File Management Basics

File Management Basics

With drive space no longer the main issue (a 160G drive can be had for under $350), the issues become not what files to keep, but how to manage them, and more importantly, how to RETRIEVE them.

The following procedure may take a couple of days getting used to, but the results are well worth the effort, and the steps quickly become second nature.

Here are the fundamentals:

New sound files MUST have a unique name. (This may seem silly, but years of work can accumulate dozens of identical names, for different files, and this is very difficult and time-consuming to "undo".)
It is highly recommended, to also save a session, with a name that contains the sound file name.
A database makes additional data about the file possible, makes retrieval quick & easy, and often perfoms tasks like auditioning, importing, etc.. (Features to look for.)
A database that can repoint itself to files on your drives, is a real timesaver. (SoundLog Pro is the only (known?) database that can do this, with it's unique Cataloging function.)
The sooner this (or a similar) procedure is started, the better. (Organization is extremely difficult to "Catch Up", but is relatively easy if performed "as you create".)

This example uses SoundLog Pro to create a new, unique, sound file name. The number at the end of the name increments by 1 for each new name. (See a tutorial on how to do this here.)

Use whatever program you like, but a unique name is critical, for any number of reasons:

There's never a question if the file belongs to a particular session. (Pro Tools 5.1 "Unique ID" is not enough. Searches for "Unique ID" are slow, and not 100% reliable.)

Locating the file in a database is easy & quick. (In the case at right, a search for "DF6427" is all I need, since the prefix & number are unique to that file.)

Especially now that Pro Tools 5.1 allows searching for missing files, it is very handy to save a copy of the session, with a name that refers to the sound file. You can then back track to the original source, make modifications, or apply the same process to another file.

I now do this for EVERY FILE I MAKE.

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I have a Master "Session Copy" folder, where a copy of the session gets saved, with the same file name as the Sound File I just made, but with an extension (I chose ".ss", for no particular reason.)

Notice that now I have a Sound File, named:
WOOD DVD ent mix DF6427

AND, a Pro Tools session named:
WOOD DVD ent mix DF6427.ss

If I ever listen to the file "WOOD DVD ent mix DF6427", and would like to make a different version of it, I simply locate the Pro Tools session "WOOD DVD ent mix DF6427.ss", open it, make my changes, and make a new sound file. After saving me once or twice, this became a part of my routine, and I now routinely go back to copies of sessions, for sound file revisions. (Sounds time-consuming I know, but it's far less time-consuming than starting over from scratch...)

SoundLog Pro makes the name creation/retrieval easy, creates a file name that has room at the end for the extension, and copies it to the clipboard for pasting onto the Sound File and into the Save Session Copy dialog box.

To make the "Session Copy" step a snap:
1) Use Default Folder, to save the location of your master session copy folder.
2) Create a Quickey sequence, to automate the process.

At the end of a project, all the sessions associated with that project get archived into a project folder, and that folder gets stuffed using Stuffit. Having a stuffed copy prevents accidental opening & saving over the original session.

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