Organising your music

[MelodyIlliterate]

Could someone give me some advice on how they organise their music?

currently i have all my djable music in one folder named Mixing, which was fine when i was learning, but now that i have downloaded shitloads from Djcity, its just becoming hectic to get through,

i use serato itch but i tried to do the whole crate thing but just became a complete mess,

cheers in advance, MI

[Gandy]

whenever i get a new track, i add it to itunes. In itunes i have playlists sorted by genre, then after i sort everything in itunes to how i like it, simply drag and drop that into rekordbox under the same headings.

when i use to use traktor you could directly access itunes playlists

edit: - all my tracks have Key and BPM in the title, which helps find a specific track quickly within the playlist

[andyman]

Sort by month and genre.

I have all my CD's labelled like:

Deep House, November 2011, #1

Deep House, November 2011 #2

and so on.

[MelodyIlliterate]

@gandy

I've heard great things about record box, i wish they would let me use it with my ddj,

kinda weird since its all pioneer right?

hmm traktor itunes sync would be handy, almost regretting using serato now,

key, how do youfind out the key for all your tracks?

@andy

I dont use cd's but guessing you do that for all the folders you keep your music in as well?

[awesome88]

I just keep playlists in Traktor, then order in newest -> oldest

[Mitch]

The reason most libraries get out of control is people don't tag the music.

This is what I do when i download tracks i'm going to DJ with (im buying mixed in key + platinum notes tonight, so i dont do those steps currently, however I will be).

-Download track

-Run through platinum notes (correct volume etc.)

-Run through mixed in key (detect BPM + Key)

-Add to iTunes

-Convert ID3 tags to 2.3

-add the year and genre

-I also add "Title - Artist" to the album section. This makes it easy on the CDJs to browse the album section, as you only see the name of each track once, then when you click on the album all the remixes of that track are in the one spot. Is quicker to browse through then the tracks section.

-I also move the featuring artists from the artist section into the title. I think its more habit than useful, but it helps keep the artists part of iTunes cleaner.

Then i go and add to recordbox for it to analyse and transfer onto usbs.

Tagging everything like this makes it very easy to then find the music you want quickly in iTunes, either using the search, or can also use the column browser, by genre, artist and album.

As far as playlists are concerned, i usually just make them for a specific night/set i'm doing. If i'm going to do a gig, i might make a couple of playlists (e.g. warm up tracks and peak tracks playlists) for that party, making a mini pool of tracks to draw from for the night. I will choose current tracks that i think people will be into that night, plus any requests i know they will want. I may not stick to it, but if i can't think of what to play, ill just reference that playlist.

I will admit it is time consuming, but if you spend the time tagging songs properly, you can have quite a large library and still have the ability to find everything quickly.

PS, this is just my system, other people may hate it, but find what works for you

[Gandy]

@gandy

how do youfind out the key for all your tracks?

i use Mixed In Key, another good thing is once again, you can dump your entire itunes playlist into that for analizing. Ive found out over the years that itunes is the most compatable software out of everything, so if you sort your shit out how you want it in itunes, chances are other software will be able to hook into it or you can simply do a copy paste

you can find Mixed In Key here: http://www.mixedinkey.com/

[Gandy]

@gandy

I've heard great things about record box, i wish they would let me use it with my ddj,

kinda weird since its all pioneer right?

rekordbox is a barebones DVS that basically just provides you a bigger display for sorting tracks. Its very lightweight and very stable because it doesnt really do anything, just like having a bigger screen on your cdj (which is why i love it so much)

[intro]

The reason most libraries get out of control is people don't tag the music.

This is what I do when i download tracks i'm going to DJ with (im buying mixed in key + platinum notes tonight, so i dont do those steps currently, however I will be).

-Download track

-Run through platinum notes (correct volume etc.)

-Run through mixed in key (detect BPM + Key)

-Add to iTunes

-Convert ID3 tags to 2.3

-add the year and genre

-I also add "Title - Artist" to the album section. This makes it easy on the CDJs to browse the album section, as you only see the name of each track once, then when you click on the album all the remixes of that track are in the one spot. Is quicker to browse through then the tracks section.

-I also move the featuring artists from the artist section into the title. I think its more habit than useful, but it helps keep the artists part of iTunes cleaner.

Then i go and add to recordbox for it to analyse and transfer onto usbs.

Tagging everything like this makes it very easy to then find the music you want quickly in iTunes, either using the search, or can also use the column browser, by genre, artist and album.

As far as playlists are concerned, i usually just make them for a specific night/set i'm doing. If i'm going to do a gig, i might make a couple of playlists (e.g. warm up tracks and peak tracks playlists) for that party, making a mini pool of tracks to draw from for the night. I will choose current tracks that i think people will be into that night, plus any requests i know they will want. I may not stick to it, but if i can't think of what to play, ill just reference that playlist.

I will admit it is time consuming, but if you spend the time tagging songs properly, you can have quite a large library and still have the ability to find everything quickly.

PS, this is just my system, other people may hate it, but find what works for you

can i ask why such a complex process?

im assuming there must be a reason as to why you do this?

[Gandy]

^ i do the same thing, i like my shit organised and easy to find

-Run through platinum notes (correct volume etc.)

-Run through mixed in key (detect BPM + Key)

-Add to iTunes

-Convert ID3 tags to 2.3

-add the year and genre

that should be standard for everyone imo and the rest i do for easy searching

[MelodyIlliterate]

thats nuts... gonna save some pennies and get some of this software

[Gandy]

thats nuts... gonna save some pennies and get some of this software

rekordbox is free

You might as well get the bundle of MIK + PN because you save a little extra

[MelodyIlliterate]

tried recordbox, but then it started asking for a key,

but i guess its going to be pointless untill i get some cdj's huh?

[Gandy]

tried recordbox, but then it started asking for a key,

but i guess its going to be pointless untill i get some cdj's huh?

yeah, its free for rekordbox compatabile pioneer cdjs (basically any new pioneer cdj with a network port) the cdjs come with the cd

i thought it was free program regardless though

[opticon]

My structure:

\DJ Archive (Tracks I dont want in my main library 24/7, but still want them incase I decide to play them, not imported into itunes)

\DJ Import (any new track's go here first)

\DJ Music (All 100% tagged tracks etc go here)

BeatPortTrkNum - ArtistName,SecondArtist - TrackTitle (remix name).mp3

ArtistName, SecondArtist, ThirdArtist - TrackTitle (remix name).mp3

\DJ Staging Area (If I buy a compliation cd and I want to pick through it for songs before I import anything, I put them in here)

\Music (All my other non-DJ music)

Whenever I download a new track, it goes into the Import folder (esp when downloading multiple at once, saves having to remember what I downloaded if I put them straight into the main folder). Once in the Import folder I use Tag & Rename to write v2.3 and v3.4 tags and put in the year and genre. I then use Mixed in Key to add the key tag, then I drag the file(s) into the main folder and drag into itunes. Traktor, Rekordbox etc all pulls from itunes so it's easier to manage from there.

This is my preference:

ArtistName, SecondArtist, ThirdArtist - TrackTitle

ArtistName = The artist who the song belongs to

SecondArtist = Featuring artists etc

TrackTitle = Track name with: (blah blah remix) if it's a remix

[opticon]

tried recordbox, but then it started asking for a key,

but i guess its going to be pointless untill i get some cdj's huh?

yeah, its free for rekordbox compatabile pioneer cdjs (basically any new pioneer cdj with a network port) the cdjs come with the cd

i thought it was free program regardless though

The program is free, regardless of having a CDJ or not

[Gandy]

tried recordbox, but then it started asking for a key,

but i guess its going to be pointless untill i get some cdj's huh?

yeah, its free for rekordbox compatabile pioneer cdjs (basically any new pioneer cdj with a network port) the cdjs come with the cd

i thought it was free program regardless though

The program is free, regardless of having a CDJ or not

phew thats what i thought lol, i installed it ages ago and have never looked back

[MelodyIlliterate]

i go to open the record box and it asks me to enter a license key

[opticon]

i go to open the record box and it asks me to enter a license key

You'll need to sign up on the website you downloaded it from and it will email you a license for free

[intro]

^ i do the same thing, i like my shit organised and easy to find

-Run through platinum notes (correct volume etc.)

-Run through mixed in key (detect BPM + Key)

-Add to iTunes

-Convert ID3 tags to 2.3

-add the year and genre

that should be standard for everyone imo and the rest i do for easy searching

so to set each track so its playable and readable correctly?

i've had issues with BPM before and didnt even think twice that you could fix it.

[opticon]

^ i do the same thing, i like my shit organised and easy to find

-Run through platinum notes (correct volume etc.)

-Run through mixed in key (detect BPM + Key)

-Add to iTunes

-Convert ID3 tags to 2.3

-add the year and genre

that should be standard for everyone imo and the rest i do for easy searching

so to set each track so its playable and readable correctly?

i've had issues with BPM before and didnt even think twice that you could fix it.

Mixed In Key detects the BPM and put's it in the BPM tag on the file for programs like itunes to read as they dont do BPM detection. If you import the song into traktor or serato, they do their own BPM detection when you analyze the song. Personally I'd rely on Traktor\Serato more for accurate BPM readings, but using Mixed In Key allows you to create itunes smart playlists based on BPM so you can import the playlist into other programs.

[Gandy]

^ i do the same thing, i like my shit organised and easy to find

-Run through platinum notes (correct volume etc.)

-Run through mixed in key (detect BPM + Key)

-Add to iTunes

-Convert ID3 tags to 2.3

-add the year and genre

that should be standard for everyone imo and the rest i do for easy searching

so to set each track so its playable and readable correctly?

i've had issues with BPM before and didnt even think twice that you could fix it.

Mixed In Key detects the BPM and put's it in the BPM tag on the file for programs like itunes to read as they dont do BPM detection. If you import the song into traktor or serato, they do their own BPM detection when you analyze the song. Personally I'd rely on Traktor\Serato more for accurate BPM readings, but using Mixed In Key allows you to create itunes smart playlists based on BPM so you can import the playlist into other programs.

opticon is pretty much spot on, as i said i manage my music library in itunes and i find it easy to have my song names titled as "KEY - BPM - SONG NAME" so at the click of the button i can have my playlist sorted by title and have a listing of all the songs sorted by key, then right beside the key i have a rough idea of what the bpm is

keep in mind although the bpm analysers are pretty accurate these days, its still not 100% accurate, i just use them as a rough guide, its so if i have a track playing thats "5A - 128 - generic song title" playing, i can look at all the 4A, 5A, 5B, 6A tracks instantly and know their approx bpm very quickly

[mattus123]

whats the point of converting ID3 tags?

infact.. what is an ID3 tag?

[opticon]

whats the point of converting ID3 tags?

infact.. what is an ID3 tag?

ID3 tag is basically metadata that's attached to a file. There are different versions of ID3 tag's as it's evolved over the years, each version as added\removed features to try and become the best it can be and it allows you to attach information that's searchable using a program that can read the data.

Itunes seems to read all versions as apple keeps it up to date. If you use ID3 v2.4 only, Windows 7 wont read the data in windows explorer, but will read v2.3.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ID3

[Mitch]

Backing up what opticon said, 2.4 is most recent, however even though its been around a while, still has compatibility issues.

2.3 is the best to be on atm, as it is the most compatible.