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-- How do you digital guys deal with your library/track flow? (too many tracks?)

How do you digital guys deal with your library/track flow? (too many tracks?)

I think everyone that has ever played with software will know this, because there are no restrictions you end up with a billion tracks in your library, a lot of which you never use but you totally gotta have them anyways because they'll work in that one specific instance.

Basically, how do you find the tracks you really want to play next among all the stuff in your library? I'm finding it hard to "keep the flow". I sort my tracks after BPM and a lot of times I'll play something only to realize the track that would really fit was a hundred tracks away in the last.

I just type a * in front of my bangers if i need to find a good track quick i just type * and sort by bpm and mix it in.

Here is a suggestion:

create sub directories. So Lets say you have a music file. in that file I have arranged tracks into different folders based on keys. When I go into the key folder, lets say A Minor, I then have 3 different folders labelled Twilo, Amnesia, and Renaissance. Now i decided to label them based on clubs as it was way easier for me to think of songs attached to this. What i mean is that the twilo label is basically anything banging, amnesia is anything really trancey or synth heavy, and renaissance is stuff more danceable and more groovy. then tracks in there are sorted by bpm. for you since you mainly play techno you would probably label the folders different but same concept. Even with a large music collection by the time you get to say a track with 130bpm thats a minor and is banging and hence in the twilo section your options should be limited to about 15 tracks at most. Basically the sub folders in the key folder should be able to divide your music evenly in three folders. You can increase those folders as well. But you really have to spend some time thinking about how you think of an individual track.

i use an audio manager called soundminer .Granted it wasn't made for djing but it allows you to imbed meta data into wav and aiff. It was designed for sound designers with millions of files.

A simplified version is soundminder. The meta data is not printed to the file so you have to maintain the library from corruption ie doing backups.

quote:

Originally posted by paulversuspaul Here is a suggestion: create sub directories. So Lets say you have a music file. in that file I have arranged tracks into different folders based on keys. When I go into the key folder, lets say A Minor, I then have 3 different folders labelled Twilo, Amnesia, and Renaissance. Now i decided to label them based on clubs as it was way easier for me to think of songs attached to this. What i mean is that the twilo label is basically anything banging, amnesia is anything really trancey or synth heavy, and renaissance is stuff more danceable and more groovy. then tracks in there are sorted by bpm. for you since you mainly play techno you would probably label the folders different but same concept. Even with a large music collection by the time you get to say a track with 130bpm thats a minor and is banging and hence in the twilo section your options should be limited to about 15 tracks at most. Basically the sub folders in the key folder should be able to divide your music evenly in three folders. You can increase those folders as well. But you really have to spend some time thinking about how you think of an individual track.

I don't really sort after keys. I don't really think it matters when playing techno. Most pros don't really seem to give a fuck either.

As for "style folders", you know, I've tried but my thought process isn't really "I need a dubby track now" and more like "well, let's see what we have here" "ah, this'll work".

quote:

Originally posted by Woony I don't really sort after keys.

You'd be surprised.

There's really no trick then to really knowing your tracks but beyond that romantic notion ( ) you have tools that can help.

In the digital realm, you have to find a system that suits you and stick to it.
Any of the following could work you pick and choose:
-monthly playlists for newer releases with your fav tracks
-playlists geared at certain moods/types of sets
-typing keywords in track comments which will help with your searching
-custom genres(rename the genres given by the stores, as they are often too general or completely wrong)
-etc, etc...

The most important thing is to do this early on as having to play catchup with your whole library can be a real pain

And fyi a lot of djs use itunes for doing general file management, in conjonction with other apps that help with tagging.

if playcount > x and rating < 7 then archive

x would depend on how often you dj really. like you shouldnt play a track for 10 weeks in a row.

in addition have a classic folder with only 9+ rated tracks and a filler folder for those anonymous early hour tracks.

Monkey in a tuxedo smoking cigars.

quote:

Originally posted by jdat The most important thing is to do this early on as having to play catchup with your whole library can be a real pain

^^ this, I've given myself 18 months to finish sorting out my library, its a fucking mammoth task...

If you use Traktor I can't recommend this bit of software enough

http://www.tspotter.net/version-2

Allows you to sort out all your tags and cover art by pulling data out of beatport and discogs and create some quite clever smart playlists directly into your collection.

you have to adjust the key to some index like 140 or 128. Otherwise it is meaningless. So if all tracks were at the same tempo, what would their key be.

quote:

Originally posted by Looney4Clooney you have to adjust the key to some index like 140 or 128. Otherwise it is meaningless. So if all tracks were at the same tempo, what would their key be.

This is very true, but I dont think woony is really pitching up or down the tracks that much from listening to his sets. It seems there is far less of this going on in the digital age when you know the tracks bpm before hand down to a decimal point.

Woony, you got to give the style folders a try. Be creative with it. I had to do it bc i started almost pulling my hair out trying to find tracks when my collection got too large. I think its the only way to really break down tracks into meaningful groups that mean something to u.

quote:

Originally posted by Looney4Clooney you have to adjust the key to some index like 140 or 128. Otherwise it is meaningless. So if all tracks were at the same tempo, what would their key be.

What about key lock function?
Tempo up or down you still have the same key for the track.

and it sounds like shit.

quote:

Originally posted by Looney4Clooney and it sounds like shit.

^ This.

key lock is horrendous. I actually prefer when the key changes bc of pitching up. sounds really old school ravey at times.

Style folders are definitely the way to go. I use four. One for really deep tunes, good for a warmup set or the like. One for main segment trance, and one for popular trousey trance. And then I have a fourth for whenever I'm in a mood to have fun with some full-on house. Sometimes tracks can fit into both categories, so I copy it into one and move it into the other. (Technically I have a fifth for classics.)

They are then labeled by key via the camelot system; this way they can be sorted alphabetically in the file system and be in order. Then there's the BPM, and then I add any stylistic notes to further identify a track, such as vocals, twinkling high ranges, a dubstep break, etc.

And even with all of this, I still need to sit down and comb through my library every so often. I never keep ALL of my music in these folders. If a track just isn't being played much any longer in lieu of newer tracks, I move it out of there, putting it in a "Retired" folder. Just like hedges, I need to keep my active collection trimmed so it's not overwhelming.

Occasionally I'll look through my retired folder, looking for anything that stands out in my memory and play that. If it gets great response and it's not too recent, I'll send it to the classics folder.

The last post describes to a T why Djing is dead.

i use folders, simply that. If i expect to play 30 tracks i put a folder of 60 that adjust to what i'd play and then i've another folder with "other tracks" i read really really fast so in a quick glimpse i can read a lot of tracks with the scroll feature in cdj 2000 and see if something pops in my mind which usually does...

It's strange however how sometimes i am playing something and don't know how feel that i should look for a cd from 2008. Another disadvantage of this is that i have a lot of tracks that i've forgot them forever.

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