Audio Files

BeatOps sorts each audio file in a beat folder into a role: main untagged, main tagged, short, or stem. It guesses the role from the filename, so good names help. When a guess is wrong, you can fix it by hand in the app (see below). For where the files live, see Folder Structure.

Main Untagged (the master WAV)

Required for BeatStars. Your clean, full-quality master. This is the file BeatStars delivers to buyers.

• A .wav file, usually named exactly like the folder
• Files with "sample", "stem", "loop", or a "tagged" marker in the name are not treated as the master

Main Tagged (the public preview)

Used for YouTube and SoundCloud. This is the version you put out in public. It can take three forms:

• An .mp3 (the classic tagged preview)
• A .wav with - Tagged or _Tagged in the name (tagged in your DAW, lossless)
• No separate tagged file at all: then, only if you turn on WAV uploads in Settings, your untagged master is used directly. That publishes your beat untagged, so use it only for free beats.

Short (YouTube Shorts)

Optional. A short version of your beat for YouTube Shorts. Name it with "short" after a dash or underscore, for example Midnight Type Beat - Short.mp3. If you have no short file, BeatOps can cut one from the whole beat, or detect a shorter file automatically by its length.

Stems

Optional. Track-outs you sell with the beat. Put them in a stems/ subfolder, or name them with "stem" or "Stems -" in the file. See Stems.

Set or fix a file's role in the app

Because the role comes from the filename, a file with an off-convention name can land in the wrong place. On the beat's page, in the Audio Files section, click the coloured role tag on any file to pick the right role. BeatOps then renames the file to the convention, so readiness and uploads use the right file. What the rename does:

• Main Tagged on a WAV adds - Tagged to the name (for example My Beat.wav becomes My Beat - Tagged.wav). On an MP3 it names the file after the beat.
• Main Untagged names the WAV after the beat (for example My Beat.wav).
• Short adds - Short to the name.
• Stem adds a Stems - marker to the name.

Tip: naming your exports well (for example My Beat.wav for the master, My Beat - Tagged.wav or My Beat.mp3 for the preview, My Beat - Short.mp3 for the Short) means you rarely have to fix anything.

Ignore files that do not belong

Dropped a reference track, an old bounce, or a loose sample in the folder? Set its role to Ignore. BeatOps moves it into an ignored area inside the beat folder, so it stays out of readiness and uploads but is not deleted. You can give it a real role again at any time.