Keeping audio files/use of

[Jesse Flaitz]

How long should I keep around audio files after a shoot? I always transfer the files to someone on set, but it makes me nervous only having them on the one location so I usually put them on my computer at home for a while in case.

Also, on relatively low budget productions what is the protocol for use of recorded files. Obviously not dialogue, but any room tones/ambience/PFX are those sole property of the production? Or can I use any of the files in my own library. I guess it's kind of an "it depends" situation, but if no one has specified either way, does anyone have experience with this?

Thanks!

[Richard Lightstone, CAS]

Check this thread and decide.

[stevegrider]

I have a Deva Fusion. It records exclusively to compact flash cards. I have ten 4GB cards and ten 8GB cards. I have a 16GB and a 32GB as well. I tell my clients and the DIT that I will cycle through the cards every 10 shoots or so. If they have a problem immediately, I will still have it. If they call me in a month, I might not. In six years, I have been called twice, both times within 24 hours of wrap. It's a system that works for me, and it gives my clients a little comfort.

[VASI]

Write a DVD or CD or hard disk with old files and get in your library or something else.

For example:

Year 2008 : Short Films, Commercials, Documentaries, Feature Film

Yaer 2009 : Same

bla bla bla

[stevegrider]

As far as keeping files and using them later, I don't. Anything I'm being paid to record belongs to the company paying me. For me to use it again and profit from it would be unethical.

[Michael P Clark]

I keep a backup drive with all material until post is completed. I stay in contact with the post house, and if I'm looking at needing to dump for space, a call is made. I received a text from from one of our executive producers this weekend on a project we did in August/Sept 2011. "Uh...Do you still have synchro audio?" "Synchro" in refrenece to movie name, not "sync sound". Something happened, and glad I still have it backed up. I vaguely remember them saying they will make backups....something tells me they didn't. Once post is done...dump away! But I saved the day, as it would seem, and probably even added more sense of security from the execs., for the next project.

Roomtones, sound effects, are pretty fair game if you ask me. Although, the production company does own the copy writes to the recorded material, unless it a signature sound used in the project that stands out, I doubt you'll get any slack from someone claiming infringement.

[Jesse Flaitz]

Cool, thanks for the input. That's pretty much along the lines of what I was thinking.

[Richard Ragon]

Someone asked me last month, if I still had the audio files to something I worked on in 2006. Wow.. So, now I'm re-thinking my deletion of things 5 years old. Perhaps a 10 year hold is in order.

-Richard

[Michael P Clark]

5 years seems a bit excessive.

[Jack Norflus]

Till the check clears...

;-)

[Marc Wielage]

I think any client who expects us to hold on to sound for over a year is a little nutty -- especially if we've already delivered everything to them. But I think this kind of thing may happen more and more, especially for small films that run out of money and take years to finish, and post staffs who fail to make proper backups.

I just checked and my "Sound Projects" folder goes back to 2008, so I have 3-1/2 years' worth of stuff. Only once have I been asked for the files again, and by the time I got home to check the folder, the client called back and said, "oh, we found it after all. We're all good."

I'll absolutely guarantee you, the DP ain't holding on to terabytes and terabytes of picture files for the projects they work on. And I doubt the DIT is, either.

[Mark Andrews]

With lower budget stuff, I have managed to get permission for future use of Roomtones/FX written into the contract. One producer had a bit of a go about it, but let me have the permission. They might never know if I did it anyway, but I like to be upfront just incase. I wouldn't risk it with a big production company or a really good client though.

As for sound backups, I try to make sure production knows the onus is on them to do the backups. As far as they are concerned I don't keep copies of everything. I do try to keep them until the project has gone through post though.

~Mark.

[OmahaAudio]

Someone asked me last month, if I still had the audio files to something I worked on in 2006. Wow.. So, now I'm re-thinking my deletion of things 5 years old. Perhaps a 10 year hold is in order.

Hard drive space is cheap. DVDs are cheap.

Besides, if you can provide audio files from a 2006 production you can charge a Research fee, and a Disk Burning fee, and whatever other fees you can think of...

[Matt Radlauer]

I end up doing alot of data transfer as well as audio recording so I keep them till my client lands at their destination...

I usually have my client provide 2 hard drives. One of which they walk with and the other is fed ex'd...

Lately ive been storing stuff on dropbox or something in the cloud so i can just send it off from there.

If i dont hear back from my client, i just delete it after a month or whenever i need the space.

[VM]

I keep the files untill the film is finished. And I clearly say to my clients that they have to have the files on two different disks.

For little jobs, I keep the files in a "to be deleted" folder. When I need more space on my hard drive I erase the oldest.

[soundmanjohn]

In my theatre world, I store work files to two hard drives (work-disc and archive) whilst the project is active and for a couple of months after it's complete. Then the 'active' files are deleted and the 'archive' files remain. Once the archive hard-drive is full, (I use bare drives in a caddy) I save a disk directory listing, using DiskTracker and store the drive. I pull the archive drives every so often and spin them up to check they're OK. I use Western Digital Caviar Green drives for archiving. So far, so good..

[Marc Wielage]

With lower budget stuff, I have managed to get permission for future use of Roomtones/FX written into the contract.

Oh, I think that's a little overly-cautious. If none of the actors or on-screen people are speaking, I think it's fair game and the material can be considered public domain.

Occasionally when I wind up in a weird location, I have brought out some stereo mikes at some point, maybe on a break, to try to record some ambience, if I think it's unique enough. I'll just throw it in a folder, maybe to be used, maybe not. The client doesn't own the location -- just the work that's used in the project.

[TheAudioSynthesist]

I keep everything until I absolutely can't and need the space.

I also pull out any production SFX and ambiance/room tones that I like and keep them in my personal library. Why not? And who will know? I hate relying solely on library and want to build my own over my career. It's something we all should do. No?

[Jesse Flaitz]

I hate relying solely on library and want to build my own over my career. It's something we all should do. No?

I need to start making separate notes for myself on production gigs, noting files with good tone/FX sounds. I should have started doing that a while ago d'oh!

[Bondelev]

In post, we need to keep files for a longer time, you'd be surprised how often I get calls for remixes many years after the fact. I certainly keep everything until the check clears, and usually until the show airs or is released. But even then, there are so many different mixes and reedits down the line, I probably keep it as long as I have disc space for it. Sometimes I check with production to make sure it's ok to delete it. If there is any doubt, burn DVDs. Many times it will result in me getting more work if the files exist. If they don't, they don't remix.