Quick question about naming tracks....

[sjs94704]

As we all know, often times naming conventions can matter with software and file names, etc...

I know that at first it might sound minor, but when you have LOTS of tracks it can matter, BUT, when giving tracks their names, do you all say it is cool to have spaces or NO spaces in your track names?

For example with mine, I have LOTS of vocal tracks because I am recording myself singing on lots of tracks to make myself sound like a choir. These vocal tracks are then going to be synced to video files for a music video I want to do.

For my track auto color I have it triggered by the letters VOX. That makes the tracks BLUE that have VOX in the track name. So, if I have 20 tracks, would you all do

VOX1, VOX2, VOX3 ...

or does it matter if I did

VOX 1, VOX 2, VOX 3 ... ????

And this could apply to instrument tracks as well, so if you had more than one of ANY instrument, etc...

How do you all do this ???
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[gvdv]

Originally Posted by sjs94704

As we all know, often times naming conventions can matter with software and file names, etc...

I know that at first it might sound minor, but when you have LOTS of tracks it can matter, BUT, when giving tracks their names, do you all say it is cool to have spaces or NO spaces in your track names?

For example with mine, I have LOTS of vocal tracks because I am recording myself singing on lots of tracks to make myself sound like a choir. These vocal tracks are then going to be synced to video files for a music video I want to do.

For my track auto color I have it triggered by the letters VOX. That makes the tracks BLUE that have VOX in the track name. So, if I have 20 tracks, would you all do

VOX1, VOX2, VOX3 ...

or does it matter if I did

VOX 1, VOX 2, VOX 3 ... ????

And this could apply to instrument tracks as well, so if you had more than one of ANY instrument, etc...

How do you all do this ???
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.
.
.

I see some professionals using underscores in file names instead of spaces, but I have to admit I have not fully investigated the potential advantages and disadvantages of doing that.

Personally, I like to have filenames which:
1. Are as short as possible, while as descriptive as possible in separating them from each other in terms of function (e.g., Gtr. - Solo; Gtr. - Rhythm; Gtr. - Chk.; Gtr. - Solo Left; Gtr. Solo Right)

2. I also like to be able to know at a glance whether something is a track or a folder (even though one can usually see this), so I like to use a name to describe that function, too.

For example, I might name the item which is the 'Parent' (e.g., a folder, or VCA, or bus) something like 'Guitars'. Simple, but effective.

3. In naming tracks, I also like to think about how clearly understandable the name would be to someone else in differentiating the tracks from others of the same time (see my 'Gtr.' examples, above, some of which involved panning descriptors - i.e., 'Left' and 'Right').

4. If you are collaborating with someone it would be worth having a discussion about how you are going to name your tracks, so that you each do it in the same way in order to avoid confusion.

[ashcat_lt]

Originally Posted by gvdv

I see some professionals using underscores in file names instead of spaces, but I have to admit I have not fully investigated the potential advantages and disadvantages of doing that.

Back in the early Bronze Age, operating systems did not support spaces in file names. Couldn’t have dashes either, so we had to use underscores. Course we only had 8 characters to work with (file-type extension not included), so most of the time you just smashed everything together and/or used abbreviations. In the 21st century, you can type a whole sentence describing the file if you want. There are still some special characters which aren’t allowed, but we can use spaces and dashes and there’s no good reason not to.

[jrk]

For one thing, if you ever find yourself using command line tools you'll find using underscore instead of space (in filenames) can still be helpful. Even nowadays.

[panicaftermath]

Consistency and readability are priorities for me. Good abbreviations. How a name will sort in a list may also be a factor, depending on the item being named: track, item, project, file, folder structure, etc. So padding out numbers with zeroes can be useful. Easy to remember.
With conventions that can be used across projects.