Recorded Files Folder - What is the point?

Former user wrote on 2/13/2006, 7:26 PM
Using Vegas for some light voiceover work to see if I can intergrate it better into my workflow....but can anyone please tell me what the point is of the product recording my takes into some weird folder when I really want everything consolidated into my project folder?

How hard is it for the product to create a "audio" folder right in the same folder that contains my freshly saved .veg file and have all my takes routed to that new folder? Wouldn't this save a ton of time when backing up the project files instead of having to always click the "copy source media" option all the time.

I am already starting to run into "media offline" etc etc after performing some cleanup on several temp render directories because I can't remember what files belong to what project or I forgot to click the "copy source media" option etc etc..

Any thoughts?

Cheers!

VP

Comments

ibliss wrote on 2/13/2006, 8:16 PM
You can change the recorded files folder for a project by opening up the project settings.

Ticking 'apply to all projects' lets you change the default folder setting.
Former user wrote on 2/14/2006, 4:57 AM
Can I make it blank so it will prompt me each time to put my output into the same folder as my .veg file?

So far - I don't see an "Apply to all Projects"...I do see a "Start all new projects with these settings" and even when that is on....I still have to pick a single location by going into the properties dialog...

What we really need is an option on the Properties dialog that says "Use saved project directory to store recorded files". I have no desire to be laying out tracks anywhere else but into the actual directory that my project is saved in.

I remember getting prompted once after I recorded a track but I think I shut something off...

VP
drbam wrote on 2/14/2006, 5:27 AM
It took me some months to develop the habit of properly asigning folders in Vegas - it was/is especially challenging when I'm starting a project quickly to capture something in the moment and want to stay focused on recording rather than data mangagement. Although I'm used to it now, I still find that the process feels "awkward." But I remind myself that I come from an era where ALL the data was on a reel of tape and track sheets. . .

drbam
ibliss wrote on 2/14/2006, 5:47 AM
You can re-enable the promting for record folder path by going into the internal prefs - hold down 'shift' when you click on 'preferences' in the options menu.

type 'prompt' into the search field.

change the value for 'do not prompt for Record Files Path' to FALSE.

DISCLAIMER: CHANGING INTERNAL PREFS CAN SCREW UP VEGAS (but you should be fine in this instance!)
Former user wrote on 2/14/2006, 9:14 AM
"It took me some months to develop the habit of properly asigning folders in Vegas - it was/is especially challenging when I'm starting a project quickly to capture something in the moment and want to stay focused on recording rather than data mangagement.

Although I'm used to it now, I still find that the process feels "awkward." But I remind myself that I come from an era where ALL the data was on a reel of tape and track sheets. . ."

Can you outline your workflow for assigning folders? I totally agree with you on the "awkwardness" of this process - I always feel like I am forgetting something somewhere...

I cannot for the life of me understand why I would save my project to a specific folder and then sit back and watch as the app scatters my work files everywhere but where I want them - in my project folder. Whoever thought this out must not care about project transport, take management, file remaming...etc etc...

I did check out some freebie scripting from VASST and found a dandy that nicely copies everything that is strewn all over the place and consoldates the files in the Project folder - so that is helping a bit...what I really want is a "Move" script that actually moves everything to the project folder so I don't have to clean up extra areas or wory about any files going missing after the fact.

Project management in this app is a PITA chore. I hope that V7 brings some help in this area....I am getting ready to scream when I click the Open icon mid-session and the dialog opens to some disjointed folder that was somehow remembered from the last session or something....Wavelab's custom File Open dialog kicks Vegas's ass in this regard...it remembers something like your last 100 locations in a special drop down...totally fab!

VP
ibliss wrote on 2/14/2006, 12:01 PM
Vegas remembers the recorded files folder when you next open up the same Veg file, so I find it difficult to understand how it is that your copy of Vegas "scatters my work files everywhere but where I want them".

Vegas has a default record folder.
You can change this default.
You can specify the recording folder for each project you create.
There is a 'Save project with media' option.

Project management is the responsibility of the operator too - and not all of us want recordings in the same place as the Veg file anyway (though I usually do store both together).

Having the OPTION to have Vegas automatically create a record folder specific to your save veg file is not a bad idea at all - suggest it to sony.
Former user wrote on 2/14/2006, 12:50 PM
"Vegas remembers the recorded files folder when you next open up the same Veg file, so I find it difficult to understand how it is that your copy of Vegas "scatters my work files everywhere but where I want them".

iBliss...sorry but I think my comments have been a bit confusing. What I meant by "scatters my work files everywhere but where I want them" is that ...Yes - there is a Recorded Files folder under Project Properties (which is NOT related to the project file)...then under Options->Preferences->General tab, there is a Temporary files folder that is NOT related to the project file)...and finally - if I am getting into video...I have the Prerendered files folder under Project Properties->Video tab (which is not related to the project file)...plus I could add any number of images or other elements via drag and drop etc etc....

In the end - my work files are in fact scattered everywhere...which, depending on if I am really paying attention to all these locations, could cause major problems when I run my weekly cleanup scripts that clean up my workstations left over temp files, internet caches etc etc.

I understand that project management is my responsibility but having to "manage" all these locations is, quite frankly - a PITA. By comparision - when I drag and drop (or import) something into Nuendo...it asks me immediately if I want to copy the file to my working project directory...now this is good management...I have never lost or had to look for a file within a Nuendo session environment...and I have hundreds in storage.

At least setting the Recorded Files location to the project location automatically would be a great start.

Cheers!

VP
ibliss wrote on 2/14/2006, 3:05 PM
Ok, I think I understand where you're coming from a bit better now.

As I understand it though, anything in the temporary files folder isn't actually going to contain anything critical - it is just a temporary folder.

Both the audio recorded files folder and video prerendered folder are accessible from the project properties and do recall when you re-load a veg file. Eg. set audio rec. folder to D:\test\audio and video prerender to D:\test\video, then save your veg in D:\test. Everytime you reload that veg file, it will be with those settings in the project properties. Create a new project, and those settings will revert to the default setting - I have mine set as "D:\"

So my project workflow could go
1)open Vegas
2) open project properties
3) change audio folder to D:\*.*\audio
4) change vid folder to D:\****\video
5) save project in D:\****

Again, this could be faster if we had the option to have vegas automatically create these sub folders. Not impossible to deal with at the moment though

I personally prefer the speed of just dragging and dropping media into vegas without it having to copy files from a>b first. This way you can choose when you want to take a 5 min break while vegas saves a veg with the project media. Again, having an option to be asked every time if you want the media to be copied then and there would be okay, as long as you could turn it off for impatient people like me!. Even an automatic 'copy to project folder' could be useful.

Stuff worth thinking about.
Geoff_Wood wrote on 2/14/2006, 8:13 PM
I record each separate 'song' into a separate folder. That way "Recording nn - Take nn" is meaningful. If you have multiple tracks in the same folder, the takes get all over the place number-wise.


But what pees me off is every time you go to Browse for a new location, it starts NOT at the current folder, but back in My Documents - the LAST place anybody wants anything !!!

geoff
ibliss wrote on 2/15/2006, 2:25 AM
yes, My Documents sucks! as does the behavior you describe.

Lets see how ACID 6 handles it, as it seems to be the audio Sony platform now.
Former user wrote on 2/15/2006, 4:49 AM
"But what pees me off is every time you go to Browse for a new location, it starts NOT at the current folder, but back in My Documents - the LAST place anybody wants anything !!!"

YES! For cripes sakes...what is the point of that! Why must we always be forced to dick around enumerating folders...scrolling, clicking...moving up...moving down...when we could just start in the right place to begin with.

VP
Musiclover wrote on 2/20/2006, 9:45 PM
ibliss,
I am so glad to see this dialog going on. I have used Pro Tools before and the file system is very straight forward. All this time I too have been struggling with file management like voicepoint. Here is what I used to do:
-Create a seperate folder for each project
-After the take, save al files into that folder by checking "Copy all media files"
-I would then go into the default folder(in my case C\My Music\Vegas) and painfuly look for the same files as in the project folder and delete them!

Now I understand what u are saying is:
-Create a project
-Set properties such that the default folder is where I want to keep ALL my files associated with that project.

Is this correct?

Really thanks so much! It was simple, but I did not know!!!!
Former user wrote on 2/21/2006, 9:57 AM
Following some experimentation with several suggestions in this thread - I have discovered a much cleaner way to ensure that all my newly recorded audio is placed in the right spot if project creation steps are followed in this order:

1. Open Vegas with it's default empty project
2. Immediately click Save As and navigate to (or create) a folder to save your master .veg project in.
3. Then immediately go to Project Properties, click the Audio tab and look for the "Recorded files folder" area and click Browse.
4. Voila! You are immediately taken to the exact location that the ".veg" file was just saved in. Then you can either choose to write newly created audio into the main top level veg folder or create a subfolder called Audio...This also works with the Video Tab and it's Prerendered File Folder.
5. All these locations are corrected remapped when the project is reloaded.

Well - now that I have this workflow figured out...at least my intial file consolidation problems have been worked out! This really takes very little time now and I am thrilled that I do not have to endlessly navigate to my project working directory to ensure my newly recorded stuff gets to the right spot. Now it's set it and forget it!

However - this utopia goes right to hell in a handbasket as soon as one attempts to say - import media via the Project Media tab...even with an empty project and all the file paths now set correctly as outlined above....if you click Import Media - you immediately get thrown into My Documents (FFS!) and then are sent on a navigation session to find your materials to import.

While I can live with the navigation to find media to import - I cannot understand this stupidity: Once I import a single image (as I did for this test) and then click Save As to

1. Save your master veg file
2. To get access to the nifty "Copy and trim media with project" option)

Vegas immediately sticks you back in the last directory you were at to import media instead of the folder where the master veg was saved as outlined above!! CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WTF THE POINT OF THIS IS?

I have taken every possible step to tell the program where my master project file is located...the program knows exactly what files are open and where the project is located - SO WHY does Vegas think it would be a good idea to drop me anywhere else on my drive during a Save As except where I need to be - which is the folder where my master veg is located. NOTE TO PROGRAMMERS - If I want to "Save As" my project to a new location....let ME start to think about making that decision from the folder that contains the active project!

This single annoying break in the workflow wastes a painful amount of time and should NOT happen. Save As should ALWAYS start from where the project is located...no matter how many items I have imported or what I have done while the project is open.