With the support of iLok, more tips & tricks from the community. In Podcast 75 we discussed the whole area of file naming conventions and tips for good house keeping for Pro Tools. Tom Nagy submitted these suggestions to help keep track of your mix files…
Being able to recreate specific versions of mixes/edits is imperative when you’re dealing with clients who may request changes to a specific version you sent them. “Yeah, I prefer the one you did last week, but could you pan the accordion hard left?” But you made a bunch of changes to the session since then… how do you know how to recreate that mix?
Solution: It’s simple, and it’s just housekeeping. Whenever you do a bounce that you are going to do anything with (whether you’re archiving it or sending it out to a client), name the output file something that indicates a version or timestamp, like Balogna_Sandwich_v3.wav or You_Smell_Of_Skunk_11-09-13.wav. Relying on the operating system timestamp can be iffy, since that information could get stripped away or modified by accident.
Now, right after the bounce, do Save-As, and save your PT session with the song name and version on it, like Toilet_Mackerel_Sessions_Balogna_Sandwich_v3. That way, if you are bouncing multiple tracks out of a session, each with different mixes, you will be able to find the exact session that corresponds to the track your client is talking about.
MAKE SURE you then resave your session under the previous name before you continue working, or you may overwrite your previous session. (Or use Save Session Copy and just save the Session file - Mike). If you find that this clutters up your folders with many .ptx files, just create a folder for each bounce, and save the session file with the bounced tracks.
If the client emails you back the file (“See? This is the one I mean.”) and he/she has renamed it BaloSand.wav, you can use DupeCheck to find the matching file on your end, which will point you to which session it was created from.
If you would like the chance to win a storm trooper iLok, courtesy of iLok, then send tips you think no one has thought about. Please don’t just send us a batch of shortcuts (which can be easily found elsewhere), or pull ideas straight from the manual; instead, be creative about your tips & tricks. Please use the Contact Us page to let us have your tips.