Save As or Save Copy As: Best for Assessing Different Edits

[chamlin]

In finalizing a few songs before mixing, I want to assess if the song sounds better if I edit out a repeated chorus, or other "structural" edits. In the past, I've used "Save As" to create a whole new project so I didn't damage the "master" version. But I'm thinking there's a smarter way to do this. Save Copy As? That would keep it in the same project, but if I cut out large junks across 40 tracks, would that leave the audio data for the other "master" version intact?

Better way that wouldn't require a major learning curve?

Thanks!

[scook]

It does not matter. The only difference between "Save As" and "Save Copy As" is

• "Saved As" closes the current project and opens the newly saved project
• "Save As Copy" makes the copy but leaves the current project open

Both save functions may store the project file in any folder including the current project folder.

Keeping multiple project files in the same folder is OK. What is done in one of the project files does not affect the audio referenced in the others, Deleting audio clips from a project does not delete the clips from the audio folder. Destructive edits create new audio clips.

 

[chamlin]

Much gratitude! Now I can go and wreak havoc!

[scook]

As always, make a safety copy of the project folder before trying something new. Just in case.

[chamlin]

Safety copy? Not sure what you mean, technically.

[scook]

This is a low risk thing but when trying something new, I like to make a copy of the project folder just in case I mess something up or get so confused I just want to start over.

In this case a "Save As" or "Save Copy As" to a new project folder to create a complete copy of the current project. Then start messing with the new workflow experiment.

[chamlin]

Got it, thanks!

[Blades]

If you are going to make a whole new copy of the project folder, why even bother with the save as or save copy as features?  Why not just copy over the whole folder and pick one to edit and then eliminate the other when done.  

I am all for backups but wonder what the point of the save as would be except for yet another copy, possibly leading to more confusion.

[msmcleod]

One thing I've noticed, is that if you've previously had "create one file per clip" switched off, and you turn it on when doing a "Save As" or "Save Copy As", it won't automatically split the clips up into separate files... not that I really expected it to.

But if you want your clips as separate files, you'll need to "Bounce to clip(s)" on each individual clip after you've saved your new copy.

[scook]

1 minute ago, Blades said:

If you are going to make a whole new copy of the project folder, why even bother with the save as or save copy as features?

The "Save As" function with "Copy All Audio With Project" enabled, copies only the audio referenced in the project. It does not copy audio clips that have been deleted from the project.

For a hot backup, an OS level copy would work just as well although it may contain unnecessary files.

What I gathered from the OP was the desire to know if it is safe to have multiple copies of a project stored in the same folder pointing to the same audio data and what was the difference between "Save As" and "Save Copy As."

Even though using multiple copies of the project file point to the same audio data is a safe thing to do, I recommended a hot backup just as I would anytime someone was experimenting with a new workflow. As long as the hot backup is a complete snapshot of the project, it does not matter what method is used to create it.