Mike Slinn

Production Infrastructure Directories

Published 2020-03-01. Last modified 2024-11-25.
Time to read: 1 minutes.

This page is part of the av_studio collection.

Ableton Live

Directories specific to Ableton Live are documented here.

General Windows Directories

%AppData%\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve Contains Preferences subdirectory for Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve.
%ProgramData%\Ableton\Live 11 Suite Ableton Live 11 Suite
%ProgramData%\Ableton\Live 11 Suite\Resources\Icons\set.ico Icon for Live project folders
%ProgramData%\Ableton\Live 12 Suite\Resources\Icons\set.ico Icon for Live project folders
%ProgramData%\Ableton\Live 12 Ableton Live 12 Suite
%CommonProgramFiles%\Avid\Audio\Plug‑Ins Pro Tools AAX plugins
%CommonProgramFiles%\VST3 64-bit VST3 plugins
Ableton Live does not look in this folder unless Use VST3 Plug-in System Folders is On.
These plugins will appear under the VST3 section of the Plug-ins collection.
VSTs in subdirectories will be found.
An additional VST3 directory can be added if Use VST3 Plug-In Custom Folder is enabled.
%ProgramFiles%\Native Instruments Installed Native Instruments programs, except for VSTs.
%ProgramFiles%\VSTPlugins 64-bit VST2 plugins
VSTs in subdirectories will be found.
Ableton Live does not look in this folder unless Use VST2 Plug-in Custom Folder is On.
These plugins will appear under the VST section of the Plug-ins collection, which makes no sense.
A secondary VST2 directory is not possible.
%UserProfile%\Documents\Pro Tools Pro Tools settings

General Mac Directories

Default VST2 /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST
Default VST3 /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3
AU/Component /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components

Bear-Specific Directories

Bear is the name of the desktop computer I use as a DAW.

E:\media\masters Miscellaneous mastered renderings.
E:\media\protools Miscellaneous Pro Tools recordings.
E:\media\proTools\templates Pro Tools templates and settings.
E:\media\renders Miscellaneous rendered originals.
E:\media\songs Original compositions: transcriptions, audio, video. Selected files are symlinked from the website directory. This is a typical layout:

DaVinci Project 'One Year Older'
/mnt/e/media/songs/one_year_older/
├── daw
│   ├── One Year Older Pro Tools project
│   │   ├── Audio Files
│   │   ├── Plug-In Settings
│   │   └── Session File Backups
│   └── beats Experiments
├── dvrArchives DaVinci Resolve project archives
├── inputs For DaVinci Resolve project
│   ├── images QR code, etc.
│   └── videos A and B rolls
└── outputs Renders by Pro Tools and DaVinci Resolve
├── mp3s Pro Tools renders
├── youTube DaVinci Resolve renders
└── stems Zipped audio files

After bouncing stems, they are zipped and the zip file is moved to the stems directory in the website, then the individual stems files are deleted.

Selected files in mp3s and input/images are symlinked to the website directory.
E:\media\staging Unprocessed video and thumbnails.
E:\music MP3s.
F:\davinci_cache DaVinci Resolve cache directory.
N:\storage\DAW Music software archive (installable programs, documentation and samples).
N:\storage\DAW\proTools Pro Tools documentation and software, including third party plugins.
U:\var\sitesUbuntu\www.mslinn.com Jekyll-powered website.
U:\var\sitesUbuntu\www.mslinn.com\collections\_songs Collection of web pages for published songs. Selected files in E:\media\songs are symlinked from this directory, as shown in the production overview image.
U:\var\sitesUbuntu\www.mslinn.com\collections\_av_studio Collection of web pages for these articles.
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