Tracking Sheets

A tracking sheet is designed to help one keep [if you will pardon the pun] "track" of the various settings used when recording/mixing/mastering. I had seen one in a user's manual for another piece of recording equipment and adapted it for use with the MR-8.
 
Kramer and Axe4Yahweh,

Mine is just an adaptation of something I had seen in a user manual for a cassette multitracker.
Basically, all I did on Word was:

On page setup, set the margins at 0.5" on all sides.
Set the paper orientation for "landscape"
For a VF-160, you will probably need to use 8.5" x 14" size paper instead of 8.5" x 11". Obivously the columns will be smaller than what I have for the MR-8 so whoever would use them would have to be prepared to write small while still writing legibly--a nightmare for people like me who wear bifocals.

Then just set up a table with 1 column for each track [combined tracks just need one column, 1 column for master settings, and one column to label each row across.

Set the number of rows for however many settings you need to keep track of: track assignments, eq, mic sim, amp sim, pan, fader levels, trim, FX type and setting, -- basically, an assigned space to keep track of every possible variable in the recording process, so if you lose something you have something to fall back on to see what settings were used to accomplish whatever.

Also, this provides a record of settings that don't work so you don't have to rely on the frailties of the human memory.
 
I did the same thing only in Excel which was easier to set up the grid. There is really no limit to what you can keep "track" of. The user generally knows what he or she needs. With Excel, you can make the columns as wide or narrow as you need them to be by simply dragging with the mouse. Once you have it set up, run off a dozen or so copies and you're good to go.


bd
 
You're right. Any Spreadsheet program will work, as well as any word processing program which allows the user to set up a table.
The nice thing is, the user can set it up for his or her own use.

The important thing is to develop a system and use it. All the great studios use something similar. The engineers have to do something else besides place mikes and twiddle with the knobs, buttons, and faders on the board. They have to make a record of what they're doing because if they have to redo something or stop a session and come back letter, that log is what they use to tell them what they've already done.
 
I tried for awhile to find tracking sheets that I liked, I ended up making them with microcrap Power point, looks awesome easy to edit, easy to prints. I also used the excel template for invoicing with some modifications.

SoMm
 
I read there all the time and I even searched the forum but I couldnt find anything.I guess I should have asked someone over there.Thanks for posting it.

Kramer
 
Is there a way to post these to the forum for people to download at their leisure so they won't be at the mercy of my erratic schedule for a response to an e-mail? I tried attaching to this post but the forum's protocols will not allow word documents to be attached.
 
a12stringer said:
Is there a way to post these to the forum for people to download at their leisure so they won't be at the mercy of my erratic schedule for a response to an e-mail? I tried attaching to this post but the forum's protocols will not allow word documents to be attached.

You can upload it to one of the free sites like anglefire,geocities etc. and then post a link to it here.If you dont want to bother with it you can e-mail me and I will post it on my webspace and provide a link to it.
 
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theletterq said:
You could put it in a zip file or if it's a Word file save it in txt format.

I can zip them up if that would be better.Is there a problem with downloading them as doc files straight from the website?
 
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