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1. Re: Getting organised...

Subject: 1. Re: Getting organised...
From: "Rob Danielson" danielson_audio
Date: Tue Mar 11, 2008 10:35 am ((PDT))
At 2:06 AM +0000 3/11/08, Greg Weddig wrote:
>I've been following this thread closely but been unable to post, I was
>the one with the Filemaker database. I admit that Filemaker is not
>the last word in database programs and there are many easier options.
>I use Filemaker because I have it, I know how to use it and it's
>pretty easy to export to something different if I need to, also mac
>and pc compliant.
>
>My sound library resides partially on my hard drive and partially on
>DVD and CD backup. According to my database I have about 200 hours
>(750 records) of ambient recordings, too much for me to keep on a hard
>drive right now. My database does not link to my files other than a
>reference number on the primary and secondary (remote site) backups.
>It works for me.
>
>While I think it would be great to have all of the metadata built into
>the file I think I have far too many fields for this. I'm attaching a
>summary of the fields in my Filemaker database. It is painful to
>record all of this data every time, but I think it will make the
>database more valuable in the future. Please let me know any files
>you use that I don't have listed. I based these partially on the
>worksheet Bernie provided on page 107-109 of _Wild Soundscapes_.
>
>--greg weddig
>Baltimore, MD
><http://gregweddig.net>http://gregweddig.net
>
>(parentheses are an example of what I use a field for)
>~~~~~~~
>Library ID# (sequenced assigned number)
>--
># of individuals (number of callers)
>Biome  Category (desert, forest, tunnel, city park)
>Aquatic Habitat (brackish swamp, pond, stream)
>Terrestrial Habitat (meadow clearing, deciduous forest)
>Common Name (Northern Cardinal)
>Species (Cardinalis cardinalis)
>Vox Type (warning call, song etc)
>Sex
>--
>Site (Lizard Mound park)
>Country
>GPS (coordinates, link to google earth)
>Local time
>Recording date
>Source Distance (estimated)
>State\Province
>Altitude (based off of GPS reading)
>Weather
>Climate
>Sunrise\Moonrise
>Moon phase
>Title (if I have a recording title)
>--
>Track Duration (length of recording)
>DAT #
>PNO
>Absolute End Time (used for DAT archiving)
>Absolute Start Time(used for DAT archiving)
>Backup (Where is it, DVD or CD)
>Bit/Freq
>CD (backup recording)
>CD Cut #
>Digi Channels
>Location (where is the file)
>Field notes (general notes on the recording, windy, traffic noise, low
>cut filters etc)
>File Type (mp3, wav, flac)
>MD #
>MD Track #
>Primary Mics
>Primary Preamp
>Primary Stereo pattern
>Secondary Mics
>Secondary Preamp
>Secondary Stereo pattern
>Quality (Pristine, Best, Good, Fair, Poor)
>Recorder (MD, 744, MD500)
>Recordist
>Season (summer winter spring fall)
>Type (quad, stereo, 5.1 etc)
>~~~~~~~~

Hi Greg--

I'll try to come up with sample "Outing Record Sheet" using your 
categories and some ID3 tags on aiff files in iTunes.

I agree that 90% of what you list above need only reside on the 
master record sheet where the conditions can be correlated to the 
files created on the outing. (This may be true whether the master 
record is generated using database, like Filemaker and searched with 
Filemaker or created with a text app like MS Word or OpenOffice and 
searched with Spotlight or the Windows equivalent.) I'm going to 
assume that most of us will use another disk cataloging application 
to search for the particular off-line DVD's, drives etc. Those who 
store their files on hard drives can create hot links to the 
recordings with iTunes if they wish. There's at least one script I 
tried for this-- its a ID2/ID3 playist export function where some 
additional improvement would be helpful.

There are about 5-7 reasonably adoptable categories in ID3 tags one 
can use for other purposes including the comments window.  What 
should they be?

These are the main SEARCH criteria I use:

(1) Sound subject terms like, "bittern"  "american toad" "echo" 
"mellow" "low background" "good*" excellent*" "loud*" "so-so*" etc. 
(Spotlight will analyze a large number of terms)

(2) Date. I can usually narrow it down to a particular year. I'll use 
month if possible or necessary.

(3) Place or geography/habitat (proper noun and/or description like, 
"meadow," "river bottom" "woodland," "savannah,"

(4) *Quality: Sometimes mic rig/recorder used tells me something. I 
recently started using a code I made up to mark signal to background 
separation. I see Greg uses

Category (1) could be entered into the "comments" category in the tag.

Categories (2) and (3) can often be entered into the tags of all of 
the recordings in the outing at once using iTunes or Soundminer.

iTunes automatically grabs the duration, file type, sample rate, bit rate

That leaves geo coordinates, place name, geography/habitat Time of 
day.. What else would people like to include in the TAG that goes 
with each recording? (Note: This tag categories are best used to help 
find a particular file.  Info that applies to most of the files for 
the outing can be entered and found in the Master Record.

Does someone want to explore how Spotlight and the Windows Equivalent 
search for ID2/ID3 tags or BWAV tags? I see that are some apps to one 
can use to expand Spotlight's abilities.

My goal is a tutorial of the iTunes steps and to make a sample Maser 
Record template in Word with chart to paste the tag date into. 
Interested folks can take a look at it and make suggestions.  Rob D.
-- 







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