Record keeping

bachelorb

Cowboy Chord Virtuoso
Howdy to all again.
<backstory>I’ve got about 40 songs that I’ve written....not good songs....just songs.
Today I was trying to remember how to play a couple of em. So being an analog guy, I only had em on cassettes.
Sooo...I fired the ol Tascam 234 and began the search. I had labeled the tapes by year, so that helped considerably. I found what I was looking for after 4 songs, so it wasn’t too bad.

Now here’s the question.... How do analog guys catalog your songs so you can refer back to em later??

Thanks again and as always,

Brad
 
I always write the time stamp and the song titles on the spline of my reel cases.
Back when I used cassettes, they always came with a little blank A side/B side card...and I would write the time stamps and titles there.
 
I used to write on the cards, but eventually there was too much different stuff. So i started just giving tapes a letter code and used a notebook to create data pages for each tape by it's code.
Then when i transferred everything from tape to digital i could title each session by it's tape code and track name from the notes.
 
On the 1/2" and 1/4" tapes I have to pull the tape off the shelf and look at the listing on the back. However I can usually tell roughly where it would be from the surrounding songs, since nearly everything I write goes on an album. On the 1" and 2" tapes there's enough room on the spine to write the song titles.
 
I used to write on the cards, but eventually there was too much different stuff. So i started just giving tapes a letter code and used a notebook to create data pages for each tape by it's code.
Then when i transferred everything from tape to digital i could title each session by it's tape code and track name from the notes.

This is the way I'll probably go. I buy my tape in bulk, so no cards or cases. I can see in my future that I'll spend days trying to find the notebook though...... :)
 
It should be an easy thing to design a track recording sheet in Excel or Open Office, then stick it inside the box. You have to store the tape somewhere.

I'm terrible at keeping records on any of this stuff. I hated keeping my lab books updated at work. It was easier once we got Excel. I could enter my work in a worksheet, tweak it, make the test formula, then print out the page and attach it to the results.
 
It should be an easy thing to design a track recording sheet in Excel or Open Office, then stick it inside the box. You have to store the tape somewhere.

I'm terrible at keeping records on any of this stuff. I hated keeping my lab books updated at work. It was easier once we got Excel. I could enter my work in a worksheet, tweak it, make the test formula, then print out the page and attach it to the results.

That's how I got in trouble in the first place. My hard drive crashed on my other computer..... The one thing I'm terrible about is backing up data :D
 
I've always been a packrat on my computers. I backed up everything at work, and it came in handy lots of times. I never had one of my computers crash, but whenever the company did an upgrade, they would "transfer" your data. Guess what.. they always missed stuff. It happened 3 times! No problem at all. Its here on my little flash drive. So, you deleted that email I sent you? NO PROBLEM. Let me resend it to you! Lost that report for the $5000 certification study for EPA and OSHA? I think it's right here!

With 1TB drives at $60, its cheap insurance. While you're busy watching Dr Phil, just grab that data folder and drag it over to the external drive.

Still, I would build an Excel sheet and print them out. There used to be one called Ultimate Track Sheet, but its apparently gone now. It would be easy to recreate.
 
Kay here are 3 I find useful. Fell free to modify titles, etc to fit you needs
 

Attachments

  • Project Schedule.pdf
    8.7 KB · Views: 13
  • Take Sheet.pdf
    8 KB · Views: 13
  • Track Assignments.pdf
    8.4 KB · Views: 16
I threw together a speadsheet in Open Office, but unfortunately, the software won't let me upload an XLS or ODS file. Maybe I'll move it to Dropbox for a while and post, if you want. That way you could either customize it and print it out, or fill it out electronically and print it.

It looked like this:
 

Attachments

  • Recording Track Sheet.pdf
    40.3 KB · Views: 9
Thanks TR.... I am probably going to do a hybrid excel sheet using yours and the others. I don’t need anything that professional, just a handy cross reference system
 
Like many others, I had a blank form with.....

Song Title
Time Stamp
Track 1 - Kick
Track 2 - Snare
Track 3 - Tom 1
etc........

Fold it up and stick in the box - along with re-call notes if applicable

Or if you are still recording analog, use a simple spreadsheet
 
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