Appendix 1 Basic Strategies Working with digital media can be very daunting. Every time I start a new project, I pretty much have to re-think my approach, due to the fact there will have been so many technologi- cal advances and changes since the last one. Disk space for example, will always be cheaper, faster, and more portable than the last time. Almost overnight, a workflow based upon digital tape storage can become redundant, with external disk drives suddenly posing unique advantages over digital tapes. However, there are always certain practices that remain useful, and regardless of the details, the underlying principles are what enable you to make informed decisions on the best course of action. Digital Assets Management During digital post-production, you'll generate a lot of data. Even if you only work with audio, you'll turn over many gigabytes of sound files and related data over the course of working on a single project. As well as being good at what you do in terms of finding and fixing faults and making improvements, you also need to be good at how you do it. If you are well organized, you'll spend less time back-tracking and searching for things, and more time doing the fun stuff. The first stage to being organized in the digital realm is having a structured approach to man- aging your digital assets (in other words, the media, metadata, reference material, and so on, that are related to the production). You should be comfortable working with the file management tools provided by your operating system ( Explorer on Windows, Finder on the Mac), and employ an indexing system using files and folders that is not only easy for you to follow, but is for oth- ers as well (I normally write a short cheat sheet at the start of a project which lists how and where to find different elements on disk, primarily suited for other people on the team to compre- hend, but which becomes increasingly useful to me as well as the complexity of the project starts to grow). 201