Part 3: File Management
We all know how important being organized is, and file management is crucial when working on our projects. This is especially true when working with files that are being delivered by 3rd parties – your amazing musicians. I like to have a dedicated folder where I put all the audio files that are delivered to me. That way I know exactly where everything is. If the musicians didn’t properly label their filenames, the first thing I’ll do is rename them as described in the previous section. In the case of making this video I also created a video folder where I collected all the videos that were sent my way.
When working in my DAW and importing tracks from multiple musicians I like to use the instrument name abbreviation followed by the musician’s initials. If my DAW has a comments field, I’ll use it to put in the musician’s full name. This helps me keep track of both what I’m hearing and who sent it to me. That way if I find myself needing something to be revised it’s very easy for me to know who I need to call to request a revision.
As you can see in the screenshot above, each track is labeled with the type of voice it is, Soprano, Alto, Tenor & Bass followed by the person’s initials. And their full name is in the comments field. This keeps things organized while at the same time I immediately know at a glance what’s what and who’s responsible for which track.