Keeping projects organized

[Afflict]

So what are some things you do to keep your projects organized, whether it'd be specific things or just general tips. One thing I do is I color code everything. For example, I'll color basses green, synths orange, drums red, etc.

[1point5]

I only colour code if I'm working on a fairly repetitive track I have a midi region that's a slight variation of the main loop. The main thing with being organised for me is to name channels appropriately and rename the project file with the title of the finished track as son as I've thought of one. Finding and then working on an old project can be an absolute nightmare not doing these!

At the same time, it might not be a good idea to spend too long organising a project in the middle of working on it. Mine are generally pretty messy for the first couple of hours as I don't want to lose my creative train of thought.

[wub]

Mixer channels are pre-named in my general template, other than that I generally group and rename stuff as I go along. Never been one for colour coding though.

[outdropt]

I have a Default setup, This is Ableton btw.
I try to stick to the general color scheme

Name of group/color

Sub- Dark Blue/purple
Bass- Blue
Synths- Yellow
Vocals- Orange
Atmosphere- White
Careful(For large effects that span across low to high FQ's)- Black

I will then feed these into there respective busses

Bass/sub
Synth/Vocal
Atmosphere/careful

And then those buses feed to a master group.

I try to lock down all my automation in the session view so you can see every automation lane in my bus, This really help's me keep things under control. Otherwise when I start automating more then a few parameters ill get lost and not know what's causing what to happen. The main thing is I don't want to have to go through all my buses on my project to find where something is happening; if I have an idea and want to apply it the last thing I want to do is spend 5 minutes finding the correct knob to adjust. I label all macros, whether in a patch of massive or a control on my DAW. Also, I'll save all my patches. If you haven't done this yet, spend a weekend going through each of your projects and collect everything; patches, drum's, vocals, synths, effect racks.

Then categorize,

I swear you'll be amazed at how fast you can layout a tune when you have your arsenal in order.

[Augment]

I have 5 mixer channels and playlist channels for drums, other than that my projects are pretty unorganized.

[PillowFight]

I work in logic pro, and I always keep my drums at the top of the track, random one shots fx next, then synths, mid range bass, and finally sub bass. Also, I always use the same bus numbers for certain things (Bus 1 is kick, bus 2 is snap, bus 20 is all the drums, bus 21 is parallel compression for drums, etc)

Also I use different projects for creating the audio files I use in the final project. I usually have 3 or 4 separate projects for resampling, 1 for drum sound synthesis, 1 for atmos/white noise, 1 for mid range basses and their corresponding sub basses, and 1 for other synths, leads, etc. Then I compile and mix down all the audio samples that I create in these projects in a final project. Keeps everything pretty organized.

I don't usually colour code unless i'm going to show someone the project just to make it look nicer lol.

[Samuel_L_Damnson]

I swear my reason sessions are horrible to look at i think i need to work on my organisation

[outdropt]

I swear my reason sessions are horrible to look at i think i need to work on my organisation

It save's you a minute here and a minute there,I'm telling you it adds up. For me when my projects unorganized ill spend 10 minutes just clicking around, not making any progression on the track at all.

Clutter free work area=clutter free mind=Benefit?

[wub]

Clutter free work area=clutter free mind=Benefit?

Project view, yes.

Work area, I'd go for no. I have a load of tapes/CDs/books/battery operated sound modules/etc all piled around my studio, so if I'm stuck for inspiration I can usually lay my hand on something quickly and mess around with it until I find something that works.

[syrup]

-Name tracks properly
-Group similar stuff (percussion, synths, fx) in the mixer
-Colour code if i can be arsed to

[Dj Rephlex]

I name literally every detail of my song. pattern/sample/playlist spaces/segments
I use colour coding most of the time, same colors for layers/similar fx. Like all of the snares green, all of the kicks red. (untill I resample the layers into individual hits)
I also colour code the mixer tracks according to the fx inside them.
I use FL studio, so in the playlist I keep the first few spaces at the top for patters like drums/melodies and so on.
The middle spaces are devoted to audio clips/risers and shit.
The bottom is for automation.

[Dustwyrm]

I work amongst a cluster fuck of channels. Every now and then I'll rename something simply because I start getting confused with SoAndSo Track #6 or SoAndSo Track #11.

Once the numbers get high, I rename something usually like "Middle Part #1" lol

[Samuel_L_Damnson]

does anyone elose ever call their snare track "sanre" by accident. I just went through a few sessions and they all seemed to have that same cock up lol

[Augment]

does anyone elose ever call their snare track "sanre" by accident. I just went through a few sessions and they all seemed to have that same cock up lol

sanre and kcik, hahaha

[1point5]

does anyone elose ever call their snare track "sanre" by accident. I just went through a few sessions and they all seemed to have that same cock up lol

not quite but quite often I'll think ive got the channel name text highlighted to edit when it's not, and, in Logic where practically every key on the keyboard is assigned to some kind of shortcut, loads of crazy shit happens all at once when i quickly try to type a name before i realise what's going on

[Dustwyrm]

does anyone elose ever call their snare track "sanre" by accident. I just went through a few sessions and they all seemed to have that same cock up lol

not quite but quite often I'll think ive got the channel name taxt highlighted to edit when it's not, and, in Logic where practically every key on the keyboard is assigned to some kind of shortcut, loads of crazy shit happens all at once when i quickly try to type a name before i realise what's going on

I know what you mean.


For any FL newbs out there a pretty hackful command is Crtl+alt+z instead of Ctrl+z.... In case you need to go back several times for things you messed with.


Very handy.

[fiveone]

i use fl studio. i generally tend to do a lot of re-naming on the pattern side of things.

regarding the drums, i use patterns in chronological order most of the time. i rename them "drums <no.>"
for fills and breaks, i clone the original pattern i want to make a fill from and rename the pattern "drums <no. a/b/c/d>"
synths are just "synth 1/2/3"
subbass is just called "sub bass 1/2/3"

i organize my song structure in accordance with the pattern number and letter. for example my project ends up looking something like this on the playlist;

<intro drums 1> <intro drums 2> <drums 1> <drums 1a> <drums 1> <drums 1b> <drums 2> <drums 2a> <drums 2b> <drums 2c> <break drums 1> <break drums 2> <drums 3> <drums 3b> <drums 3> <drums 3c> <outro drums 1> <outro drums 2>

again, the same with synth patterns/sub bass

dunno if that came across as simple, but i always thought it was logical to do it that way. i don't colour anything, but i find FL does that automatically with shit like automation which is pretty useful.

[Brothulhu]

does anyone elose ever call their snare track "sanre" by accident. I just went through a few sessions and they all seemed to have that same cock up lol

I always have PAd and BAss as I hold shift too long for some reason when the second letter is A :/