Lost in my own beats...

[sYgMa]

Here is the problem, and I guess I'm not the only one who's gotta deal with that...

I make like 1 beat structure a day (not a whole beat, but the basic structure of the beat)... Sometimes, there are days, or even weeks where I dont have the time/imagination to make one, then I work on the beats I did that are not finished....

the thing is, that makes a whole lot of beats in a month, let alone a year... so I'm wondering, how do you guys organize your beats? Do you give a name to every beat you make and know those name by heart? Do you file them by style, month? week? Instruments used?...

The thing is, when I have someone asking me to listen to what I have... (just a friend, not an artist) and he wants to listen to a specific track I did, I have the hardest time finding it... Cuz the name of my beats are numbers... like 001, 002, 003, etc.... could you give me an idea of what you do. Maybe that could help me...

 

[Haze47]

i always name the beat....as you said is usefull for quick recall, and when you shopping beat cds to emcee they go ,"yea i like tracks 1,6,7 and 10," and im like "what the fuck?"

so i name at the beginning and keep tha name for ever, until the emcee laces it and changes the name accordingly....

i file them by projects im shopping (ie the beat cds im working on) eg now im still on autumn beat cd 2005 until there are too many tracks to fit on a cd, then it will be winter/spring 2006 beat cd....

PZ
pz

 

[Vince]

I name all my beats
"untitledXXX"

it works pretty okay.

if i'd name them any other way i'd name them like so: DATE - the sample I used...
ie. if I used Isley Brothers - Between the sheets, I'd call it

3Jul05 - Isley Between The Sheets

 

[trebeatz]

yeah i usually just save my unfinished beats and beats that arent sounding too good in like a temp file and ill just name them like temp1 temp2 temp3, and then when i get them sounding good ill rename them beat001 etc and put them in a final folder, that helps cus when your showin someonee tracks u wont accidently open up something completely homo and unfinished and then blush and be embarrassed

 

[KENWOP]

i name them whatever the first thing that comes to my head is at the moment and i get some strange names it makes it easy to remember with the date next to it that also helps

 

[Sacred One]

^^^thats what i do, whatever the first thing i think about, and my reason saves the date as u save them so that helps too, also, if i got a beat i'm working and its unfinished, i just called it working(number) and when i finish with that beat i give it a name

 

[MarkN]

yep ditto here too ill be listetning to it and a name will pop into my head and ill go with that i've got sum weird named beats bcoz of it but its a gd way to remember them !

 

[afriquedeluxe]

thats the great thing about software. in reason , you can add comments to a file, so before you even open it, you know whats its like, tempo, time sig, comments, all that shit

 

[Sanova]

I always name my beats and store them in their own folders along with any smaples used and the save file. Right now im in the process of organizing them by Style and Genre and "unfinished" .. thats gon take a while.

 

[FistFulloDollaz]

I just name them after whatever sample I used that way it wont be any clearance issues when the time comes

if its something original or composed I'll name it after whatever the lead or most identifiable instrument is

then finally once an emcee gets it, it will be renamed to whatever the song is

 

[bluchippa5]

I name it what is sounds like...I have a beat right now called war of the worlds which makes u envision ufos comin to blow this bitch up-or maybe 610(what time it was when i finished) or booty muscles(one of the phrase in the samples that stands out) sometimes the beat name ends up being the name of the song cuz it was right on the money-If its that soundtrack shit,if it paints a picture in ur head, it just comes to u-

 

[sYgMa]

Whoa... seems Like you all give name to your Beats... I guess I'll have to sort my unfinished/finished beats and give names to my finished beats... it would be easier that way...

That's gonna take a while... sigh...

 

[Opera Populare]

im the same way wit wateva comes to mind when the track is done then i juss make a folder wit that name throw the samples in that folder wit a text file with the artists name and the song

 

[Relic]

i name them whatever the first thing that comes to my head is at the moment and i get some strange names it makes it easy to remember with the date next to it that also helps

I do that too LOL.
However if I drop it in protools then it gets a name like 1a,1b,1c etc....
Your right that gets confusing because people have a hard time describing it.

 

[Shonsteez]

I used to be sloppy as hell, but now i name the beat whatever and then date it as well as put the bpm in the title. I suggest everyone else do the same, it helps when you need to use the beat later or in a project.

 

[dj360_iNfInItE1]

I just name my beatz. Some are easy to name cuz I might have a hook already in there and I just name it that. Otherwise, I just name it whatever pops into my head as a cool name. I also listen to my beatz a lot so I automatically know how each beat sounds so when I see the name, I already know which beat it is.

 

[L. Soul]

I name my beats, then put them in folders belonging to the month, then in a folder belonging to that day

so it'll be like:

2006
-January
-- January 31 2006
--- "Insert Title"

 

[J Cro]

I used to name them random things. But now I have like 50 beats named the same thing in different folders ha. So now I named them by date. (02-01-06 beat 1 etc)

 

[5th Sequence]

Nice advice guys.

I actually put time into making a name for it lol.. Whatever vibes i'm feeling that I invision from listening to it I name it that. It actually helps a LOT to get new ideas from the name. If I name it "Mellow Vibes" or "Hella Chill".. etc something close to that, then I get the idea of the soundscape I want to create. Like literally, I think of chillin with my homies or girl whatever or picture myself cruisin or reflectin on something. I got this graphic image in my head an looking at the name time to time keeps my direction focused on that and new ideas just come. Kinda wierd I know, but it's worked for me.

Speaking of naming tracks, I made a hella tight beat about 3 months ago and can't find the damn thing. I listened to hundreds of beats but no luck. This is where a dating method would have helped.

 

[Authority]

just give um all names and if you run outta names start usin Numbers