

I think my system is a combination of some of the above ideas. Like Mazz, I have a main folder for each year. Inside of the "year" folder I have a folder for each "library" that I work with. Then, I usually have a "due date" folder inside of each library folder. A typical folder path would be 2011/Library/Feb14/Song.

Also, inside of the 2011 folder I have a few folders for non-library "songs" and collaborations. They are labeled by genre: "rock," "country," "pop," etc.... Currently, my 2011 folder has these parent folders in it: (Library names excluded)

Library 1 folder
Library 2 folder
Library 3 folder
Library 4 folder
Library 5 folder
Pop folder
Country folder


I back up all of my files onto a separate hard drive each week. I should probably do it every day.... but I am lazy

I also have a totally separate folder where I catalog final mixes and stems....

For bits and pieces, song ideas, etc... I use a small digital "hand held" device. It is a cheapo recorder and the sound quality sucks but I find it quite useful. It's great for those times when I just want to get out of my studio and write in a different environment. Usually, when I get about 40 or so "ideas" I will load them into a file on my office computer as mp3s and title them in whatever way is most apropos. As Matto said, it is then quite easy to screen 40 mp3s and see if you have anything useful per whatever you are working on.

I've also go a similar filing system for "lyrics." I write a lot of lyrics - my goal each month is 30 new ideas of at least verse/chorus... The pathway is much the same as my library stuff. LyricFolder/Year/Month.... Having this filing system makes it really easy to screen my lyrics before going into a co-write to see which 5 to 10 lyric ideas I might want to bring to any particular writing session...

I find it absolutely imperative to have a filing system that makes sense to me so that I can move quickly. Especially, in the early morning before my first cuppa Joe has kicked in and again late at night - after the scotch has kicked in... Last year I recorded 141 instrumentals for the libraries that I work with and an additional 26 lyric songs... It would be way to confusing for me without some sort of "system."

...what am I saying - I have a pretty good system and I am still confused


dean

Well confused or not, your obviously productive as all hell. Good stuff.