How are you Guys Organizing your DAW track or clip COLORS?

[Primal Yell]

How are you using track colors to help you? or-are there some color guidelines or suggestions?

 

Thanks -hope you're doin alright.

Greg

[Phil O'Keefe]

Good to see you Greg.

 

I use colors - at least a little bit. I will assign my groups first, then assign a color. Drums are usually sea foam green because I like the color and there's often more drums than anything else. Bass is always yellow. Lead vocals are always a dark red, with BGV's a lighter shade of red. Keyboards I usually use a brown for, and guitars get shades of blue. Aux returns will often be a similar color scheme as the instruments they're being used with. For example, I might use a different shade of blue for the lead guitar, and a second shade for the lead guitar effects return channel.

 

Back in the days of analog tape, we had fairly common practices that you'd run into in terms of laying out the tracks on the tape deck... grouping the drums and bass close together, printing SMPTE on track 24 with 23 left blank as a guard track, etc. Plus, we had track sheets, and we were expected to include all the info you needed to know with that documentation - tape speed, EQ (NAB / IEC), format (# of tracks), noise reduction, tones... With all that info, you knew what was on the rape, and what machine you needed, and what settings, in order to play it back properly. Similar approaches can be taken with your DAW tracks. ALWAYS name your tracks before you record - that way, your tracks and the files will share names. I also use the Notes box to include tons of notes on the signal path, who played what, etc.

 

You can also lay out your DAW's virtual console closer to the inline or split configuration too... I usually have my aux returns right next to the tracks I'm feeding them with, but some people like to put them all at the far right end of the screen, as with a split console. The cool thing about a DAW is that you can set up a template with the layouts you prefer, and then just load it up, save it with a new name and get right to work with everything pre-configured to your personal preferences. And that includes the colors. If it helps you find stuff faster, or to identify a specific track in a session with a lot of tracks in it, then by all means - it's a good thing, and you should consider using it. But physical "layout" of the tracks can help too, if you get into a fairly consistent habit of where you like to have them arrayed out on the desk in front of you. Again, drums and bass on the left, then guitars, vocals - whatever you prefer.

 

If there's a "standard" for track colors, or some convention, I have not heard of it. If there is, it really wouldn't make a difference if you used your own unless other people will be working with your multitrack session files later - and even if they are, that's something someone else can change to their preferred layout later if they want... although that adds time and hassle to their work. Which is why we have standards to begin with - so we can all share stuff back and forth with minimal hassle.

 

If there was a standard, then the people who would probably specify it would be the Producers & Engineers Wing of NARAS. Here - check out this link for their Pro Tools Guidelines:

 

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB0QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.soundcurrent.com%2FPTGuidelines.pdf&ei=7FPYTvu6EYSOigLouNCfCg&usg=AFQjCNE0AgjlTUxH2vRdzLa1bke0xDVGIg&sig2=Jw-D-4a5UVrod906xuTI0g

 

There's no mention of track colors in it though - but lots of other semi-related standards stuff that you may find interesting / helpful.

[mike.sartori]

I usually use gray or blue (whatever the default is) for drums, red for guitars (different shades for different parts) tan color for acoustic guitar (like a spruce top), green for bass, black for vocals. Then I like to color clips when I'm editing stuff to differentiate between crap takes, good takes, best takes.

[Telestrastic]

violets for vox, greens for guitar, blues for basses and keys, yellows for drums/ red for master, auxes brown.