File management

One issue I faced in the last project was that I often imported a file to Soundtrack Pro to test a sound out and then, without copying it into the right folder on my hard drive or naming it appropriately, using it in the final mix.

This meant I wasted some mixing time relocating files and meant presenting via the network was messy.

For this project, I have decided to take the 'category-based file name' model of media management Ric Viers suggests in his book 'The Sound Effects Bible'.

An example of how I named files at my most organised point in the last project would be: "paper rustle 1", which was followed by "paper rustle 2" all the way up to "paper rustle 5". These files were in a folder I'd designated to foley recordings, and atmoses I kept in a separate folder.

Having files in different places risks more issues as there's no single place to tell the software to look if the sounds need relocating, as they did when I copied my project across to the network to present my work.

However, with the category-based system, I would save each file into the same folder and structure its name like this:
FOL_PAPER_RUSTLING_01
The "FOL" will replace the dedicated folder for foley recordings, and different types of sound will be differentiated with different categories. So "corridor atmos" would become:
AMB_CORRIDOR_AIR-CON

Hopefully this will help me be more organised and save me time in my current project, and will also mean the recordings will fit nicely into any larger sound library I might put together in the future.

I'm also planning to give myself a more strict colour-code to follow when editing and mixing the sound. This will help me group different types of sound as the mixer becomes filled with more tracks, making it easier to find any particular track when I want to.