You need a versioning system

People who work on music in the computer benefit immensely from having a strict versioning system. Here's what works well for me:

- Name every version of your mix that you bounce (aka export) with the date. For example: "Elevate 22 JUL 23.mp3". Not "Elevate" ... not "Elevate version 3" ... not "Elevate final 3 final FINAL" — just name it with the date. So it's localizable to a specific moment in time. If it’s not the first mix you’ve exported on a given day, just add a “2” or “3” etc at the end of the name.

- For every mix you bounce, make a copy of the session file, named exactly the same as the mix. For example, working in Pro Tools, I would duplicate my Elevate session file, and I would name it "Elevate 22 JUL 23.ptx”.

- Put this session file backup in a "Session File Backups" folder.

This way, if you get carried away and tweak yourself out of a good mix, which happens to me sometimes still to this day, you can simply be like, "Let's go back to Elevate 22 JUL 23 and try again."

No more drama! Just peace of mind, and free rein to experiment.

Back it up — jamie