I had no idea how Ableton saved stuff so I also have a single project folder with 3 years worth of ideas, instead of separate projects. I now have to go back through and save them all properly. Thank you for the clarity in this video, gonna help a lot.
This is pretty similar to how I organize my files. Ultimately I don't want to get hung up on naming files when I'm in a flow - I'm often saving in a flurry of inspiration. So I have a few basic rules about using dates and lots of "v1, v2, v3" when there are multiple versions in a day. Project folders + files go into year folders. When in doubt, Collect All and Save.
Nice! When I come up with names while I'm still writing the track, they usually just reference some identifiable feature of the song. I actually really like how Push 3 creates random names for me. It just keeps things moving! Thanks for sharing!
I also do folders for year, then folders for month but with the month number at the beginning so they appear in order ("01 - January" ... "12 - December"). Then the project name is the day of the month followed by the song name. So for example my song "Midnight" was made on the 17th of June, 2024 which will be in the following folder: "~/Music/Ableton/Projects/2024/06 - June/17 - Midnight Project". This way I can see every project on my drive in chronological order.
This is a great organization system! Personally, I keep all my "active" projects lumped into the main Ableton Projects folder. This way, if I'm looking for something to do, I have all the projects that I feel have potential in one place. But once that project is complete, or I decide it's not worth working on any more, I either push it into "Finished" folder or the "Black Hole" folder (where projects go in, but don't come out). Also, when labeling your months for the year, I'd suggest going "01 January" "02 February" etc just so they are displayed in order :)
I really like the month/year folders. I’ve recently been separating projects between 2 folders. 1) Active - what I want to flesh out/currently working on; 2) Idea Pool - just another idea or loop that isn’t interesting on its own as a result of a random jam or writers block but I may extract sounds/tracks to be used in another project. How would you suggest a combination of these two methods? Also on Mac I believe there’s a setting in finder to organize files according to month and year
Yes! This idea was mentioned in the Music Production Club Discord, and I like it a lot. To separate into tracks you want to pursue and ideas is pretty smart. I often go back into my folders and say "what the heck is this?" and find out it's something pretty interesting. I almost always bounce my sessions to an audio file I can listen to the next day, usually in the car. Lately, I've been putting the tracks that I want to develop into a playlist on my Apple Music. For instance, I have two right now, one called Weird Trippy Acoustic Stuff and another called Indie Rock-ish. So I've basically sorted some of my ideas (mostly from the last few years of Jamuaries) into two separate project playlists. I might try the method you and others have brought up. I think I would do this by reviewing my sessions each month and dropping the ones I want to work on in a new folder (maybe call it Work On Me or something). I could probably leave everything else in their Year/Month folder; I think it's safe to assume that if it wasn't moved to the "Work on me" folder and I didn't just delete it, it's just a possible idea. I like the thought of looking into my 2021 folder and seeing a folder called "Work On Me." Then I could just go straight there when I am ready! Thanks for your input!!
Great tip! As far as naming with the date in front, I like to use the Year-Month-Day format so subsequent entries fall chronologically. I see you put 092722 berklee resample chords Project. I like to put 20220927 instead. Otherwise a Jan 2023 entry will fall before Sept 2022. Maybe not if you always save in a new Year folder, but... I also like to use it before or after instrument rack names, effect rack names, synth preset names etc, so I can easily reference back to a sound I liked at an earlier point in time. I don't usually have a Year folder for those items. I just think Year-Month-Day is always best. From broadest to most specific
Good point! I noticed that with all of my band practices. The way around this is when I export songs to listen to, I put them in an album called October 2022. This way I can find whatever I was working on during that month in the form of an album.
I use the folder per year thing, but don't bother with the monthly folders (I suspect I don't create as many projects ad you do). And I put the date at the end of the name rather than the beginning. The OS keeps track and can sort on creation and modified date, so by putting it at the end, it lets me sort by name as well.
I tend to go back and forth whether I put the date at the beginning or the end. You make a strong point for putting it at the end. I Think I will do that moving forward! Thanks!
Nice. I tend to put the date at the end too, instead of beginning. Now I see an advantage for doing so. Also, I always go Year-Month-Day rather than Month-Day-Year. Has advantages for chronological ordering
How do you organize your projects? Let us know!
I had no idea how Ableton saved stuff so I also have a single project folder with 3 years worth of ideas, instead of separate projects. I now have to go back through and save them all properly. Thank you for the clarity in this video, gonna help a lot.
Glad I could help!
i have the same task ahead of me - 8 years of live sets saved into ‘User Library’ as a single project folder 🤢
@@tw-xm7vq Yea, that's a lot! But maybe just start fresh from here. Good luck!
Organisation is my cryptonite thanks fro the tips
A good system makes a lot of the other work much easier! I'm glad this helped! Thanks for watching.
This is pretty similar to how I organize my files. Ultimately I don't want to get hung up on naming files when I'm in a flow - I'm often saving in a flurry of inspiration. So I have a few basic rules about using dates and lots of "v1, v2, v3" when there are multiple versions in a day. Project folders + files go into year folders. When in doubt, Collect All and Save.
Nice! When I come up with names while I'm still writing the track, they usually just reference some identifiable feature of the song. I actually really like how Push 3 creates random names for me. It just keeps things moving! Thanks for sharing!
I also do folders for year, then folders for month but with the month number at the beginning so they appear in order ("01 - January" ... "12 - December"). Then the project name is the day of the month followed by the song name. So for example my song "Midnight" was made on the 17th of June, 2024 which will be in the following folder: "~/Music/Ableton/Projects/2024/06 - June/17 - Midnight Project".
This way I can see every project on my drive in chronological order.
I like it!
This is a great organization system! Personally, I keep all my "active" projects lumped into the main Ableton Projects folder. This way, if I'm looking for something to do, I have all the projects that I feel have potential in one place. But once that project is complete, or I decide it's not worth working on any more, I either push it into "Finished" folder or the "Black Hole" folder (where projects go in, but don't come out).
Also, when labeling your months for the year, I'd suggest going "01 January" "02 February" etc just so they are displayed in order :)
The Black Hole! I think of mine as The Graveyard! I don't know which is more lost! Good point on the numbers! Thanks Ben!
I really like the month/year folders. I’ve recently been separating projects between 2 folders. 1) Active - what I want to flesh out/currently working on; 2) Idea Pool - just another idea or loop that isn’t interesting on its own as a result of a random jam or writers block but I may extract sounds/tracks to be used in another project. How would you suggest a combination of these two methods?
Also on Mac I believe there’s a setting in finder to organize files according to month and year
Yes! This idea was mentioned in the Music Production Club Discord, and I like it a lot. To separate into tracks you want to pursue and ideas is pretty smart. I often go back into my folders and say "what the heck is this?" and find out it's something pretty interesting.
I almost always bounce my sessions to an audio file I can listen to the next day, usually in the car. Lately, I've been putting the tracks that I want to develop into a playlist on my Apple Music. For instance, I have two right now, one called Weird Trippy Acoustic Stuff and another called Indie Rock-ish. So I've basically sorted some of my ideas (mostly from the last few years of Jamuaries) into two separate project playlists.
I might try the method you and others have brought up.
I think I would do this by reviewing my sessions each month and dropping the ones I want to work on in a new folder (maybe call it Work On Me or something). I could probably leave everything else in their Year/Month folder; I think it's safe to assume that if it wasn't moved to the "Work on me" folder and I didn't just delete it, it's just a possible idea.
I like the thought of looking into my 2021 folder and seeing a folder called "Work On Me." Then I could just go straight there when I am ready!
Thanks for your input!!
Great tip! As far as naming with the date in front, I like to use the Year-Month-Day format so subsequent entries fall chronologically. I see you put 092722 berklee resample chords Project. I like to put 20220927 instead. Otherwise a Jan 2023 entry will fall before Sept 2022. Maybe not if you always save in a new Year folder, but... I also like to use it before or after instrument rack names, effect rack names, synth preset names etc, so I can easily reference back to a sound I liked at an earlier point in time. I don't usually have a Year folder for those items. I just think Year-Month-Day is always best. From broadest to most specific
Good point! I noticed that with all of my band practices. The way around this is when I export songs to listen to, I put them in an album called October 2022. This way I can find whatever I was working on during that month in the form of an album.
I use the folder per year thing, but don't bother with the monthly folders (I suspect I don't create as many projects ad you do). And I put the date at the end of the name rather than the beginning. The OS keeps track and can sort on creation and modified date, so by putting it at the end, it lets me sort by name as well.
I tend to go back and forth whether I put the date at the beginning or the end. You make a strong point for putting it at the end. I Think I will do that moving forward! Thanks!
Nice. I tend to put the date at the end too, instead of beginning. Now I see an advantage for doing so. Also, I always go Year-Month-Day rather than Month-Day-Year. Has advantages for chronological ordering
I basically do something similar. I don’t have folders for year and month, but I always put a date on the prefix of the project file.
Still helpful to know when something was made!
@@BrianFunkMusic oh definitely! I think I feel a new year resolution coming on!
@@DanielMaruniak Already!!?! I need to get all my slacking off in now then!😂
I was beginning to think you hid the bark near the start of the video as a sort of Easter egg.
lol nope! I'm glad you are on the lookout for the hidden dog barks!
My version:
BPM - Name - Date
130 - Garage Soul - 2022.10.24
Nice, very organized. And Garage Soul sounds like a cool band name!