Most effective track categorization you've used

It's fairly easy to keep track of a track you're working on kinda linearly. Though say you're the type that will have 6 'sections' to a track, but then you start exchanging sections, or totally rewriting them, but don't want to get rid of the other section so you put it aside in your DAW. Then you do that, and have like 8+ different versions of the same track with sections in different places. Then you have older versions of the track you keep just in case you had a good idea you totally forgot about. Then you have alternate mixes of the same versions, of say literally just the volume (or a different reverb, or a comb filter, or anything) on certain sections, or bits subtly added or taken out, then you can easily end up with like 15 different versions of the same track.

This is an issue that's arising, as I used to work on tracks fairly linearly, but now I am starting to have more versions, alt mixes, switched sections, etc etc that I like to listen to over time to see which versions I like most.

It is a good way to make music, however it can get confusing quick when you're asking yourself which version of the track is which, or you totally forget about one of the versions, or a specific version has this one sample you want in the newest version and you spend like 20 minutes listening thru earlier versions just to find it (ugh)

 

I name projects using the full date and a short name for the song (i.e. "2015.04.13 chill ambient jam), and I try to always render something easily listenable right next to the project folder. So on my desktop (ordered by name and thanks to the naming scheme, also by date, even if I later modify) there's a bunch of project folders and right next to them, wav renders of what's in the project. If I make significant changes I'll append 'v2' to the project name and usually save a new copy. However so far I have never revisited any prior versions and I tend to keep working on the latest thing, so don't have any ideas on how to manage concurrent alternative versions. Seems like it could in theory be possible with a project format that can be fed into some version control software, though. I guess if you use stuff like Pure Data, SuperCollider or CSound, it can totally be doable.

I often make short, keyword-like notes in the pattern naming fields in Renoise. Listening back to a track from start to end, I try to feel what is needed and if time is limited to finish right away, put a short description in the notes with a question mark..

The question mark acts sort a like a marker, so when revisiting the track at a later date I can remember the intention and see if I still feel that way....like; "double drop?", "needs moar cowbell?", "insert detuned pads?" etcetera     

I only very rarely save alt versions of tracks, mostly because I've come to prefer a destructive method of composition—if I find myself questioning a section, I generally don't miss it if I delete it. 

My last album I used the actors from Home Improvement as my titles so I ended up having lots of flies like "Richard Karn7remaster.wav" and "Patricia Richardson6-163bpm." Everything after that fell into place naturally.

I name the songs by date and instruments, scales used