The Consequences of not being organized

[guscave]

Last year I finished up a song for a library out of Europe. They liked it and asked me for the final wav file and forward it over to their client who decided to use it in one of their projects.

Fast forward to yesterday when the library asked me to send them the stems for the song. I went into my old drive where I kept all my projects from last year and could not find the stems anywhere. As it turned out, I use to keep a separate folder for the stems and after I finished that song I began working on other projects without taking the time to organize my files and put things where they belong. I mistakenly trashed the folder thinking everything was done. Unfortunately I also got rid of the old computer after I bought my new iMac this year, so there’s no way to get those files back.

Long story short, I had to tell the library that I lost the stems and wouldn’t be able to send them. This was Very embarrassing….

Moral to the story? Back up everything the moment you finish your song. Don’t wait!

[DesireInspires]

Also, never throw out a computer!

I regret tossing a slow, old dinosaur of a computer a few years ago. Even with the old software and old operating system, there were unique styles and sounds that I cannot recapture with the modern and updated tools. Even though I backed up the DAW files, there are songs that I have that I cannot render since I do not have some of the old wav files or older versions of VSTs. Sad but a valuable lesson learned.

I will always keep my old equipment as long as it able to turn on without catching on fire!

[JohnnyP]

Man that is rough to hear and I feel for ya'. Hopefully they can still use the song without the stems

[Razor7Music]

Ouch!!

[grady1]

hey Gus , had a very similar experience, unfortunately I still haven't learned my lesson. Thanks for the reminder

[ComposerLDG]

Ouch, that one hurts! Sorry that happened to you. Thanks to Time Machine, my iMac backs up automatically every hour to an external drive.

But yes, in this business organization is key. I have song catalog spreadsheets, submission spreadsheets, licensed-tracks spreadsheets.....it can be a bit overwhelming keeping track of everything at times.

[mikehamm123]

I worked on a cue for the 'nature show' listing and submitted it just under the wire... was really proud of my piece and had hopes for a forward.

A few days later I looked at my submission history--I'd submitted the wrong song!

(when I uploaded the piece it was 'doubled' i.e. two versions of it were uploaded... weird... )

[mojobone]

I still have a Mac II SE in the garage. There's no music on it, but hey, you never know.

[mikehamm123]

By the way--here is the critique I got when I submitted totally the wrong cue for a listing.

its very polite


Hi Mike,
I like the evolving atmosphere on this ambient narrative instrumental. However, the dark underscore attitude veers from the listing's request for positive "calm and gentle throughout". Although I cant guarantee a forward, you may want to submit this if a dark narrative drone instrumental listing is posted.

[Hobbins17]

Oh, that's unfortunate!
I guess sometimes we gotta learn the hard way but because you shared your story, it can help other people get more organised!
I have kept all my projects but they are all split up between different computers and hard drives and hidden in some random folder somewhere so maybe this should be an eye opener for me to try and get everything in one place! Haha.
Thank you!!
Leanne