• Adobe Premiere Pro

  Audio Recording Renaming/Organization

  Posted by Eric Barker on November 15, 2012 at 10:05 pm

  I’m trying to come up with an improved audio-recording workflow. Until recently, we used to record all voiceovers in the Capture window through external video hardware. We’re getting rid of most of our hardware while moving into a smaller place. So I put in for a couple of USB audio interfaces, and am switching over to recording audio the way it’s originally “supposed to be” done.

  Here’s what we did up until recently:

  I really like keeping my files well organized into individual folders: “audio”, “video”, “graphics”, “photos”, etc. I hate opening a project folder and having to wade through 100s of files to open the project file. Now, when I used the Capture window, I could rename every file after it was recorded. I would then go into windows explorer, move it to the “audio” folder, then relink it in Premiere. Audio file neatly filed out of the way, and named in a way that I can easily find it. I often end up using some audio tag in quite a few sequences for similar promotions or commercials.

  Unfortunately, when recording with the premiere audio system, it just creates “Audio 1.wav”, etc, RIGHT IN MY PROJECT FOLDER! It doesn’t even seem to let me save it to a separate location, let alone rename it. I’m even more used to DAWs like Pro Tools and Digital Performer that automatically tuck audio files away in an audio folder, which is really great.

  As a commercial TV producer, I’m managing hundreds of clients and audio projects that go back over 7 years. I wouldn’t be able to find a 7 year old file unless I had a strict organizational system like this, and I require my employees to adhere to a similar organizational procedure, at least to the extent that we can locate old assets.

  I’m not sure if this is exactly a question or a rant, because I’m HOPING that there’s a solution, but I’m beginning to doubt that there is. Currently, I’m having to record, then delete the audio tracks, switch to Windows Explorer, rename them, file them, then re-import them. Then for some strange reason, Premiere won’t playback the files, and I have to close/reopen the project. Suddenly a very simple procedure has become far more difficult, especially when doing many re-takes.

  Any thoughts?

  Television Producer
  KTVF-11 Fairbanks, Alaska
  video.ericbarker.com

  Alex Udell replied 13 years, 9 months ago 2 Members · 1 Reply
• 1 Reply

• 

  Alex Udell

  November 16, 2012 at 10:28 am

  Hi Eric…

  Always a struggle…I hear you.
  I used to be a multi-folder guy too.

  I have found however, Keeping media in the root of a project folder (when you can) is much easier from a project re-linking perspective.

  What I can suggest is that naming files based on a prefrix hierarchy has worked really well for me.

  For example: GRN_Edit_LKAU1024_720.mov
  Green screen edit for job LKAU1024 at 720p resolution.

  or

  VO_RAW_LKAU1024_TK01.aif
  Voiceover, not edited, job lkau1024, Take 01

  or
  TXT_Save Thousands.psd

  What’s nice about using prefixes in this way is that:
  1) if you sort by name in media folder, similar things group together
  2) searching at the OS level for files returns meaningful results
  3) Makes relinking in PPro, much easier when media files are in the root folder, PPro hates sub folders for relink…

  so in your workflow you’d still rename in explorer and relink/re-import into PPro…

  not ideal, but hope this just gives you food for thought.

  Alex Udell
  Editing, Motion Graphics, and Visual FX

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