Organization – not just tracks but all project files

[soundslikejoe]

So…. I have some downtime which always leads me to the thought “lets get organized today” but this never works well. My organization projects turn into weeks and then a client calls…

Look for advice or personal accounts…. I have more than 500 projects on my “Audio” drive. Many tracks and variations. How do you keep yours organized? I’m struggling with using genre or tempo or just project names with few sub-folders. Currently I’ve got the following folders… Film Scores, Incomplete, Old Projects (completed but not films), Client Files, and Video Game.

It’s really a disaster. My hope was to use the Excel database file hosted here as a platform for managing mixes in libraries. Then I realized my files need better organization first! Tips?

[Art Munson]

I organize mine by keeping each genre in a separate folder, though over the years some of the genres cross over. I always use a master song number and keep track of the titles in my database (sometimes I might tag the title after the master number). As an example a funk track would be “FK0001.0” or “FK0001.0 – song title” and it would be in the Funk folder. If a version is radically different I would name it FK0001.1

When I mix, the full mix would be FK0001.0, a DnB might be FK0001.1, a bed FK0001.2, etc.

Everything sorts nicely that way and I find it easy to keep track of things.

[soundslikejoe]

That’s awesome. Incorporating the style into the track number and preceding the English title is a great idea. It’s got me thinking in good ways! Thnx Art.

Still curious how others might approach this problem.

[Titus_Pullo]

You may want to start GTD (Getting Things Done), a productivity methodology popularised by David Allen. It’s a really simple, but lucid, way to get all your projects and tasks in hand – for a clearer head and better output.

I’ve been using it for 7 years now, and people who know me are amazed at how much I can handle – and I’ve a good rep in my day-job for delivering quality projects on-time.

Once you have the basics under your belt, you can customise it to suit your workflow and whatever important stuff lands in your in-tray. It’s fab!

You only need the book to start ($10?) and to get started.

Once you do, feel free to PM me for help.

[soundslikejoe]

Excellent tip Titus. I’ve read the first chapter and just that alone gave me some insight and helped move me forward.

I decided to use the genre and sub-genre from my music library database (modified excel spreadsheet found on this site) as the basis for my file organizational structure. It’s helped me keep a logical structure in both locations…. and in the process has reminded me of several long forgotten pieces of music.

Organization and “clarifying intended outcomes” is important for this production music endeavor!

[Titus_Pullo]

Fab! Best of luck with getting things done and your career.

[Steve]

Yes, I realize I’m replying to a 1.5 year old thread, but I thought I’d mention @keithl and his Composer Catalog software for Windows:

http://www.composercatalog.com

I haven’t used it but have watched some of the videos and it seems quite useful.

[Author]

Posts