How do you stay organized?

crystallions · Post by **crystallions** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 1:47 pm

fusilierb wrote:
crystallions wrote:
matto wrote:
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.

Love this idea!!! I spent about 3 hours a couple of nights ago opening and listening to ideas (because I had no idea what they were). It would have been so great to just listen in iTunes instead. I will definitely start with this!!!
Good, I don't feel so retarded now.

LOL... glad I made you feel better.

feaker66 · Post by **feaker66** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 2:03 pm

My wife

fusilierb · Post by **fusilierb** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 7:10 am

UPDATE:

I've just solved almost all my problems in one fell swoop without having to move or rename anything. I downloaded and tried out four different tagging programs last night and have narrowed it down to two.

These little apps let you tag any file and folder with custom tags very quickly. Attaching words like (library name, ideas, in progress, completed, stems, etc) now creates an incredibly useful tag cloud that I can use to bring up any file by category no matter where it lives on the hard drive. AND they both integrate into Spotlight so you can search your tags through that.

Both of these apps also let you tag emails, webpages, images, movies. So I can now bring up the tag cloud, type in a library name and see any music files (both finished and in progress, any important emails related to that library, any contracts, weblinks, etc.)

Extremely cool and very fast to setup and use.

The one I'm probably going to go with:
http://www.nudgenudge.eu/punakea

Another one that is just as good, but a different interface:
http://www.gravityapps.com/tags/index.html

Both have 30 day trials.

mazz · Post by **mazz** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 12:30 pm

Another powerful tool along these lines is AudioFinder:

http://www.icedaudio.com/

I have barely scratched the surface of this application, but it does a lot of the tagging, etc., as well as being able to audition the files from it's interface, and it will even play REX files and Acidized files, display the tempo info, etc.

It will even allow for grouping, even if the files are on different drives or are in different folders. For instance, if you have drum loops scattered all over your drives, you can create a virtual folder in AudioFinder that groups all those far flung drum loops into one area. They look like they are all in the same folder so it's easier to get a handle on all of your drum loops, or whatever.

It's a pretty powerful application.

Cheers!

Mazz

llama · Post by **llama** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 1:21 pm

Great discussion. I've been wondering how to organize my tracks efficiently. Tagging seems the way to go... BTW there are many tagging programs available to us poor PC schlepps too

I just been googling a few to try out...Don't have any recommendations yet though..... anyone else done this in a PC environment? Thanks for the great ideas guys.

Derek.

coachdebra · Post by **coachdebra** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 3:13 pm

fusilierb wrote:I'm curious to see how you all keep your workflow organized. I've got so many different ideas (unfinished bits and pieces) spread out between two different DAW's and Sibelius with names like Guitar effect test one, Friday drum groove, string ideas and on and on that are just sitting in directories with names like electronic, horror, etc. I'm constantly forgetting about things and sometimes just spend a couple of hours opening sessions to remind myself what most of this stuff is.

Then once I find something that I want to pick back up, it goes through a few different names as I work on it and now I've got multiple versions of ideas in these folders. And these are just the ideas. Then I've got things that I'm working on for specific projects and I'm stuck with the same issues.

Then, when something is actually almost finished, there are all the multiple mixes to keep track off. And then stems and alt's.

Sometimes I'll listen to audio the folder I render everything to and will find a mix of a song that I forgot about and like, but can't even find the original session, because the mixed down name was chosen randomly when I exported it and it no longer points back to the session. So now I'm just randomly opening sessions (with lot's of Vi's loading which takes forever) just to learn that that isn't the session either.

It's really gotten unwieldy and it only seems like its going to get worse.

I'd like to hear how you attack this and hopefully get some good ideas that I can incorporate into taming this sprawl.

It sounds like you need to create a system. I don't know the technical ins and outs of your technology (not my field

) But I know a lot about creating systems.

Here's the thing to know about setting up any new system:

Creating a System takes time - once - using the system saves time, every time
If a system isn't working, it's usually not you but the system that's at fault - evaluate the system and adjust to suit you

Don't over think it. The best thing to start with is what you're already doing - document that and build on that

Don't count on your memory for a new system. Create a checklist or a set of directions for yourself, and just follow that.

Here's a couple of suggestions:

Create a list of your categories and sub-categories for composition (like horror, suspense, romance, etc.)

Create an excel document with column headings that include things like - stage of recording, genre, pace (slow, med, fast or whatever) instrumentation, etc. But most importantly - where is it located in space!

When you start a new idea, create a folder with today's date, category and sub-category - 2011-01-24 Horror slow build - and enter it into your document using the same name. Any future versions should have the same name (with a version number or whatever) and be kept in the same folder. Maybe you would create a folder on each computer - I don't know.

The nice thing about the excel document is that you can put each version as a new line-item with notes. And you can sort the document by any column heading. So, if you're looking for a horror, slow build, you sort by that and all the pieces you've created with that category and subcatogory come up with where they're located.

eliotpister1 · Post by **eliotpister1** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 11:03 pm

I just want to concur with a couple of points in this thread. First of all, I feel your pain. Staying organized, especially when the title of the cue or song may change several time, is a b**ch. Here's some random things I do that may help out...

1. It helps to come up with a track title as soon as you can! If it's an instrumental track, it usually pretty doable once you've established a specific mood. As soon as the track is more than just a scratch idea, take 2 minutes and think of a title and stick with it. That way, the file naming is one less variable to worry about and you can just start keeping version number suffixes. "tense-moment-v1.wav".

2. It may be too simplistic, but I'll say it anyway... Sometimes I find that when I'm getting overwhelmed by all the song ideas I've started, it's because I'm really avoiding FINISHING any of them (either because it's the "hard work" of the process, or I don't feel like any of them are worthy of being finished). Could it be that you're drowning in unfinished version because you're going through a similar period in your writing? Finish what you start, and you'll naturally be more organized.

3. When you finish a song/cue, do your backups, remove old file versions you know you're never ever coming back to, and move what remains into an archive folder or drive so it's not cluttering up your filing system, and your mindset!

My two cents. Three, actually.

Cheers,

Eliot.

fusilierb · Post by **fusilierb** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 6:22 am

mazz wrote:Another powerful tool along these lines is AudioFinder:

http://www.icedaudio.com/

I have barely scratched the surface of this application, but it does a lot of the tagging, etc., as well as being able to audition the files from it's interface, and it will even play REX files and Acidized files, display the tempo info, etc.

It will even allow for grouping, even if the files are on different drives or are in different folders. For instance, if you have drum loops scattered all over your drives, you can create a virtual folder in AudioFinder that groups all those far flung drum loops into one area. They look like they are all in the same folder so it's easier to get a handle on all of your drum loops, or whatever.

It's a pretty powerful application.

Cheers!

Mazz

I'm glad you brought this app up. I tried it out a couple of years ago and it was extremely useful. I'll have to download it again and play around with it. It might help out in organizing tracks, I'd have to see it again. But as far as auditioning and organizing the thousands of samples spread across your machine, it was incredible at that.

fusilierb · Post by **fusilierb** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 6:23 am

Thanks Elliot and Debra. I've almost got this thing figured out. I'll report back in a few days to describe the route I'm taking.

Tim_Behrens · Post by **Tim_Behrens** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 10:03 am

eliotpister1 wrote:It may be too simplistic, but I'll say it anyway... Sometimes I find that when I'm getting overwhelmed by all the song ideas I've started, it's because I'm really avoiding FINISHING any of them (either because it's the "hard work" of the process, or I don't feel like any of them are worthy of being finished). Could it be that you're drowning in unfinished version because you're going through a similar period in your writing? Finish what you start, and you'll naturally be more organized...

Yep, that's me in a nutshell. I'm buried in unfinished ideas. It's very easy to want to continue to refine and refine, but my goal is to finish some things and move on. Glad to hear it might just be a phase.

As far as organization goes, I have a folder where projects start out called 'playground'. If I come up with a cohesive idea, I mix down an mp3 of the idea, retitle the folder with a working name and date, and move it into another folder, where working projects are. I keep all the mp3's in a folder, and title them with the same name as the project, so I can listen quickly if I do need to track something down.

It's not the greatest system in the world, but it definitely beats what I had before... which was a bunch of folders with dates that meant nothing to me two months after the fact.

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