Topic: How do you store your raw/master files?

[rastasean]

What do you use to index them? I found a program called Cathy Lister that is simple and gets the job done.

looks like an offline method: a sticker numbered with some kind of short descriptor and i guess the key is written on an index card stored near the drives.

[Phil Zone]

im ordering two new segate hard drives 1tb each to add to my collection but i keep the mastered 24 bit waves and the flacs as well. and i use one HD as a master drive and one is a mirror for a back up

[tim in jersey]

Recent experience with optical media: local taper-buddy of mine recorded a couple different sets where he grabbed both SBD and AUD on 2 different M-10's. Wanted me to do a matrix-in-post of the sets. At a show a few days later, he gave me the raw file-sets on DVD+/-R he had burned on quality media the same day he passed them off to me. The discs were handled gently by both he and I. No scratches, or other obvious physical defects.

50% of the files were unreadable on all of my machines. I have regular access to about 6 laptops with internal drives and another 2 or 3 external USB drives, including the venerable Plextor.

I'm not relying on optical ever again.

[rigpimp]

What do you use to index them? I found a program called Cathy Lister that is simple and gets the job done.

looks like an offline method: a sticker numbered with some kind of short descriptor and i guess the key is written on an index card stored near the drives.

I have always used a small app called JR Directory Printer.

http://download.cnet.com/JR-Directory-Printer/3000-2094_4-19648.html

You can make a file (Word/PDF, etc) that is made from printed dirs, subdirs and include cool metrics like # of files and folder/file sizes.  You can do generic dir names or tell it to recurse.  I label drives A-Z (and AA-ZZ) and then put a sticker on the drives so that I know which drives contain what.  I am then left with a master file that is searchable.  It is a really cool app and it works instantaneously.
A sample of the JR Directory Printer output looks like this:

  Directory of I:\Dropbox\Phish Phamily\MP3\ph2013-07-31.kreider.NeumannMidSide.mp3f\
 
   I:\Dropbox\Phish Phamily\MP3\ph2013-07-31.kreider.NeumannMidSide.mp3f\
   =====================================================================
   phish2013-07-31.txt                      1 KB     8/3/2013 10:35:26 PM      a
   phish2013-07-31d1t01.mp3              9506 KB     8/3/2013 10:35:26 PM      a
   phish2013-07-31d1t02.mp3              7627 KB     8/3/2013 10:35:06 PM      a
   phish2013-07-31d1t03.mp3              5612 KB     8/3/2013 10:34:52 PM      a
   phish2013-07-31d1t04.mp3             12123 KB     8/3/2013 10:34:40 PM      a
   phish2013-07-31d1t05.mp3             11602 KB     8/3/2013 10:34:14 PM      a
   phish2013-07-31d1t06.mp3              5299 KB     8/3/2013 10:33:52 PM      a
   phish2013-07-31d1t07.mp3              9128 KB     8/3/2013 10:33:42 PM      a
   phish2013-07-31d1t08.mp3             12351 KB     8/3/2013 10:33:24 PM      a
   phish2013-07-31d1t09.mp3              4098 KB     8/3/2013 10:33:00 PM      a
   phish2013-07-31d1t10.mp3             14620 KB     8/3/2013 10:32:48 PM      a
   phish2013-07-31d1t11.mp3             14951 KB     8/3/2013 10:32:20 PM      a
   phish2013-07-31d2t01.mp3             53178 KB     8/3/2013 10:31:52 PM      a
   phish2013-07-31d2t02.mp3              9015 KB     8/3/2013 10:30:10 PM      a
   phish2013-07-31d2t03.mp3             13043 KB     8/3/2013 10:29:52 PM      a
   phish2013-07-31d2t04.mp3             13001 KB     8/3/2013 10:29:26 PM      a
   phish2013-07-31d2t05.mp3              5213 KB     8/3/2013 10:29:02 PM      a
   phish2013-07-31d2t06.mp3             17803 KB     8/3/2013 10:28:48 PM      a
   phish2013-07-31d2t07.mp3             11225 KB     8/3/2013 10:28:10 PM      a
   phish2013-07-31d2t08.mp3              5323 KB     8/3/2013 10:27:48 PM      a


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  Total 0 folder(s); 20 file(s)

  Total files size: 235 MB; 234729 KB; 240362144 Bytes

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[Rosettastoned729]

I voted "other" as for me, it's kind of a combination of two of the presented options. I take the raw 16-bit WAVs directly from the recorder via USB (I'm using a Zoom h2n at the moment) and put them on my computer's internal HD (until space becomes an issue - it isn't at the moment for this newbie, though). However, my computer could theoretically crap out at any given moment, and personally, I'm not overly concerned with keeping the raw files if that were to occur as I usually track them, do some EQing, etc. in Audacity. Plus, once space does become an issue, I'll probably just ditch my raw files anyways. I know that may sound sacrilegious to the more experienced tapers or at least to those who are true archivists/completionists, but once I have the touched up/enhanced and tracked WAVs I can put to CD for my listening pleasure, I don't know what purpose my master files are still serving me.

[beatkilla]

As you say your a newbie most likely your EQing touch up skills will become more advanced in the future and you will notice you probably added to much high end etc. to your old masters and without the raw files youu can not do a new EQ version.ALWAYS KEEP THE MASTER FILES.

[page]

As you say your a newbie most likely your EQing touch up skills will become more advanced in the future and you will notice you probably added to much high end etc. to your old masters and without the raw files youu can not do a new EQ version.ALWAYS KEEP THE MASTER FILES.

This.

I dug out a Deer Tick show to upload this past weekend and I realized that I could do so much better now than I did when I taped it years ago.

[tim in jersey]

As you say your a newbie most likely your EQing touch up skills will become more advanced in the future and you will notice you probably added to much high end etc. to your old masters and without the raw files youu can not do a new EQ version.ALWAYS KEEP THE MASTER FILES.

This.

I dug out a Deer Tick show to upload this past weekend and I realized that I could do so much better now than I did when I taped it years ago.

Ditto. I've been listening to a Shockenaw Mountain Boys recording from just a few years back. Acoustic music where the crowd is hear-a-pin-drop-quiet during music but the applause/crowd reaction is thunderous during the remaining strains as the instruments fade out. I've acquired a few new skills (thanks to this forum) and I *know* I can make a more natural-sounding, subtle edit using parallel compression and envelope filters. I can't believe how ham-handed my technique was, and I've improved a lot, but still have a long way to go.

EQ is an entirely different beast. Complete mystery to me. I've been taping for 15 years and anything I've applied EQ to, especially from my early tapes sounds either way too brassy or way too bassy. I attribute that to being over-zealous on either side of the spectrum. Still have yet to train my ear on how to *subtly* apply EQ in the regions that need a little work... But I'm trying, and without the masters from rooms I regularly record in and am familiar with, I have no baseline to compare against.

So yeah, keep those raw masters if you can... They will make you a better taper.