What should I do with all my songwriting voice memos?
Group them by song, not by date. A voice memo app files everything under the moment you pressed record, so eleven takes of the same chorus end up scattered across four months of unrelated recordings with names like 'New Recording 47'. The fix is not better naming — it is putting every take of one song in one place, so opening it shows you the whole history rather than one slice of it.
Why
A song is a stack of attempts, and it is only legible as a stack. Any two takes of the same idea tell you something the individual takes do not: what changed, what you kept, and whether the newest one is actually better. Storage that sorts by timestamp destroys exactly that comparison, which is why a folder of memos feels like an archive of guilt rather than a body of work.
What it does
- Put every take, lyric and photograph belonging to one idea in one place, however rough they are.
- Name a take for the part it is — chorus, bridge, the fast one — rather than for the date.
- Keep old takes when you record a better one. The comparison is the point.
- Let the ones you are not working on sit quietly rather than deleting them.
What it deliberately does not
- Renaming a hundred memos in one evening. It never survives the next month.
- Deleting rough takes to tidy up — you are deleting the earliest version of the idea.
- Keeping lyrics in notes, chords in a photo and takes in the recorder, so no two ever meet.
- Starting a new folder system that requires you to be organised at the moment of inspiration.
What that leaves behind
Winter song
- the wind is blowing outside
- and I am still here alone
- Versions
- 4 lyric versions
- Sounds
- 3 takes, newest first
- Last touched
- 2 days ago
Related questions
Should I delete the bad takes?
No. The bad take is the one that shows what the idea was before you fixed it, and 'bad' at the moment of recording is a judgement made minutes after singing, which is the worst possible time to make it.
How do I find one memo among hundreds?
By the song it belongs to rather than by scrolling. Once takes are grouped, you are looking for one of a few dozen songs rather than one of several hundred recordings.
Read next
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How do you remember a melody you just made up?
Record it within seconds, before you play it again.
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How do you organise song ideas?
Give every song one place and make putting something in it take one tap.
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How do you finish a song you started months ago?
Go back to the earliest take before you edit anything.