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First Days At OU / MDIA

blog · 2012-08-27

With the first day of classes under my belt here at Ohio University, I’m left to reflect upon those who have crossed my path throughout the day. I’m lucky to be working in a school with amazingly supportive faculty, with a tremendous interim Director, and a Dean who’s truly doing great things to grow an already flourishing college. I may sound like I’m gushing, but it’s really great to work with like-minded educators.

I’ve received several questions as to my course load and book selection so this seemed the easiest way to answer those. I’m teaching MDIA 3303 (two sections), MDIA 4903, and working with a group of students on a project to record several aural presentations of astronomers & physicists for radio broadcast. I’m really please with the group of students I’ve met thus far and the classes I’m teaching, so hopefully I’ll be able to share some class projects with you later in the semester. For now, here’s some paperwork and light reading suggestions…

MDIA 3303 – Sound for Moving Image

Syllabus (Scribd link)

Required Texts:

David Lewis Yewdall, MPSE. Practical Art of Motion Picture Sound.
Fourth Edition. ISBN: 978-0-240-81240-3

Ric Viers. The Sound Effects Bible: How to Create and Record Hollywood Style
Sound Effects. ISBN-10: 1932907483

Recommended Texts:

SOUNDSCAPE: The School of Sound Lectures 1998-2001
ISBN: 9780956563903

Tomlinson Holman. Sound for Film and Television.
ISBN: 9780240813301

SPARS Timecode Primer.
ISBN: 0-9658309-0-X

David Sonnenschein. Sound Design.
ISBN-10: 0941188264

MDIA 4903 – Field / Location Audio

Syllabus (Scribd link)

Required Texts:

Ric Viers. The Location Sound Bible: How to Record Professional Dialog for
Film and TV. ISBN-10: 1615931201

Ric Viers. The Sound Effects Bible: How to Create and Record Hollywood Style
Sound Effects. ISBN-10: 1932907483

Recommended Texts:

Ray Rayburn. Eargle’s The Microphone Book.
ISBN: 9780240820750

General Resources

Sound Works Collection

Image: MDIA Studio B

Ensuring Proper Monitor Placement to Make The Best Use of Your Studio on AudioUndone.com

blog · 2012-08-14

There’s a great quote by the late Richard Hyser (one of the 20th century’s audio greats) which states “In order to fully enjoy the intended illusion of a recording, it is necessary to willingly suspend one’s belief in reality. All recording and reproduction via two loudspeakers is an illusion.” Every engineer working today can attest to the truth of that statement, whether they’re a long-seasoned pro or the greenest of the green.

We depend on what we hear, placing absolute trust in our monitoring chain, and we put painstaking effort into the creation of our recording environments. This is sage advice, so be certain to click through to AudioUndone.com for my complete article and several great tips from Bruce Bartlett and Jenny Bartlett in the just published Practical Recording Techniques, 6e.

Ensuring Proper Monitor Placement to Make the Best Use of Your Studio
on AudioUndone.com

Image via Flickr user jamesbarnes.

Why Quiztones Belongs in Your Studio or Classroom as a Training Tool

blog · 2012-05-01

This is a review of Quiztones, frequency ear training apps for Mac & iOS from Audiofile Engineering. For questions regarding reviews, please see my FTC Disclosure Statement.

As engineers, we all have particular strengths and weaknesses. Some are musically gifted and play multiple instruments, while others naturally take to composition. However, what about the most basic of skills – our hearing? Unless you have absolute pitch or synesthesia, we’re all playing with the hand dealt to us a birth. The only thing we can do is hone our auditory perception. That’s why so many forms of ear training for musicians and eventually engineers have evolved over the years. Because, according to Quesnel & Woszczyk, “there is substantial evidence…that auditory perceptual skills can be improved by controlled practice and training.”^[1]

Auditory perception is one of the most basic skills required of audio engineers as we go about our daily tasks of balancing, treating, and mixing audio. Therefore, providing new ways for engineers (especially students) to develop auditory skills is critical. Thankfully, Audiofile Engineering has created a Mac and iOS based ear training program for audio engineers, Quiztones, which does a fantastic job at helping the listener develop more acute listening and frequency recognition skills.

Deep Background: Why a Change is Necessary
First, to understand why any one solution is ideal, it’s helpful to understand just a tiny bit of history. As audio engineers, we’ve always had some genuinely useful auditory training resources available to us like Dave Moulton’s Golden Ears, F. Alton Everest’s Critical Listening Skills for Audio Professionals (Thomson Course Technology), and even Jason Corey’s Audio Production and Critical Listening (Focal Press). Each one of these is a valuable tool on their own, however they’re a very passive way of learning.

That is to say, learners would read the text and then take auditory quizzes, which then required manual grading. However, educators across all content areas today recognize the value of learning technology within the classroom, which includes a broad range of communication and related technologies used to support learning, teaching, and assessment.^[2] So, why not bring this into audio education? A wonderful parallel example of this comes to us from music education in the use of MacGamut, which allows for mastery-based drill and practice in Aural Skills of Intervals, Scales, Chords, and much more.^[3]

As is illustrated by the success of MacGamut in music curricula, auditory training too must consist of truly interactive learning technology for learners to benefit the most, and this is precisely what Quiztones has accomplished.

The Solution: Quiztones
Quiztones has overcome the shortcomings of previous auditory training resources because it is a truly interactive training resource, presenting learners with auditory examples, multiple answers, and real-time feedback in the form of weighted grading. Interestingly, the product was born out of an undergraduate music production program internship and is the product of someone who understands exactly the needs of undergraduate music students. Both the iOS and Mac OS X versions contain the following trainers, which are truly impressive:

EQ Quizzes:

Easy Frequency Boost (+10 dB)
Hard Frequency Boost (+5 dB)
Hard Frequency Cut (-10 dB)
Expert Frequency Boost (+5 dB) – 1/3 Octave*

Tone Quizzes:

Easy
Hard

Gain Quizzes:

Easy*
Hard*

* Included in Mac App / In-App Purchase in iOS App

Over the course of using Quiztones, I was positively blown away. Initially, I didn’t perform as well as expected on some quizzes, however with consistent practice I’m pleased to say I’m now performing at the level I’d anticipated. This only further supports the already sound evidence that consistent practice at auditory drills will yield a dramatic improvement. And really, isn’t that what we’re all after?

However, what’s most impressive is the road ahead for Quiztones. In speaking with the apps’ creator, Dan Comerchero, it’s clear he intends this app to benefit engineers of all ages; whether they’re a seasoned pro looking to brush up their skills or a student just beginning ear training. This is evidenced by the development road-map which includes the addition of a practice mode to both apps, as well as content additions like reverb, delay, and compression trainers which will truly make the tool “feature complete” even when compared to the current industry standard of ear training, Golden Ears.

The most interesting thing Dan revealed to me, however, is the current development of a product called “Quiztones Author”. This is a utility which will give educators the ability to customize quizzes based upon the needs of their students and curricula. Currently in beta, this will be a separate utility that educational institutions can purchase as an additional tool for their faculty. The creation of this utility is significant because it will provide university faculty the ability to utilize Quiztones directly as a part of their curricula; allowing the design, distribution and retrieval of scores for quizzes instead of simply recommending the tool as a supplement to classroom instruction. If you are an educator interested in beta testing Quiztones Author, contact dan@audiofile-engineering.com.

Final Thoughts
You might be asking yourself what can “Quiztones really offer me? It’s seems too educational” or even “Why do we need to improve the old systems that were working so well”. To be perfectly honest, those sentiments and many more are understandable. We’re a legacy industry that doesn’t often accept change easily. However, the reason is quite simple; everyone benefits from having better training tools, and the fact that Quiztones is built upon solid educational theory is only one of a dozen reasons to adopt it within your training regimen. Every engineer knows that better frequency recognition helps him or her in the development and discussion of sonic ideas, so why not train and improve aural skills with a system that provides immediate feedback? And, fundamentally, fast frequency recognition helps engineers decide how to react if, for example, they hear X problem in the Y frequency band. So, using a system that helps engineers improve their accuracy over time with varied scenarios in a controlled environment is a tremendous asset.

Can I say that Quiztones is the absolute perfect aural training solution for you? Perhaps not quite yet, as I’d love to see more options in the quiz answers, and I think a “Match the Sound” style trainer would be incredible. Audiofile Engineering tells me this is the direction Quiztones is headed: hearing a modified audio loop and letting users utilize on-screen controls to try and match the modified sound while receiving feedback on accuracy. However, I can say without reservation that Quiztones is by far the best aural training solution currently available, and I urge you to give it a try in your studio or classroom curricula. I’m certain you find the tool worthwhile.

Disclosure: Audiofile Engineering provided me with a copy of Quiztones for review (see my FTC Disclosure Statement), however I’ll gladly pay for any forthcoming upgrades because it’s truly that compelling.

1 René Quesnel and Wieslaw R. Woszczyk, ‘A Computer-Aided System for Timbral Ear Training’, Audio Engineering Society Convention 96, 1994. <http://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=6376>

2 What is Learning Technology? The Association for Learning Technology. <http://www.alt.ac.uk/about-alt/what-learning-technology>

3 What is MacGAMUT? MacGAMUT – Music Software International. <http://www.macgamut.com/about/>

Review of The Pearl ELM-C for RecordingHacks.com

blog · 2012-02-17

On December 10th of 2011, I was privileged to record the Tuscaroras Philharmonic for their critically-acclaimed release of “As A Child Looks At Christmas Eve”. As part of this project I was blessed with a care package from Pearl Microphone Laboratory and their US distributor Independent Audio – a stereo pair of Pearl ELM-Cs – all thanks to Matt McGlynn at RecordingHacks.

I’m not going to give away the details here, though I certainly think the album is a good indicator of their success . . . and they might have earned a spot on my wish list. For all the details including audio clips and pictures, be sure to click through to the review.

Pearl ELM-C Review on RecordingHacks.com

A Multitude Of Digital Delivery Options For Studios Of All Sizes

blog · 2011-08-10

No matter the size of your operation, whether a single mix room with the occasional client or a full-time commercial operation with countless rooms and clients, it’s an absolutely certainty that at some point you’ll be exchanging files with clients. I recently had discussions with several clients which led me to reevaluate the current options available for studios, irregardless of size. So, let’s take a look at some of the different tools which are currently available!

FTP: The Original Standard
When I first began sharing data over the internet a very long time ago the golden standard was FTP. Due to the ubiquity and inexpensive cost of web hosting coupled with ease of administration, FTP certainly isn’t going anywhere fast. The only real downside of FTP is that is does require a bit of tech savvy from both users to properly administer and use properly. For my web hosting I currently rely upon Fatcow.com (ridiculously named, but also tremendously reliable, cheap, and green!). Setting up FTP access for a user varies from host to host but generally the steps consist of the following:

Create a folder for your user (I use the structure of root/clients/clientname).
Create a new FTP account which has access to only this folder.
Modify the newly created directories permissions to 755 (or 0755) which will prevent unauthorized browsing.
- Note: If you don’t want to allow clients to link directly to files within their directory, but only want files to be transferred the client software, be certain to apply appropriate permissions to the files themselves.

If you’re looking for a free FTP client to point your client towards, a good open source option which works across all platforms is FileZille which I highly recommend. It’s worth noting that most hosts offer both FTP and SFTP (secure FTP) as options so you can ensure the security of your clients. Also, while relying on web host provided FTP is one option, some studios may feel far more common hosting their own serve in house or through many of the fine collocation services available.

Enterprise Class
As I said, my goal was to see what currently exists beyond FTP because you can easily see how management could be cumbersome for those looking for a more streamlined solution. So, first lets take a look at some more enterprise focused alternatives.

If you’ve been working in audio a while then one of the most recognizable names in asset delivery would have to be DigiDelivery. Now owned and serviced by Aspera, DigiDelivery has officially reached an end of life stage as a product and will no longer be supported after December of 2011. However, Aspera has brought to the table an entirely new offering, faspex, which promises greater compatibility and speed from a web based interface. This service which is named for the underlying fasp transport technology is absolutely worth a look for enterprise level operations currently evaluating file delivery options.

Budget Conscious Yet Versatile
Organizations still seeking a managed solution but striving to remain budget conscious have available to them a varying range of dedicated hosted storage options. One interesting and often overlooked technology is Microsoft Sharepoint, including the various options available from Sherweb and other excellent providers. While slightly pricy depending on how much storage you require, Sharepoint is quite compelling in that accounts can grow and shrink in size to fit your needs, and a virtually unlimited number of accounts can be created with different levels of file access, making it a technology worthy of consideration. Another solution which provides features and support similar to Sharepoint is Cloud Files from Rackspace. More commonly used to publicly serve files as a CDN, CloudFiles can also be used for transferring large volumes of data which is ideal for many studios.

Many organizations have found it advantageous to create their own custom client portals using their existing CMS which is a great way to utilize preexisting infrastructure. To do this you obviously need a web host and while I have my favorite (Fatcow), others have found Amazon S3 to be a worthy contender if not utilizing server scripts . If you’re familiar enough with web development to feel comfortable building a client portal you know that there are myriad options for construction. However, I’ve personally had great success using a heavily modified WordPress installation which, coupled with the right plugins, can turn the process of making individual client pages into a relatively simple process. It’s worth mentioning that client portals can provide both file upload and download functionality, although file upload must generally be baked in using a third party utility like cformsII.

Living In The Cloud
A file sharing option likely familiar to most individuals due in large part to its rapidly gaining popularity is the use of various (and often free dependent on storage reuirements) cloud storage services. For instance, YouSendIt is used by studios like TreeLady and MasterMix. A great implementation of a YouSendIt drop box is currently in use by TreeLady Studios which is absolutely worth a look. It’s worth noting that when using services like YouSendIt, clients can be emailed links to directly and securely download files.

If you’re looking for other cloud based services, Dropbox is worth a serious look. Much like YouSendIt, links to files can be securely emailed to clients, and when coupled with the excellent form submission tool Jotform, Dropbox can be used as a secure upload portal. Also, a new service worth mentioning is Gobbler which is fairly new to the storage scene. While I don’t have any firsthand experience with the service, reviews have been exceedingly positive, enough so that it’s certainly worth a look.

In the discussion of cloud services you may notice that offerings from Apple like MobileMe and iCloud are notably absent. While these are absolutely wonderful for consumers, Apple has proven over the years that they have little interest in supporting the long-term needs of business, therefore I feel they are not reliable for production usage.

In The End
When it comes to digital delivery options as with most things audio, it all comes down to your needs and personal taste. Your needs (or lack thereof) will likely eliminate half of the options I’ve just laid out, and from there it’s just a matter of what best fits your workflow. No matter what delivery method you ultimately you choose I hope you’ve found this helpful.

Are you using another tool for digital delivery I’ve missed? Have some advice you’d like to share? Be sure to let me know in the comments below!

Studio Basics: Conquering Data Management Best Practices

blog · 2011-07-22

It’s a fair bet that if you’re a recording engineer or spend any amount of time in the studio you’ve probably developed a fairly consistent method of saving and working with your data. That’s good because keeping track of your data before, during and after a session can be a daunting task.

Now, when we’re talking about data management there are three main elements.

Digital Data
- This is exactly what you’d think– all the digital content you’ve created during a session.
Physical Data
- Also rather self explanatory but far too often overlooked. Physical data is literally everything else from a session which includes track sheets, take sheets, recall notes, etc. All of that is worth saving too.
Asset Management
- This isn’t necessarily a type of data you create, though it theoretically could be if you were utilizing meta-tags. However, depending on the type of environment in which you work there are several things you could be doing to make managing your physical and digital assets just a little bit easier.

I’d imagine that most engineers are far more secure in the organization of their digital data than their physical data, which is something I’m going to address.

First of all, it’s very important to keep in mind that if you work in a large production environment it’s almost a certainty that your employer has laid out a very particular method for you to manage your data. Obviously, whatever they say goes. However, what about everyone else? I mean, that’s a lot of us!

Digital Data
If you don’t follow a consistent method of digital data organization please start. I promise you’ll thank me later. If you’ve read any of my past articles it will come as no surprise that I’m a huge proponent of the various Technical Guidelines for Producers and Engineers set forth by The Recording Academy, which are free for members and non-members alike.

While these guidelines work well for me they aren’t for everyone and might not feel right to you. So, the best advice is to discover whatever organizational method works best for you, document it, and stick with it.

Physical Data
Once you have a handle on your digital data, it’s critical to properly address your physical data storage. One of the first things I do at the conclusion of a project is photocopy all documentation, including track sheets, take sheets, recall notes, and archive listings.

Then, whenever any physical data goes into either temporary or permanent storage, all elements of a project are kept together. This includes everything from CDs to multi-tracks and documents, all of which are stored in the same area of the same shelf.

I keep all these elements organized thanks to a wonderful box label I first discovered at the Banff Centre for the Arts and which I have since adapted for my own use. As I’ve said, you have to discover what works best for you, and there’s nothing quite like finding a pre-made solution which works great. You’ll notice that this label differs from that recommended by the Producers and Engineers wing media label recommendations, which I do use, but only for media I’m shipping. I use my own label for internal archiving.

Asset Management
With both your physical and digital data wrangled, you might be inclined to just stop there. However, there are several things you could be doing to make keeping track of all your data a great deal easier. Asset management is one area where those who work in large production environments with clearly defined data management policies have it far easier. After all, most larger operations employ their database du jour (from the exceedingly complex to a simple spreadsheet) which track projects using project numbers and their related assets. If you don’t run a database (I don’t) consider creating a project number field in your financial management program. We’re all invoicing clients, right? By leading with a project number on all folder names you can be assured to find what you’re looking for down the road. Similarly, be certain to label every piece of physical data with the same project number, including its storage box. This is where my handy dandy label comes in.

Finally, when it comes to asset management, I like to make sure I know exactly where session files are stored. For instance, what if you are a small studio but still have 30 or 40 hard drive of data kicking around? Sure, there might be better ways to handle the archive which is a discussion best handled in a far different article. But how do you keep track of your data?

First, I like to name each hard drive logically and sequentially. I use HDAUDIO_01, HDAUDIO_02, and so forth. When I’m archiving data, the name of this drive is written on the box so I can’t possibly loose the files. Because I’m a small operation, I also track these critical details in my invoicing application. I also like to print a physical copy of the directory listing which lives in the archive box, so I know the exact state of a project at any given time. There are several shareware applications which can accomplish this task, but if I’m working on a PC I like to utilize Directory List & Print, and on the Mac my tool of choice is Print Window.

Full Circle
As I’ve said, it can be quite a task to properly manage your data not only during session but once they’re completed. Thankfully, there are several things you can do to make the tasks far more manageable. Now, is what I’ve laid out the be all-end all for managing your data? If it is, frankly, I’d be surprised. Though I’m awfully seasoned in this area, my recommendations are what work best for my clients and me – your mileage may vary drastically. So, get out there and discover what works best for you. But most importantly, please make certain you implement a solid data organization for your studio, and let me know what works for you because I’m very much interested!

Take A Moment To Observe World Backup Day & Evaluate Your Storage Strategies

blog, pswblog, recording, system maintenance · 2011-03-31

As some of you may have noticed, I’m far more paranoid than most about the backing up of data. However, today as we take a moment to remember (or in some cases, mourn) the passing of World Backup Day, I’m left wondering why so few people take data backup seriously.

Let me share with you a recent story from my own experience. Just yesterday, I took delivery of a shiny new RAID after my own (albeit brief) data scare. My single remaining non-RAID online drive had hesitated to mount previously in the week due to a mismatched power supply.

Thankfully, using the correct power supply immediately solved the problem. However, it left me with a sinking feeling that illustrated the importance of proper backups. After all, even those of us who backup regularly are not without fault, and I hadn’t yet made a safety of this particular project.

Surely most of you recording professionals out there have a tried-and-true backup method in place. If not, I shared some thoughts on the subject last month in Backups: So Many Storage Options Yet Only One Chance.

For a far more in depth perspective, I would encourage you all to read the the various Technical Guidelines for Producers and Engineers set forth by The Recording Academy, which are free for members and non-members alike. Especially helpful in the archive process and the explanation of various long term storage media is the Digital Audio Workstation Guidelines for Music Production (pdf), of which there is an abbreviated Quick Reference Guide (pdf).

What I find most striking as I contemplate the concept of backing up is that some of the people I know who are the most judicious about recording data backups are rather haphazard in backing up their own personal systems, or even their most critical files.

Says Kevin Purdy of Lifehacker:

Why World Backup Day? Unfortunately, it’s necessary, as BackBlaze pointed out during Backup Awareness Month last year, with only 8 percent of those surveyed backing up their data daily. Hard drives and other storage, every single device, will fail at some point, and will never provide a fair warning about it. So find a way to put your data in two extra places: one convenient and nearby, another far away from your house or office.

Sage advice, really. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there are two kinds of people – those who have experienced a hard drive failure and those who will. So on this remembrance of World Backup Day, be sure to take the opportunity and ensure that all your date is secure: both personal and professional.

Via Lifehacker.

A Look At iZotope RX 2 Advanced

blog, pswblog · 2011-02-28

Imagine for a moment one of the “must have” tools in your arsenal. I’d bet a large number of you out there jumped to ProTools (perfectly valid), or a favorite piece of outboard gear (I’ve been there). However, one of my “can’t live without it” tools is noise removal and spectral repair, which is why I was so thrilled to have the opportunity to check out iZotope RX 2 when it came out this past fall.

However, the reason for my excitement was far different that you may imagine. After all, yes, everyone likes to be the first to check out new gear. Rather, I was intrigued because I’d already been an avid RX Advanced user for a number of years, and my mind reeled at what they could have done to possibly improve upon the software.

Boy was I surprised!

Two new features I’ve really enjoyed in the new version are improved batch processing and the upgraded selection methods. The new method of batch processing has made an impact on my workflow because you can chain multiple modules together as well as process multiple files while using multiple CPUs which can really save some time. Also, the new selection methods which include a lasso, brush and magic wand tools have made it far easier to edit quickly and accurately. My favorite is the magic wand which can automatically select a sound and its harmonics.

As always, there are several features in RX Advanced which really make the jump to Advanced worthwhile. The new adaptive denoiser mode, which is a part of their all new denoising algorithms, is a whiz at dealing with dynamic background noise. Additionally, azimuth alignment, which is a component of the new channel and phase operations feature, does a great job of correcting misaligned tape heads if you find yourself regularly restoring tape.

There are so many great additions to this update that I was left wondering how I’d ever worked without them, like session support, third party plug-in support, and if you’re using RX 2 Advanced for forensic work then the ability to export your work history as an XML file will come as a welcome addition.

My first true test of iZotope RX 2 Advanced came while hurriedly editing a project for my wife. A middle school teacher, she’d recorded her students reading aloud for a podcast. Knowing it was just a school project we opted to go the quick and dirty route for recording, an iPhone. While the source was captured just fine, I’d underestimated the level of background noise in the 1920’s building. Against a rather tight deadline, I was able to run several hour long files through RX 2 Advanced, using the new adaptive denoiser mode, some moderate EQ, and the occasional spectral repair, which all came out sounding far better than I had expected given their original state.

In speaking with a colleague of mine after cleaning up these recording I said “I’ve got to write about this and tell everyone about this great software!”, to which he replied, “No, I don’t want anyone to know. Its my secret!” That seems to be a common sentiment among iZotope RX users, as those who use it regularly are constantly pleased and amazed by its power, but always hopeful they can keep the app as their own secret silver bullet of post production.

Give it a shot; I’m certain you’ll see what I mean.

iZotope RX 2 / RX 2 Advanced Specifications
Windows (XP, x64, Vista, 7)
Mac OS X 10.5 or later (Universal Binary)
Standalone application
Plug-in formats: Pro Tools 7+ (RTAS/ AudioSuite), VST, MAS, Audio Unit, DirectX

Disclosure: iZotope provided me with a copy of RX 2 Advanced for review as Associate Editor of ProSoundWeb.com.

backups: so many storage options yet only one chance

blog, pswfeature · 2011-02-10

It’s been said by IT professionals around the world that there are two kinds of people – those who have experienced a hard drive failure and those who will. Unfortunately, we surely all know at least one person who’s lost data in a catastrophic failure.

Personally, I’m a believer in the 3-2-1 backup strategy which has been expanded upon greatly by Richard Anderson in his article aimed at digital photographers.

Put simply, for every file you intend to preserve you must have three copies of that file, on two different forms of media, at least 1 of which is stored (securely) off-site. This protects the data (and your reputation) not just against hard drive crashes, but other disasters as well.

So, this begs the question, how are you backing up you data? If you’re reading this article, my guess is that you may already be wondering if you’re doing everything you can to protect your information. Don’t worry, I wont judge. If we’re going to be honest, I haven’t followed this backup strategy 100% until just recently. After all, it only takes just one near miss…

I received a rather frantic email recently from a client on this very subject. It was he who’d had this near miss when one of his hard drives failed; he nearly lost years of work. Unfortunately, a few files were corrupted on the drive and he wanted to know if I still had them.

Sure! Granted, the project was from 2004, but my data retention policies are such that I keep everything. More on that another time…

Anyways, I fired up one of my many offline storage drives, uploaded the files to FTP, and washed my hands of the task. However, days later, the age of my backup drives began to weigh on my conscience. After all, the data had been sitting there for quite some time, and what if the failure had occurred not to a client but to me? Then the data wouldn’t have been salvageable!

I decided to take a long, hard look at my data backup process. To clarify, this isn’t to be mistaken for how I backup my primary system drives, though I’m certain some of these changes will trickle down to that as well. Rather, this is strictly how I backup my non-system drives which contain all my online and offline sessions (You are recording to a non-system drive, right?). One of these days I’ll talk about system drive backups if anyone is really all that interested.

The Process
Essentially, I like to think through backups as a series of options. To achieve two local and one remote backup there are any number of solutions we can use. It’s all about weighing the pros and cons of each with regard to your individual needs. So, we’ll take a look at the various technologies available for backups. However, one thing to keep in mind when you’re actually shopping for drives, no matter the technology employed, is the platters employed within. The life expectancy of a drive is related to its MTBF or mean time before failure. However, the MTBF is just that – a mean – which represents the average failure rate for the entire population of drives tested.

This value is generally high, but it does tell you something about the likelihood that your drive will fail. There is no way to tell exactly how long a drive will last but if you’re shopping for drives taking a look at the enclosed platters’ MTBF data is a great idea. Now, on to the options!

Single Drives
A single hard drive is a great storage solution for its capacity (which is constantly expanding by the day). That is of course until it fails which is why it’s important to have 2 copies of your data backed up. If you only have a small studio, two single drives are not a bad backup at all.

However, even if you use another backup method, singular hard drives make a wonderful working or “online” drive. If you’re the type to build your own drive, I can’t recommend highly enough the Hitachi Ultrastar series of discs, but any enterprise-class disc is a safe bet. My personal choices for pre-made enclosures are the Other World Computing Mercury and Mercury Elite’s.

Computer Attached Multi-Disc Enclosures
Once you’ve outgrown a single disc solution, you know you’ve accumulated a lot of data! You could seemingly add another single disc to your workflow which is what I’ve been doing up until now. My tipping point was 6 single drives which made finding files rather convoluted.

A much better alternative is stepping up to a multi-disc enclosure. These often have the added benefit of expandability along with the data hoarders best friend, RAID technology. An acronym for Redundant Array of Independent Disks, a RAID array is a serious step up from a single platter.

It’s a technology that provides increased storage functions and reliability through redundancy which is achieved by combining multiple disk components into a single cohesive unit, where data is distributed across the drives in one of several ways called “RAID levels”.

There are numerous great (albeit pricy) units on the market today, some of my favorites being the Wiebtech RTX400-QR (at right) and any of the numerous options from Other World Computing. Having a RAID array is a perfect way to achieve two local copies of data, especially due to RAID technology’s ability to rebuild the array after a failure. You’ll notice I called these devices “computer attached.” So, what if you wanted a massive RAID backup bout wanted to place it on your network? Enter the NAS!

Network Attached Storage
If your studio workflow contains a multitude of computers and you want to backup all your projects to a singular location, a NAS is quite a solution. Depending on its configuration, it can function as either a RAID or (sorry, it’s acronym time again) as a large singular drive which is called JBOD or “Just a Bunch of Drives.”

Depending upon your needs and the configuration of the NAS, projects can potentially be retrieved remotely with the proper credentials. My favorite candidate in this category has recently become the line by Qnap, one which I’m slated to deploy for a client in the coming month.

Welcome To The Cloud
When it comes to off-site backups, that’s when many people begin to falter. After all, it’s one thing to purchase a whiz-bang RAID enclosure and back everything up, but when you start talking about finding another place for your data to live which isn’t in your studio, that’s when things get a bit tricky.

Unless you’re going to constantly image your backup and rotate it offsite (I’ve received this suggestion by corporate IT folk), it’s likely you’re going to be looking at some form of storage “in the cloud“. Cloud storage has become extremely popular in the pat year although many will tell you it comes with risks. They’re correct, although it’s worth remembering that “cloud storage” is just another way of saying your information is stored in a large data center, some of which have serious backup plans of their own. They’re worthy of consideration.

One of my favorite options for online storage is Dropbox, which offers a modest amount of free space and paid plan beyond that. Another great cloud storage option is Jungle Disk. While I’ve never tried it, the features are quite solid, especially given the price. If you’re looking for a secure cloud server but don’t need something quite within the range of military grade, it’s worth considering.

While Dropbox and Jungle Disk are worthy backup options, what about the truly paranoid among us (myself included) when it comes to remote storage? Thankfully, there’s always at least one option out there which goes the extra mile; for critical backups I’m excited about the availability of Iron Mountain’s subterranean data bunker.

While seemingly extreme, if your data is mission critical (and you know it is), there’s a great deal of comfort in knowing your backups are safe offsite in a highly secure underground facility, and mirrored to a second data center for full fail-over redundancy while your data remains encrypted in transport and storage.

The Verdict
You may be wondering, having heard these options, exact what solution I settled upon. It was quite a struggle, but I decided the best option for me was a computer attached RAID coupled with a single disc for online work, and a third copy of my data mirrored in Iron Mountain. Why, you might ask? I decided that having a physically attached RAID was the best option as i only mix on one or tow computers.

Also, I feel the singular drive is necessary as I don’t want to run the risk of corrupting my backup by working from it on a daily basis. I’ll admit that Iron Mountain is a bit of a splurge when it comes to data archival, however, I decided it’s hard to put a price on knowing that there’s always another copy of everything I need, fully RAID’ed and geographically separated, so I know it’s safe. Basically, if I lose something, it means there’s been a catastrophic event so terrible that the data has probably become irrelevant. And frankly, I’m ok with those odds.

I’m certain that someone out there has noticed I skipped over a few backup options. For instance, DVD backup. Personally, I don’t find it convenient to burn a backup of every session twice, and then make amendments to that backup if I work on it again. Plus, a suitable offsite storage location is still required. I know safety deposit boxes are popular, but while this backup methodology is perfectly valid and reliable for smaller quantities of data, I don’t feel it’s worthwhile to entertain when dealing in terabytes.

No matter the route, whether it’s a few single hard drives coupled with Dropbox or an in-studio server farm which makes my storage upgrade look minuscule at best, I hope you’ve found these options insightful. After all, few experiences are more painful than data loss, and I hope when you’re greeted with the heart-wrenching clicking of an armature that you know everything is safe and sound on another drive.

Happy archiving!