Creating spotting bins in Soundminer

[Harry Caul [moderator]]

In another thread I was asked to elaborate on using sub-folders to
make "bins" for fx categories. This is absolutely my favorite feature
in Soundminer.

Make sure "Build Folder Structure" is checked in the little menu at
the bottom of the spotting pane. Next, on the Finder level, create a
folder structure and name the sub-folders whatever works for you i.e.
fx categories, reels, scenes, locations, etc. Drag that whole
structure onto the spotting pane in SM. Boom! You're all set. Now all
sounds tagged to these bins will transfer to their correct folders on
the Finder level.

This process can also be done in reverse, creating the folder
structure in SM, or even both ways if you get the hang of it. Just
keep an eye on the folder transfer paths and make sure that "Build
Folder Structre" is checked.

Best of all, this bin structure also shows up in the Pro Tools
Workspace.

I use this method instead of the Pro Tools Search function. Or if I
just want to spot some sounds quickly, I just drag the Audio Files
folder for my session onto the Spotting Pane and tag sounds that way.

[Harry Caul [moderator]]

I usually build the folder structure within the Audio Files folder of
each reel, but really you can put it wherever you want the transferred
files to live. Sometimes it makes sense to have a master bin structure
that all reels reference.

On Nov 1, 3:20 pm, "Harry Caul [moderator]" <harrycaul1...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Subwoof]

Sorry to be dense about this, but is the Build Folder Structure menu
supposed to be on the main window of Soundminer? I don't see it at
the bottom anywhere. I only have Transfer Path, Spot as Region and
Chase at the bottom of the main spotting window in Soundminer.

I know I'm missing something here!!



On Nov 1, 4:20 pm, "Harry Caul [moderator]" <harrycaul1...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Harry Caul [moderator]]

It's a little pulldown menu at the bottom of the spotting pane. The
second to the left of the four buttons there. It has a little gear and
an arrow.

[Dorian]

Thanks for the tip Harry, i wasn't aware of this import and automatic
Transfer Path setting capability ! Quite handy indeed.

Anyway, i hope the Spotting panel in SM will improve a lot in the
future, as i personnaly spend 95% of the time in there when editing.
But it's a bit limited actually, and can fastly become quite difficult
to use when you deal with several different projects with several sub-
folders.
A way to "detach" the Spotting panel to an independant window (just an
idea), with search capabilities and all usual bells&whistles of the
main window, would be excellent IMHO !
Something like bins some of us used to have in say AudioVision for
example (or in Media Composer now). I know i can switch the Spotting
view to the main view (blue arrow), but it's not very practical (you
loose the folders hierarchy, sort orders, and tranfer/untransfered
flags).

A lot of improvements can be done in this area, i think.