Studio One File & Folder Management

[robmakesmusic]

As mentioned in an earlier post, I recently took some time off, moved, bought a new mixer and computer and have essentially performed a complete studio rebuild in the past several months

I'm just now getting back to the point where I can work on old and new projects again and wanted to improve my workflow and, in particular, the gawd awful file and folder management habits I'd fallen into previously that really created a lot of problems for me when moving to a new computer and even in the past when trying to track down older songs I'd worked on and all the associated files

One thing I found even before the move was that many songs would end up with high numbers of alternate files (*.wav(1), *.wav(9) etc) as a result of multiple takes with no apparent clear method for removing the old takes and only saving the final chosen track. I'd often open a song months after working on it only to have S1 prompt me to locate dozens and dozens of unfound files and, in some cases, searching for them was a nightmare because there were dozens of files with the same name (rhythm gtr 1.wav(4) for example) and no simple way for me to identify which one was for the song I was hoping to work on.

As a result of starting new projects on different drives or in different folders, I also ended up with multiple SONGS folders in various places. Some that contain just one song and others that contain dozens

I fully understand this is all likely 100% due to my failure to understand and plan ahead using best practices and accept that I'm just gonna have to sift through the mess I created when working on past projects.

What I was hoping for from you all here today is perhaps a link to a tutorial or related post where others may have addressed in the past so I can set things up properly right off the bat and avoid or minimize similar issues moving forward. I suspect the solution resides somewhere within the existing FILES tab of S1 and it's simply my failure to understand and utilize it effectively from day one that has resulted in the mess I've made but suspect there may be more to it than that as well

All replies greatly appreciated

Cheers

 

[OutrageProductions]

One way to manage in the song, when you are close to final mix mode, is to look at the pool and remove and/or delete permanently any unused audio takes then resave.

 

[Trucky]

Check out the following video tutorial...

A close look to THE POOL in Studio One 6 - deep dive tutorial

 

[tacman7]

As an artist when I record a bunch of vocal takes, I comp them and bounce them and go to melodyne and bounce that then delete everything except my final result. I used to save all kinds of stuff like I was going to work on it later but I never worked on anything later so I quit saving all that.

 

[OutrageProductions]

Slightly off topic;
...after 47 years as a professional engineer & producer, the main thing that I find lacking in modernity, and that has been abused or enabled by modern 'unlimited track' technology, is the ability to get the best performance possible, and then COMMIT to it. Anyone who aspires to be a producer should learn to make decisions and stick to them. Anything less and you may want to consider a less taxing avocation IMHO.
And good, clean houskeeping is part of that plan. (end rant, not calling out anyone in particular)