[Suggestion] Allow us to download our previous audio files when working on revisions.
Hello,
I'm sure that if you are like me and frequently do a lot of recording from home, all those gigantic wav files take up space on your computer and at some point you end up clearing them out after the projects have been completed. But several times now, I have had the following situation happen:
-Client books me for a project
-I complete the script
-Revisons may or may not come in; complete revisions as applicable
-Client approves the project, sends rating/posts, for all intents and purposes the job is "closed".
I usually keep the files around on my computer for a while in case any subsequent revisions come in... but on multiple occasions, I have had a revision requested over a MONTH after the fact on a completed project previously approved by the client, usually due to a script change or the video needing to be updated, etc. While I can LISTEN to the previous files I sent, I have no way to redownload them, so if I get a "later update" revision requested at this point and I've long since deleted the files from my computer assuming the project was completed... well I'm out of luck. I have to go in and rerecord everything all over again, and sometimes the scripts are quite lengthy, and since I won't be able to *exactly* match my previous read there is a chance that the client won't be as happy with it as they were on the initial one. Rerecording a long script is especially painful if all that needs changing is a single word, but I have no way to edit that in if I no longer have access to the original file.
A simple (..or, hopefully simple) fix to this would be to implement an option allowing voice talent to download their previously sent wav files rather than just listen to them. It would save us time looking around on our computer to see if we still have the file, and prevent us having to rerecord long scripts to change one or two sentences. And we could easily make a smooth edit with the script updates requested. I know that theoretically we can contact the QA team to get access to our old files---they've saved my butt on a couple of occasions---but 1) I feel bad bothering them about this, and 2) I usually am only able to record at night, and so by the time QA is able to get to my request a lot of time will have passed, preventing me from submitting a timely revision.
Thanks!
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Hi Kira!
Thank you for the suggestion. I do think it's a great one. I'm going to pass it over to our product team so we can review the possibility of adding this button.
In the meantime, don't be afraid! Our production management team are there to help and send you the files when you need. We're available from 8 am to 7 pm Colombia Time (which right now corresponds to CST) from Monday to Thursday and from 8 am to 4 pm COT on Friday. Does this time work for you?
Another thing I can suggest you doing is to upload your files to the cloud. I personally use Google Drive for this purpose but there are a lot of hosting services you can use to keep your files in like Dropbox. You can save them in separate folders with the project name and ID on them and store them there. This would help you keep track of all the voice overs you do whether if it's inside VB or not.
Let me know if you try it or there are other solutions you come up with while we work on this feature.
Thanks again!
Thank you for your response, Angela. I will try the cloud idea in the meantime. This will also help for when I am traveling and using a different laptop than the one I normally record on, and save me a lot of work/stress when a client comes back 2 months later asking for script change revisions!
Totally, Kira!
That's what I do and it reeeeaally saves me a lot of stress. That also helps you keep an eye and control over all your files and the project's you've completed so you can also listen to old files and find ways and places where you can improve.
Also, to avoid clumping, I tend to review it once a year to delete very old files that I feel I won't need anymore. That will also help you keep your database clean.
Let me know if you try it out and how it goes! :)