File naming structure

[austin_s]

I just recorded several songs with a 5 piece band. I began with a "start" session with my basic layout and routing all setup beforehand. Every time we would complete a song, I would start a new session and "import session data" ONLY importing the track data such as track names, color, plugins, routing, etc. I chose to NOT import audio media, to make sure no clips or files were being carried over into the "new" session. This seemed like a good solution to me, because every new song, the session would grow and evolve bit by bit. Problem that I'm running into... is when I start the new session and do the session data import... the file naming structure picks off from where the last session left off. For example: previous session would end with "KickIn_36". When I start recording into the NEW session... the first file for that same track would start at "KickIn_37". To keep everything more clean and organized, I want to know how to do this process and be able to start the session with "KickIn_01" etc. I tried renaming the clips to start the naming structure over, (change "KickIn_37" to "KickIn" or "KickIn_01") and this did not work. Also tried renaming the files within the audio files folder, still didnt work. I ALSO tried saving the previous session as a template, loaded the template for the new session, and ran into the exact same issue.
What am I missing here? Anybody have wisdom on this?

[albee1952]

It seems to me that you are maybe doing things in the wrong sequence.

Suggestion:
Instead of importing session data from the last take, once take 1 is done, immediately go to File>Save as Template and name it for the band. When you get to the next song, Create a new session FROM that template. That will give you all the tracks, with the initial labeling, without extra Playlists(which you don't want yet, anyway) and without any audio from the other song's session.

There are several ways to do most anything in the digital world, the trick is to choose a way that not only works, but doesn't shoot you the foot. One thing many newbies get wrong is, they make a template session and save it, then for the next song, they open the template session and start recording. Then they save it as the new song, but this doesn't create an entire new session folder. And, all your new song audio files are going into the Audio Files folder of the template session(not where you want at all).

Sometimes, in the heat of a long session, the engineer can make little mistakes in naming and file management. The trick is to catch it fast and fix it as you go. The trick to getting a good template is to make any fixes on the fly. Example: you created a new session from the template you saved and the band starts recording the next song. If you spot a faux pas, try to fix it as soon as the record pass ends. Make the changes and Save as Template again, and over-write the first one by saving this new version with the same name. Often, in a 10-12 song project, I will update(over-write) the template 3 or 4 times, but the band rarely even notices(as the engineer, its my job to make the technical side something the band doesn't need to think or worry about)

BTW, my track names for the first pass of any song will ALWAYS have .01 as part of each track name(IOW, Kick.01, Snare.01, Bass.01, etc). Because of the default method of how PT names each new(additional) Playlist, they will all be numbered sequentially. That way, you know Bass.01 is the first Playlist, Bass.05 is the fifth Playlist, etc. Another thing to make multiple takes be easier is, make a group out of certain tracks like drums, or any instrument that has multiple mics(I usually track acoustic and electric guitars with 2 mics). This way, when you create a new Playlist for the kick drum, ALL your drum tracks will flip to a new Playlist(much faster than doing each track separately).

[austin_s]

Thanks, but this doesnt really answer my question. As I noted, I also tried your method of saving a session template and loading the template for the new song. Exact same issue happens with doing the template method.

[Rich Breen]

My advice: Don't rely on ProTools' auto-naming structure for take information - you're only asking for trouble. Most of us who have been doing this a while use playlist numbering to embed take numbers in the file names. Yes, you can get PT to "start over" but the process is too time consuming for use in these situations.

[m4tune]

My advice:

Include an abbreviation of the song name like "bt_kick" for "Better Times_Kick Drum" in front of the track name. You can rename all tracks with the track rename command option-shift-R easily.
Then the take number starts at 01 again with every new abbreviation and you have the benefit of even better organised audio files, too.

[austin_s]

Thanks for all the suggestions. These are all great workarounds. But the root of my question is wanting to better understand WHY this is happening.. and determine what pro tools is doing to cause this. I feel like its something that is probably happening quite often from people having a similar workflow to mine... so im surprised that its such a mysterious thing..

[Firechild]

Hi!

Did you solve this issue?
I also want all my drum files be Kick-01, Kick-02 on different songs...
Now I have Kick 29 and Hihat 137 on my first take...instead of Kick 01 and Hihat 01