BACK UP EARLY AND OFTEN
I can't say it enough. Back up your data.
I say it to every client that walks in the door. I say it over and over and over. And, to date, only a handful have taken backups of their projects. I try to maintain backups for as long as I can, but we simply do not have the space (or the budget) to hold onto 2 copies of everything. We don't even have the space to hold onto 1 copy after a certain period of time.
If you spend several hundred (or thousand) dollars recording your audio, how can it not be worth it to get a hard drive or CDR's (or even your iPod) and take a backup?
As some of you know, one of our hard drives was dropped a while back (not by me or Ted) and became unreadable. This was a 200 gig drive.
It's taken months and months for a data recovery firm to even get a list of files from the drive... but they finally did, which they sent to Tony Alva, and which is some 900 pages long.
Total cost to recover the data... around $2000. That's to get the data onto another hard drive. We have no guarantee it will be usable.
Some (much) of this is client data. I know for a fact there is no backup. Is it the studio's responsiblity to fork over two grand to get this precious music back?
How precious is it if the client didn't see fit to take a copy?
That $2000 could go to pay rent (oh yeah, it's the 2nd. Rent's due. Anyone? Anyone?) or to buy new preamps or an air purifier or any number of things that would make the studio better for our clients. I don't want to pay for this, and even if I end up not, I don't want my partners to have to. We've got bills to pay.
I'll say it one more time. BACK UP YOUR DATA. Wherever you go, whomever you work with, back it up. Because if it doesn't matter to you, who does it matter to?
5 Comments:
For years, I thought people were saying, "Backslap your Dada."
I'm so confused and my Dad's back looks like a lobster.
Clearly your post is about lessons learned the hard way, buit the bottom line is about the bottom line - maybe we need to contact some of the clients involved and see if they care to share the burden - then there's the issue of the party responsible - who we know is broke - maybe if we carry the cost he can offer us some free mastering.
Well put (both of you).
I think it's a good idea to see if the files are actually important enough (to the clients) to help pay for recovery.
As far as the other party goes - I thought a mouse knocked it over.
As a recent customer, a couple thoughts:
(1) you are absolutely right. I'll bring a drive over on Saturday for Strikes!.
(2) I will respectfully suggest that you may not be saying it enough. Strikes! came by 20-30 times over the last few months and the topic rarely came up.
In the past, Moneyshot and other bands I've been involved in recorded to tape. The upfront understanding was that unless we provided the tape, there would be no session. Is it feasible for you to take the same stance?
Because musicians tend to be flakes, maybe a possible scenario is for you to buy drives and charge them to the band at the first session.
Also good ideas, Mike.
I should say it more often. No question.
With Strikes! I've actually been doing backups myself (because I love you guys so much!). But it would be great to know that the stuff is backed up outside of the studio. It's just a matter of time before another flood...
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