Organizing Files

[Rata-tat-tat]

Tried searching this topic and found nothing... If there is already a thread please redirect me.

Thought I would get some ideas on file organization... I've done some reading up and appearently there is an industry standard which I don't quite have a grasp on. Thought I would get some ideas about organizing files and how you guys go about it. I have multiple computers and multiple DAW's.... Do any of the fine folks here on this site have any ideas for me to keep my library organized???

Here are some questions that may help:

1. Should I segregate my .wavs from my .mp3's???

2. Should I put everything in my Itunes music folder under a sub folder titled collabs or originals???

3. What is the standard for titling tracks??? (Multiple Guitar tracks "how do you title them???".... Multiple Vox tracks "how do you title them???")


Here is how my folders look now

Itunes
  Itunes Music
     Collabs
        Title
          Guitar 1
          Guitar 2
          Vox 1
          Vox 2
     Originals
        Title
          Guitar 1
          Guitar 2
          Vox 1
          Vox 2

This is a pretty simple layout... but when I start working with DAW's I need to save my project files in another location...  this creates too much confusion in my Itunes folder so I put them in a different location.

    Music
      BR Projects
        Title
          Guitar 1
          Guitar 2
          Vox 1
          Vox 2
      Cubase Projects
        Title
          Guitar 1
          Guitar 2
          Vox 1
          Vox 2
       Audacity Projects
         Title
          Guitar 1
          Guitar 2
          Vox 1
          Vox 2

Here is where I'm having problems...

It gets really confusing as to which files are .wav and which are .mp3 and where those files should be stored... I usually use Audacity for final mastering which is where I put out an MP3 for posting, That will tipically be my mp3 location in Audacity Projects folder... but sometimes I use my MBR for mastering... So now I have mastered copies in different locations. I'm trying not to duplicate files all over my hard drive and waste space.

Also just generically titling tracks is a good way to keep everything organized (IE Guitar1, Guitar 2), but it really sucks trying to figure out what the track actually is... especially when you start juggling multiple projects simultaniously.

Is there an easier way???  Would love to hear some input on this.


V/R
Tod





         

[Vanncad]

Rat,

I try to use one folder (eg "MySong"), and store everything in it.

The file system will let you sort by Name, Created Date, Type, etc, so you really don't need a lot of levels of folders.
Just incorporate a solid file naming convention and you're all set.

In the example below, I can easily sort all of my files by Date, Type, Author (for collabs), etc.

When I master the song, I include the patch I use  (eg. "P14") in the filename.
When I decide which master I like, and want to upload it to Songcrafters, I just make a copy and suffix the file with "_SC".

MySong
   MySong_Bass.wav
   MySong_Bass_NoRvrb.wav
   MySong_Drums.wav
   MySong_Guit1.wav
   MySong_GeirAcouGuit1.mp3
   MySong_Guit2.wav
   MySong_Master_P14.wav
   MySong_Master_P14.mp3
   MySong_Master_P22.mp3
   MySong_SC.mp3

You could even add the date (eg. MySong_Master_P14_2011_06_21.mp3). This way, with one glance you know just about everything about what the song file represents.

Let the file system sort it out instead of having levels of folders to click on and search through.

I don't work with DAWs, but you could just include it in the naming convention as well (eg. MySong_Guit1_Aud.wav, MySong_Guit1_MBR.wav, etc.)

As far as ITunes goes, populate as much meta-data as you can for each track (Author, Title, Track #, Date, etc.) and let the app sort it automatically for you.

Try to stay away from folders if you can.

My .02 
(I'm interested in what others do as well)

[Rata-tat-tat]

Forgot to mentiont the data files associated with DAW's... there is normally a Subfolder which holds the native data file to your DAW or MBR... How do you normally catalogue those items???


Thanks Vann.... This helps... maybe I'm overthinking this. Your method seems very easy to use... I like the  "at a glance" approach.

[launched]

I do similar to what you guys do, only I renumber my MBR song files so it can be used with the BR explorer. Basically every song I have done with the MBR can be easily identified by opening the BR Explorer and then browsing through the list. There is no danger in renumbering the song folder as long as you use the same number of digits. This setup also works with the BR Wave Converter as long as the ROLAND folder is directly under the root folder of a block device.

/ROLAND/BR0/SONGxxxx.BR0

And you need to have these two files in the same directory as the song folders for the BR Wave Converter to work. They are located in the SD card.

CARDPRM.BR1
DISKINF2.BR0

For Cubase and audacity projects I pretty much do what you guys do similar to this:

Root folder

       Song Folder

               Original Wav/MP3 Folder


Then I put my masters in another folder together, labeled appropriately. If I create a new master I just overwrite the file.

[64Guitars]

Here is where I'm having problems...

It gets really confusing as to which files are .wav and which are .mp3

If you mean that you can't tell by looking at the filename whether it's a WAV file or an MP3 file and you're using Windows, then it's because Microsoft hides the file extension by default. You need to unhide it. Google "windows show file extension" to find out how.

Hiding the file extension is a very bad idea. It's often used to trick you into running malware. For example, suppose that you had a trojan file on your computer with the filename "hendrix.jpg.exe". With file extensions hidden, you'll only see this filename as "hendrix.jpg". You'll assume that it's a picture and click on it to see the pic. But it's not a picture, it's a program (hence the true extension ".exe") and you've just run it. Windows users should always make sure that file extensions are not hidden.

If you're using a unix-based operating system such as Mac OS X or Linux, then you don't have this problem because file extensions have no meaning to the operating system. They're only used as a visual clue to the user. The operating system uses the file's execute permission flag to determine if it should run the program. So, if you had a file called "malware.exe", clicking on it would do nothing unless the execute flag was set.

[Rata-tat-tat]

Thanks for all of the input guys... Thanks 64... My file extensions are visible; however, I suffer from CRS (Can't Remember Sh*T)... so for me to remember how I mastered and what program I used for tracks is where my confusion sets in. Just hoping maybe someone had a way of condensing file locations to one directory without causing problems on the DAW they are using.

[Tony W]

I beginning to think I'm in the complete minority here. When collabing, I send my parts to somebody else to mix... I'm deaf in one ear, so it excludes me from all the tedious boring shit WOOOOOO!

When I'm working on a project from scratch, the files do not leave my MBR until it's a completed package and I export an MP3. I post it, email it, whatever. The only exception is the collabs, where I'll use BRWC to grab a .wav file and send it to my partners. I never carry more than 6 active songs on the BR, if the count gets high, I delete the \Roland folder.

Pretty sad huh?

[Bluesberry]

When I'm working on a project from scratch, the files do not leave my MBR until it's a completed package and I export an MP3. I post it, email it, whatever. The only exception is the collabs, where I'll use BRWC to grab a .wav file and send it to my partners. I never carry more than 6 active songs on the BR, if the count gets high, I delete the \Roland folder.

Pretty sad huh?

This is the same for me, I only ever have 2 or at most 3 songs on the mBR, and when finished I constantly initialize.  Most times I have one song at a time, and wipe the drive clean afterwards.  I can't focus on too much at any one time, thats my excuse.

[Tony W]

and don't forget the inevitable drive busy which prompts the initialization process..... I friggin hate that.

[Oldrottenhead]

sad old anal retentive i am. every 5 or 6 songs i back up my entire card to the pc where i have a folder called mbr back up. i then create a folder and name it that date so today would be 23.06.11 i dont change the names of the song folders, but i make sure all the mastered mp3 songs are named. so if i ever have to go back to redo anything on a song. i know the rough date, then look in the mp3 folder if the song is there i know one of the song folders contain the song im looking for. i then get an sd card reformat it. and drag over the mp3 and roland folder (i think thats what its called) onto the sd card. card back into mbr, and i only have six folders to search.
it works for me.

and i have everything backed up gygabites of the stuff.
sad or what