Author Topic: What do you do with your master .wav files? (Read 7271 times)

deadheadcorey · « **on:** April 28, 2011, 07:23:05 AM »

SSIA

Flac'em

Burn'em

Delete'em

George · « **Reply #1 on:** April 28, 2011, 07:55:08 AM »

Have them backed onto three HDD's. Two internals and one external.

Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B) · « **Reply #2 on:** April 28, 2011, 07:57:33 AM »

I used to FLAC them, but I have heard stories of FLAC's not decompressing correctly so now I just rename the files (to make it easier to distinguish which band is which) and keep them sorted by date. I place all of the files from one show in a single folder with the date and which bands were recorded.

On top of that I also keep my masters copied on to 2 separate local drives, and once ever few months I update an off-site backup (I backup my masters and all of my tracked/edited files this way).

With how cheap storage is now, I really don't see the point in trying to save space by FLACing my masters. I keep my tracked files FLAC because I have a media server that has most of my recordings from the past few years constantly torrented.

Corey...I hope you keep backups with all of those shows you've been recording. I'd be a real shame to lose all that hard work you've done lately.

darby · « **Reply #3 on:** April 28, 2011, 08:13:03 AM »

on HDD in named and dated folders with .txt files and cue sheets from editing
also burned to DVD... I do the same with the FLACs as well

NSL · « **Reply #4 on:** April 28, 2011, 10:11:07 AM »

I've got each of my shows in folders. Inside that is a folder for the original files and a folder for edited files. I've got them all saved and onto an external HD

Cheesecadet · « **Reply #5 on:** April 28, 2011, 10:41:17 AM »

I burn the RAW unedited .WAV files to DVD along with the source/text files as well as burning the same to an external HD. I then do any editing that is need for a show and burn a copy on CD for everyday listening in my car, at home, etc.

deadahead93 · « **Reply #6 on:** April 28, 2011, 11:04:19 AM »

Quote

I burn the RAW unedited .WAV files to DVD along with the source/text files as well as burning the same to an external HD. I then do any editing that is need for a show and burn a copy on CD for everyday listening in my car, at home, etc.

^^^^ Pretty much this ^^^^^

acidjack · « **Reply #7 on:** April 28, 2011, 11:27:18 AM »

I save one master folder with the raw files in the root folder, then a folder for FLAC and a folder for MP3 (and a folder for project files, if I save the project).

That I back up onto an external as well as generally backing up the FLACs and MP3s to either/both of the LMA or the nyctaper server (if the recording appears there).

I am now in the process of making redundant external backups as well. I do keep one offsite, in my office, also.

ijwthstd · « **Reply #8 on:** April 28, 2011, 11:50:15 AM »

Burn one each on Taiyo Yuden and TDK/Maxell whatever.

The fininished product also goes on TDK's and Taiyo Yuden for home use, an external HD and an additional set of TY's for off site storage. Will eventually get another HD for that purpose.

RobC · « **Reply #9 on:** April 28, 2011, 01:28:54 PM »

I hate to say it but most of my master wave files get deleated

Most recording i make I don't do much to, becides normalizing and fade ins and outs, so I find saveing the master waves a waste of space

Belexes · « **Reply #10 on:** April 28, 2011, 02:22:30 PM »

Quote from: concordniners on April 28, 2011, 10:11:07 AM

I've got each of my shows in folders. Inside that is a folder for the original files and a folder for edited files. I've got them all saved and onto an external HD

This is what I do as well.

twatts (pants are so over-rated...) · « **Reply #11 on:** April 28, 2011, 02:24:37 PM »

Quote from: Belexes on April 28, 2011, 02:22:30 PM

Quote from: concordniners on April 28, 2011, 10:11:07 AM
I've got each of my shows in folders. Inside that is a folder for the original files and a folder for edited files. I've got them all saved and onto an external HD

This is what I do as well.

This... All my stuff gets FLACed with MD5s...

Terry

twatts (pants are so over-rated...) · « **Reply #12 on:** April 28, 2011, 02:28:43 PM »

Quote from: Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B) on April 28, 2011, 07:57:33 AM

I used to FLAC them, but I have heard stories of FLAC's not decompressing correctly

Do tell! Everything I've ever experienced (MD5s) shows that it is perfect everytime.

Terry

greenone · « **Reply #13 on:** April 28, 2011, 02:50:16 PM »

Quote from: RobC on April 28, 2011, 01:28:54 PM

I hate to say it but most of my master wave files get deleated

Most recording i make I don't do much to, becides normalizing and fade ins and outs, so I find saveing the master waves a waste of space

Same here. Scandalous, I know.

twatts (pants are so over-rated...) · « **Reply #14 on:** April 28, 2011, 03:15:41 PM »

Quote from: greenone on April 28, 2011, 02:50:16 PM

Quote from: RobC on April 28, 2011, 01:28:54 PM
I hate to say it but most of my master wave files get deleated

Most recording i make I don't do much to, becides normalizing and fade ins and outs, so I find saveing the master waves a waste of space

Same here. Scandalous, I know.

And you call yourself an ETREE Archivist! For shame!!!

achalsey · « **Reply #15 on:** April 28, 2011, 05:38:37 PM »

I'm new to the game and not too hardcore about it so the .wav's get deleted.

Just archive the whole file that gets uploaded on the internet on the external.

doodee · « **Reply #16 on:** April 28, 2011, 06:15:21 PM »

Whether you keep your WAV's or only the FLAC's, if it's something you really care about, have two backup systems. Learned the hard way when a Seagate bit the big one after only 5 months losing 500GB of music. I recommend Western Digital as far as external HD's go.

F.O.Bean · « **Reply #17 on:** April 28, 2011, 10:53:22 PM »

Burn Data WAVS, then flac and burn those. then burn a flac24 and a separate flac16 dvd

rjp · « **Reply #18 on:** April 29, 2011, 12:24:40 AM »

I FLAC them, and store them on my ZFS-based OpenIndiana (a Solaris derivative) file server. This is currently set up in a RAID-Z2 configuration (roughly equivalent to RAID-6, with two redundant drives). In turn, the storage pool gets copied to a separate set of disks periodically, also ZFS. ZFS is extra-paranoid, going so far as checksumming every block written, and never overwriting live data. I've configured the system to perform a "scrub" (checking for bad blocks) every week. Since the motherboard is a recent AMD-based ASUS, it supports (and I use) ECC RAM for extra reliability.

The main storage pool is currently 3 TB, with 8x500 GB Western Digital Blue drives, hanging off an Intel SASUC8I controller. The motherboard has six SATA ports, and there's also a two-port SATA card as well, in addition to the SASUC8I. One solid-state drive (now a Samsung, after the previous OCZ failed) provides caching. Losing the cache drive doesn't cause data loss.

I'm considering the idea of switching the main storage to two mirrored pairs of 1.5T drives, and leaving the remaining four slots open for further expansion. All drives except the SSD are in hot-swap cages; if necessary I could offline a failed HD, yank it out, and slam in a new one without shutting down.

dean · « **Reply #19 on:** April 29, 2011, 12:49:12 AM »

Quote from: twatts and not wearing pants on April 28, 2011, 02:28:43 PM

Quote from: Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B) on April 28, 2011, 07:57:33 AM
I used to FLAC them, but I have heard stories of FLAC's not decompressing correctly

Do tell! Everything I've ever experienced (MD5s) shows that it is perfect everytime.

Terry

Same question I have...

H₂O · « **Reply #20 on:** April 29, 2011, 08:48:51 AM »

For wavs I flac then delete. For wsds I keep on 2 seperate hdds.

rockymtnryan · « **Reply #21 on:** April 30, 2011, 02:21:05 AM »

I've been thinking about back-up and long-term storage for recording masters lately; haven't really decided on a plan. Here's what I'm doing now...

Old Desktop PC
Increased RAM, installed digital sound card, serves as media server. Use MediaMonkey to store library. 2 external drives, 1TB and a 2TB. I have all of my music stored on these drives, the 1TB has bands A-M and the 2TB holds bands N-Z. Entire library is FLAC and all files tagged for organization. Example album title "2011-04-23 Bluebird Theater, Denver, CO busman audio bsc1/k41" . That way MediaMonkey will keep all the tracks organized and if I have multiple sources of a show they stay organized too. Internal hard drive holds 24bit raw wav files as back up.

Laptop
Holds all 24bit raw wav files, as well as edited 16bit FLAC files of recordings. I use the laptop as editing station.

Portable
Use old iPod Classic 30GB for headphones or in the car. Rockboxed to play FLAC files.

Flash Drives
Hold copies of edited 16bit FLAC files of recordings.

So the raw 24bits are saved in 2 places, and the 16bit edited files are in multiple places. I might just grab another external strictly for the 24bit raw wav files to make it 3 storage areas. I just don't see 3 hard drives all failing at the same time.

John Willett · « **Reply #22 on:** May 02, 2011, 07:39:42 AM »

Quote from: deadheadcorey on April 28, 2011, 07:23:05 AM

SSIA

Flac'em Burn'em Delete'em

All recordings - session recordings and masters are saved onto several different hard disks in different locations.

I never compress or save in a different format than the one recorded.

Teen Age Riot · « **Reply #23 on:** May 04, 2011, 11:59:47 AM »

I used to archive everything on DVDs until I found that some of them couldn't be read anymore, even if they didn't have any visible flaws. This is of course very frustrating, considering that even my old data CD-Rs, which go back to 2001, are all perfect.

Long story short, everything's on external drives now.

F.O.Bean · « **Reply #24 on:** May 04, 2011, 04:14:02 PM »

Quote from: moon-pix on May 04, 2011, 11:59:47 AM

I used to archive everything on DVDs until I found that some of them couldn't be read anymore, even if they didn't have any visible flaws. This is of course very frustrating, considering that even my old data CD-Rs, which go back to 2001, are all perfect.

Long story short, everything's on external drives now.

This is why I use class 1 Verbatim DVD+/-R's

moooose · « **Reply #25 on:** May 05, 2011, 03:03:05 AM »

My master .wav files get ID metadata and are copied to a RAID NAS + a different single external hard disk. The metadata are used by Audiofinder to build a database.