I'm not in the archiving business.......

[Tarekith]

I don't officially store archives, in fact I tell people they are responsible for that like others here have said.

Behind the scenes I store everything as a zip file on external HD's until they get full, and every project gets backed up to CDr/DVDr for two years, after which it gets trashed. It's come in handy a couple times, but I don't want to be archiving things indefinitely, thus the two year limit. Seems reasonable to me.

[Virtalahde]

I backup the final 16bit master, and the separate tracks without any additional digital limiting in 24bit.

Just last week a good customer of mine who had done three 3-trackers for his band over the years (first ones in 2007 I think) brought me 3 more tracks for compiling a 12-track album out of it all. It was easy to use the non-limited 24bit files and further EQ them slightly for extra coherency throughout the album. The album actually turned out great and the tracks work much better in album form than as singles.

The point: If you do mastering professionally, do backup. I don't backup the complete sessions (I keep them for maybe 6 months or so), but it's just so nice to have the masters + separate files handy in case you need them, and the customers love it.

It's good service.

EDIT: And I tell the clients I backup, but the backups exist only for as long as my hard drives hold up. Several mirrors for extra protection. Earliest stuff on DVD's.

[philip]

I keep all masters for at least 5 years. Hard drives are inexpensive. Sometimes it happens a client calls after a few years and ask for that song that didn't make it to the album but now they want to use it for whatever reason. When you hear how happy they get when you offer to send the song they thought was lost, well that alone is worth the dollar or two it cost me to archive my job.

[wado1942]

Then tonight he texts me asking for the files again. REALLY???

I think I've worked for this guy. This mix engineer E-mailed me like a month after I mastered three or four records for him, all from different clients, asking for new copies of the first couple records I did. Then, a week later, he asks me for all the masters of all the records I did for him AND the original mixes he sent me!

[Waltz Mastering]

Originally Posted by philip

Hard drives are inexpensive.

That and mastering sessions are usually pretty small (maybe 1 or 2 gig)
It doesn't make sense not to hold on to them.

[Lute]

Sounds to me like the OPs client is an arse. You get your work mastered and you don't back it up? Lose it twice? At least?

[strdsk]

While I totally agree with you that you shouldn't have to do this, I always keep an archive copy. If they need another copy soon after the session...it's free. If they come back months later...it's not free.

[Musiclab]

Originally Posted by bgrotto

I keep an archive drive of every record I work on (that's tracking, mixing, and/or producing, not mastering). It contains all the PT sessions -- albeit with all non-master takes and unused regions removed and deleted -- as well as the files I send to the mastering house.

I mirror this drive so I have everything archived twice.

I don't know why, but having it gives me peace of mind. Or rather, NOT having it gives me, er, dispeace of mind.

In addition, I get my clients to buy a drive (or two) so they can have additional backups in their possession.

I guess my take on it is, ya never know when you might wanna go back into an old session. Even if it's to grab a snare sample, or to see what you did on a particular mix, or maybe to answer some questions on GS when the record blows up and Jules invites you to do a guest Q&A. There's been too many times I've been bummed out about losing or not keeping an old session.

It's important to note, however, that I stress to every client that I cannot guarantee the safety or lifespan of the data, and that I'm storing it to satisfy MY neuroses, not to archive it on their behalf.

I give my clients 2 physical copies of their project, that would be cd's of each song, 2 DVD's of each data file, I make sure they have 2 copies of it all and when they leave here they take it all with them, I don't want to be archiving everything for every client I have. As far as backing up onto HD if my clients come in with a HD and don't want to pay me for the backup, I warn them repeatedly to make hard copies, and make it as clear as possible that I will not be keeping their data. God forbid some client wanted their S1000 data from '91 and I had to be responsible for this

[The Orbit Room]

Our parent company creates digital archives of Analog Tape recordings. We offer the client several storage delivery options. Mainly Archival Grade DVD's stored in archival grade storage cases. Clients can order as many copies of those DVD's as they need upon the completion of the digital capture. If the client requests Hard Drive Delivery we use the IOSafe line of drives. Clients are informed that thier session data will be stored for 30 days on our back up NAS. Our TOS offers clients the option for "off line" deep storage for a one year period for a charge of $100.00USD per project. Even though all the storage options are presented to the client both verbally and in writing, we still get requests to replace data 3-4 years after the sesssions were finished and delivered.

On the mastering side we supply the client with one CD production master for duplication, and a back up production master. In addition to clearly marking the Production CD's as Master for duplication, back up for, well, back up we seal the cases with labels as to their purpose. I make and keep an archival DVD of all the mixes, mastering notes, analog gear recall, both JPEG photos of the gear settings and paper recall of the settings, along with a data copy of the CD creation session. This method saved my arse on the Wallace and Gromit soundtrack CD when the international release master went missing.

Even with the low cost of storage space archiving a clients session short term is a courtesy, keeping track and checksum of long term storage is a service which we charge the client for.

To each their own, but if a service is provided the vendor should be compensated.

[Misja]

Originally Posted by The Orbit Room

Our parent company creates digital archives of Analog Tape recordings. We offer the client several storage delivery options. Mainly Archival Grade DVD's stored in archival grade storage cases. Clients can order as many copies of those DVD's as they need upon the completion of the digital capture. If the client requests Hard Drive Delivery we use the IOSafe line of drives. Clients are informed that thier session data will be stored for 30 days on our back up NAS. Our TOS offers clients the option for "off line" deep storage for a one year period for a charge of $100.00USD per project. Even though all the storage options are presented to the client both verbally and in writing, we still get requests to replace data 3-4 years after the sesssions were finished and delivered.

On the mastering side we supply the client with one CD production master for duplication, and a back up production master. In addition to clearly marking the Production CD's as Master for duplication, back up for, well, back up we seal the cases with labels as to their purpose. I make and keep an archival DVD of all the mixes, mastering notes, analog gear recall, both JPEG photos of the gear settings and paper recall of the settings, along with a data copy of the CD creation session. This method saved my arse on the Wallace and Gromit soundtrack CD when the international release master went missing.

Even with the low cost of storage space archiving a clients session short term is a courtesy, keeping track and checksum of long term storage is a service which we charge the client for.

To each their own, but if a service is provided the vendor should be compensated.

Agreed. It's the same way as i do it. I keep pre-masters since they don't use up much space but i delete the rest if not payed for. After a year or so. And they can buy a harddisk or fetch the data if they care.

[Table Of Tone]

Originally Posted by Lagerfeldt

I always archive the full session and store the analog recall sheets for a couple of years or more upon request.

Seriously, this doesn't take a lot of time and customers feel safe that they can always get their stuff back later if they **** up.

People requesting a resend after deleting their own stuff two or three times? Happened a couple of times.

I absolutely agree!
People can be very flakey!

The day you delete a session will be the day the client calls up saying they've also accidently deleted what they were given or that they have a new deal and need a new pair of CD masters because the others have been lost!

[Jerry Tubb]

Originally Posted by Table Of Tone

The day you delete a session will be the day the client calls up saying they've also accidently deleted what they were given or that they have a new deal and need a new pair of CD masters because the others have been lost!

Funny how that works!

Also found that after removing a session from my main audio drive to the archive drives, is the day before the client calls to request a new version.

Some variation of Murphy's law at work : -)

JT