Keeping track of unfinished music.

The reference section covers the mastering chain. This one covers everything before it — the four hundred voice memos, the mix called final_v3, the demo you need to get to somebody without it bouncing. Written to be useful whether or not you ever make an account.

• 01

  How to organize demos and voice memos

  Four hundred recordings called New Recording 214, and no way to find the one with the good chorus. A naming and filing habit that survives contact with actually writing songs.

• 02

  Version control for songs: keeping every take without losing track

  Why every project ends up with final_v3_ACTUAL_final.wav, what programmers do about the same problem, and how much of it is worth borrowing for music.

• 03

  How to send someone a private demo

  Emailing a WAV to a label, a collaborator or a friend, without it bouncing, expiring, demanding they make an account, or quietly ending up somewhere you did not put it.

• 04

  What to do with a hard drive full of unfinished songs

  Two hundred half-songs, most of which you cannot remember. How to work out which ones are alive, which ones have a part worth stealing, and which ones you are allowed to let go of.

Looking for what a compressor does instead? The mastering reference covers the finisher's rack, control by control.