Name your recordings!

Name your recordings

Recording is a creative process, and it's easy to get caught up in the flow and forget something very important:

                            Name your recordings!

But not with “Rec1,” “RecA,” “Take001_20251115.”
You might remember where everything is until you return to the studio at the end of the day. However, when you're recording on location for several days, things can quickly get mixed up. It will take hours upon hours to sort things out again.

How you name the tracks and sessions depends on your gear. That's why we're referring you to the article “Know your gear” again.

To make it clearer why it's so important to name your recordings, let's describe it using an example.

We recorded the computers at the IBM Historical Museum. There are many different devices, such as computers, punch card readers, hard disks, tape machines, and so on.
Some of them make unique sounds, while others make similar ones. When did we record the printer from machine A? Or was it the printer from machine F?
In retrospect, we realized they were the same model. However, using them caused a significant delay in post-processing that could have been avoided.

That's why we recommend making a recording plan in which all relevant information is noted.
This can be done with a paper form or by taking lots of photos with a cell phone. 
However, it is important to also document the channel assignments of the recording devices.

Long story short: HERE is a tutorial with lots of tips and tricks.