Voice-over file naming workflow
A filename rule earns trust when every token and every normalization is visible before files leave the session.
Use stable tokens
Begin with a project code, session code, cue code, and take ordinal. Add speaker, locale, or pickup round only when the receiving workflow actually uses them.
Review normalization
Spaces, punctuation, Unicode normalization, case, separators, zero padding, and byte limits can turn different source labels into the same filename. Inspect the exact preview rather than assuming a slug stays unique.
Freeze the rule with the session
A naming profile is versioned. A later profile does not silently rewrite filenames already attached to earlier takes or frozen deliveries.
Worked example
The sample naming profile is called Orchard cue slate. Its pattern is project, session, cue and take separated by underscores, lower-cased, with the cue padded to three characters and the take to two, and a wav extension. Take 2 of cue C017 in session S01 therefore renders as orchard_s01_c017_t02.wav.
Two deliberate problems live in that set. Cue seventy-one has the code C-071 and cue seventy-two has the code C_071. Lower-casing and separator normalization collapse them onto the same filename token, so two different cues would deliver as the same file. Separately, the selected take for C090 carries an expected filename of CON.wav, which is a reserved device name on Windows and will not survive the trip to many recipients. Both are collisions in the filename lab and neither is visible in the script.
Method
A naming profile is a versioned record, not a live setting. It defines tokens, separator, case rule, zero padding for cue and take numbers, extension and byte limits, and the filename lab shows the exact rendered preview for every selected take along with each normalization that was applied on the way.
Because the profile is versioned, a later profile does not silently rewrite filenames already attached to earlier takes or to a frozen delivery. The old files keep the names they were delivered under.
What this does not do
- It does not rename anything on disk; it produces the expected name for you to use.
- It cannot know the receiving system's own rules beyond the reserved names and character limits it checks.
- A clean preview does not mean a file with that name exists.
Do this in the app
Read every collision finding before the session ends, not after the folder is zipped.
- Open station 05 Filenames and review the rendered preview for each selected take.
- Resolve reserved names, duplicates after normalization, and over-length names at the cue code, not the filename.
- Freeze the profile with the session so later changes cannot rewrite delivered names.
Open the local workspace at station 05 Filenames