Naming & folders · How we test and maintain this guide
A title does not identify a unique recording
Two songs can share a title while having different performances, arrangements or endings. One song can also produce several files: an Original export, a converted MP3, a tagged copy and an edit for a project. Treating all of those as either one identical item or four unrelated songs makes a collection difficult to maintain.
Keep three levels in your record. The source identifier tells you which source song was requested. Your take label explains which artistic version you chose. The file hash identifies the particular saved bytes. None of these alone answers every question, and none grants rights to the music. They work together as a practical source map.
A small selection worksheet
| Example item | Source identity | Decision note | File role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evening theme — take A | Source ID A | Keep: preferred ending after listening | Source export |
| Evening theme — take B | Source ID B | Hold: alternative arrangement | Source export |
| Evening theme — take A — edit 01 | Source ID A retained in notes | Shortened for project; review ending again | Working edit |
This worksheet is an invented planning example, not an account of three measured songs. Its purpose is to show that a new edit can keep a relationship to the same source without pretending to have identical bytes. Replace the example labels with decisions you actually made. Do not invent a recording date, musician credit or approval that you cannot verify.
The tool's executed naming examples include Same title and same title as different ready rows. Title-only output adds a suffix to avoid a case-insensitive collision. That suffix is a filename safeguard; it is not a listening-based take label and does not tell you which version is better. Add your own meaningful decision in a separate record.
Choose takes before polishing the names
- Keep the original source links or identifiers available while comparing the prepared results.
- Listen to the opening, relevant middle passage and ending of each candidate. Record the exact difference that matters for this project.
- Mark a preferred take, an alternative or an unresolved choice. Leave uncertain decisions visibly unresolved.
- Select the desired ready tracks for the ZIP and compare the selected duration with the intended collection.
- Save and verify the selected files, then apply a naming convention that preserves the connection to the source.
Ready duration includes every prepared result; selected duration includes only checked tracks. In our controlled bookkeeping example, twelve ready rows totalled 13:18, while ten selected rows totalled 11:08. That difference is intentional selection, not missing audio. Duration can help you compare sets, but it does not choose the artistically correct take for you.
If you keep multiple alternatives, avoid names that differ only by a browser-added number in parentheses. A short label such as take-A, alternate-ending or edit-01 can be more understandable when it reflects a real distinction. Preserve the original export and map the new name in your notes instead of losing the only source identifier.
A later transformation creates a new file version
Tag edits, conversion and audio editing can all change a file hash. A changed hash alone does not prove a new composition or different performance. In our measured tagging example, the file hash changed while the decoded PCM hash stayed identical. A musical edit, by contrast, may alter duration and decoded samples as well. Record the transformation you actually performed.
Keep a simple revision line: source ID, working filename, action, date and reason. For example, a tag correction and a shortened ending should be separate decisions because they affect different things. Preserve the original manifest as an intake record and create a working map for changes rather than rewriting history.
Before delivering a revised take, open the delivery copy itself and confirm that it is the intended version. A player may show cached tags, and an editor may still reference the old working path. The final check is the actual file and sound you are handing over, supported by a record that another person can follow.