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Advice Needed: Music Management/Organization

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  • February 10, 2012 at 4:13 am #14626
    Mike Check
    Member

    I’m not familiar with DJay but 6k songs sounds too large to manage effectively. So if you own an album do you have the entire album in the library? If this is the case I’d think you’d only be needing about 16% of the songs in your library (I’m estimating on avg. each 12 track CD has 2 tracks you’d ever use).

    I guess another approach is similar to clothes ….if it hasn’t been used in the past 12 months get rid of it. At the end of the day I think you just need to downsize your music. I’m sure you can still play a wide variety of genres with far less songs.

    February 10, 2012 at 4:19 am #14630
    VinnyBlanc
    Participant

    For file management in iTUNES many people use the “star rating scale” for Energy levels of Tracks.

    1 Star = warmup
    5 Star = banger

    Using a similar scale that works for you (along with genres) may help you to filter into more manageable chunks.

    February 10, 2012 at 10:23 am #14649
    Pär Hessler
    Participant

    Take your time and get rid of all tunes you never play = max 4k tunes left 🙂

    February 10, 2012 at 3:34 pm #14667
    mr_john
    Member

    Smart playlists are a lot of work at first, but they “pay for themselves” really quickly. I now religiously tag everything new I add and it sorts itself out over the course of my listening, commenting, and rating it.

    Ultimately I’d say it’s personal decision, pick whatever clicks with you. Just take it a little more in depth. For example I use my itunes for both personal use and DJing, so I have it organized via playlist names. I use numbers for DJing, makes it easy because it’s right there at the top. 1 chill, 2 comin up, 4 mids, 5 highs, 6 comedowns, 7 big bangers, 8 mix crate. Then I have either-or playlists “Best of: house, trance, dubstep, electro, etc.”

    I have about 15 different genres of playable stuff. I try to keep it as simple as possible, and I classify them according to my standards. What’s house to someone else isn’t house to me and vice versa. But I know where to find everything, well most of the time.

    I started from the genres and worked my way up. It took some time to go through my whole library, but my stuff eventually got organized. Most of the time, I consider an entire artist trance, or house, or whatever. Only in extreme cases will I individually classify a song. Once I had the genres in order, I started making folders to filter songs in via my ratings and other things. So now if I’m listening to music and I think “this would mix really well with….” I can just pop into itunes, add “mix with ….” in the comments and it filters into my mix crate playlist.

    February 11, 2012 at 5:45 am #14700
    Will Rimmer
    Participant

    Some amazing tips. I appreciate it guys. So far I’m culling my music library. I’m shooting for 3k. 500-1,000 personal songs, the rest to DJ with. I’ve started to get rid of stuff I don’t play, or is low quality, I’m down to exactly 6k so far, lots of work left. I’m also making the genres work for me, “Funky House” or “Smooth Dubstep” instead of just “House” or “Dubstep.”
    I love the star rating= energy level tip, as well as using the numbered playlists to control the arc of the night. I already started expanding to “Top Genre” playlists, so glad I got some affirmation there.
    Would you mind expounding on your “Mix Crate” playlist? What do you put there?

    February 11, 2012 at 5:56 am #14701
    Will Rimmer
    Participant

    Also, I’m pretty new at classifying energy levels.. Would you say its like a loose BPM ranger per star? Any suggestions? I’m finding that 8 playlist classification super helpful already.

    February 16, 2012 at 2:45 pm #15061
    mr_john
    Member

    my mix crate is random songs I want to mess round with and edit in, or songs I think will mix well together. It’s basically just a place for songs I comment “mix with ….” to go. I don’t rate by BPMs, I go by how the song feels and try to work it in somehow. If I’m listening to it in the car and it makes me start rocking out, it gets a high energy level haha.

    February 16, 2012 at 3:33 pm #15071
    Michael Lawrence
    Participant

    iLLWiLL, post: 14769, member: 1449 wrote: Also, I’m pretty new at classifying energy levels.. Would you say its like a loose BPM ranger per star? Any suggestions? I’m finding that 8 playlist classification super helpful already.

    I use mixed in key to classify everything by key, and then I use the stars to rate energy(doesnt always have to be related to bpm, cause some songs can have a lower bpm but generate high energy just cause it could be a throw back the whoel crowd can jam to) I also have a seperate playlist that I call “chick tunes”… songs that you can drop that the girls will love and dance to. Cause when you get the girls going on the dancefloor the guys are happy and so is the bar!

    Also read this article by Dj Endo how he uses colour to orgranize songs by mood as well. He has alot of other good tips in there too.

    http://blog.dubspot.com/how-to-create-smart-playlists-organize-your-music-in-itunes/

    February 20, 2012 at 1:21 am #15233
    Will Rimmer
    Participant

    Michael Lawrence, post: 15139, member: 856 wrote: I use mixed in key to classify everything by key, and then I use the stars to rate energy(doesnt always have to be related to bpm, cause some songs can have a lower bpm but generate high energy just cause it could be a throw back the whoel crowd can jam to) I also have a seperate playlist that I call “chick tunes”… songs that you can drop that the girls will love and dance to. Cause when you get the girls going on the dancefloor the guys are happy and so is the bar!

    Also read this article by Dj Endo how he uses colour to orgranize songs by mood as well. He has alot of other good tips in there too.

    http://blog.dubspot.com/how-to-create-smart-playlists-organize-your-music-in-itunes/

    Can you give me a few pointers on some chick tunes? I play a lot of Miami House, and Electro. I’m finding that I need to play for my crowd more and need to expand my horizons. I love dropping in a good remix now and again, but because I didnt grow up listening to a lot of Hip-Hop/Top 40, I’m at a decent disadvantage.

    February 22, 2012 at 5:35 pm #15441
    Michael Lawrence
    Participant

    iLLWiLL, post: 15305, member: 1449 wrote: Can you give me a few pointers on some chick tunes? I play a lot of Miami House, and Electro. I’m finding that I need to play for my crowd more and need to expand my horizons. I love dropping in a good remix now and again, but because I didnt grow up listening to a lot of Hip-Hop/Top 40, I’m at a decent disadvantage.

    For Instance a couple tracks I have under chick tunes are: Dev – Hustle Like a Lady, Nicki Minaj – Your Love, LMFAO – Sexy and I know it, Drake ft T.I. & Swizz Beatz – Fancy. These are just a couple tracks the girls go crazy for in the club when their dropped. I noticed that alot of them are radio friendly too, easy to dance to with a really catchy hook. Not sure what area your in but I check my local radio station playlists (z.103.5 Toronto) regularly to see what tracks are consistently at the top of the list. Its normally a good indicator that you can pull off playing it at a party/club and everyone can jam to the track.

    February 25, 2012 at 4:19 am #15644
    2SHAE!
    Participant

    [INDENT]I posted this for someone else and got no response. hopefully this time it goes to good use.[/INDENT]
    [INDENT]Ok, if im hearing this correctly, your looking for a playlist structure to keep all your music organized when you play gigs. And if thats not what you meant….well that sucks because im gonna waste my time with this responce…but ok here goes…

    Recently I have been getting my itunes better in sync for my serato for better organization when I play live. As ive increased music downloads over the last few months for DJing (i have 2 years dj/mixing experience but have only played live a few times), my organization of playlists and finding better quality replacement tracks have taken a substantial amount of time. However, if you want to DJ live and perform well, I find doing this quite important in my opinion. For example if someone requests a track, or even if I am looking for my next track, Im about 90% positive i can find the specific song in my playlists without using the search method.

    Like yourself I also listen to two completely different genres of music that would be played live in two different venues. The first being Hip hop/R&B/Pop/dance or anything that may reach american top 40 charts a few months after downloading and listening/learning the tracks extensively. (I use these tracks for small local bars that lure people that only listen to mainstream type music) The second being EDM genres of prog house, electro house, and a little dubstep here and there. (my personal favorites, I use these in venues that receive more of a club/dance like atmosphere).

    My hiphop/r&b/pop/dance/top 40 folders in itunes for Djing are sorted like this and each of the folders have addition subfolders for monthly organization (which ill show pictures of.)

    Classics: songs of these genres more then a year old. divided into 4 subplaylists (build up intro, build up risk, dance intro, dance risk) ……(copy the link below and paste it into your web browser to view the picture)
    file://localhost/Users/ShipIT/Desktop/Screen%20Shot%202012-02-24%20at%204.15.58%20AM.png

    Current 2011: any of these genres of songs downloaded january 1st 2011 and on (divided into 3 sublists of intro, dance, and other…then each on of these has monthly subcrates…(picture shown below)
    file://localhost/Users/ShipIT/Desktop/Screen%20Shot%202012-02-24%20at%204.22.50%20AM.png

    Current 2012: same as above 2012 and on
    My EDM folders are in similar format and all include subfolders for monthly organization:
    EDM 2011: any edm tunes 2011-2012 (sub folders of EDM bangers, and EDM other….and monthly subcrates of each)
    file://localhost/Users/ShipIT/Desktop/Screen%20Shot%202012-02-24%20at%204.26.23%20AM.png

    EDM 2012: any edm tunes 2012 and on
    EDM miscellaneous: subfolders include failsafe, oldschool edm, etc

    Im hoping this is kind of what you were looking for. And im sure my itunes still looks complicated to you or whoever else reads it/looks at the pictures. but thats just the thing. You need to find your own way of organizing your music to suit your style of DJing and what music you would typically play, because in the end ITS ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC!

    Hope this helps…cheers from boston

    -2SHAE![/INDENT]

    February 27, 2012 at 5:15 pm #15771
    durtyjerzy609
    Member

    ive been dj’in for over ten years now and went from proper vinyl, to serato ever since the SL1 dropped. this caused both excitement and a dilema… what should i have on my laptop… im mainly a hiphop/turntablist… so my hiphop folder is massive.. over 10k songs to date and alot of it ill never play out… but its part my collection and it aint ever leaving… then theres my funk/breaks folder which has the entire “ultimate breaks n beats” collection and a whole ton of others…you get the idea…. i work strictly from genres and BPMs…the rest is all feel and knowing your tracks…. i dont like “sync” style dj’in… so i have to work to make my mixes..and if i dont like the track, if it dont feel right..then i try another…. nothing will ever beat your knowledge of your music… i live and breathe this thing we call dj’in… and so i make sure every track i load onto my hard drive… i know (and at the moment its about 20k+)… i dont know if its OCD or just passion…either way knowing your crates (or folders) will always be better than any program or star system or whatever you come up with

    March 1, 2012 at 1:18 am #15945
    Will Rimmer
    Participant

    Good call, I just hate sometimes I really want to pull up a song, because of a certain vibe, but I forgot it’s name. Having the “attitude” of the track helps me pick it out a bit easier. I’m learning this is no substitute for hard work and knowing your stuff.

    March 1, 2012 at 1:20 am #15946
    Will Rimmer
    Participant

    2SHAE!, post: 15717, member: 1459 wrote:
    [INDENT=1]I posted this for someone else and got no response. hopefully this time it goes to good use.[/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1]Ok, if im hearing this correctly, your looking for a playlist structure to keep all your music organized when you play gigs. And if thats not what you meant….well that sucks because im gonna waste my time with this responce…but ok here goes…[/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1] [/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1]Recently I have been getting my itunes better in sync for my serato for better organization when I play live. As ive increased music downloads over the last few months for DJing (i have 2 years dj/mixing experience but have only played live a few times), my organization of playlists and finding better quality replacement tracks have taken a substantial amount of time. However, if you want to DJ live and perform well, I find doing this quite important in my opinion. For example if someone requests a track, or even if I am looking for my next track, Im about 90% positive i can find the specific song in my playlists without using the search method.[/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1] [/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1]Like yourself I also listen to two completely different genres of music that would be played live in two different venues. The first being Hip hop/R&B/Pop/dance or anything that may reach american top 40 charts a few months after downloading and listening/learning the tracks extensively. (I use these tracks for small local bars that lure people that only listen to mainstream type music) The second being EDM genres of prog house, electro house, and a little dubstep here and there. (my personal favorites, I use these in venues that receive more of a club/dance like atmosphere).[/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1] [/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1]My hiphop/r&b/pop/dance/top 40 folders in itunes for Djing are sorted like this and each of the folders have addition subfolders for monthly organization (which ill show pictures of.)[/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1] [/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1]Classics: songs of these genres more then a year old. divided into 4 subplaylists (build up intro, build up risk, dance intro, dance risk) ……(copy the link below and paste it into your web browser to view the picture)[/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1]file://localhost/Users/ShipIT/Desktop/Screen%20Shot%202012-02-24%20at%204.15.58%20AM.png[/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1] [/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1]Current 2011: any of these genres of songs downloaded january 1st 2011 and on (divided into 3 sublists of intro, dance, and other…then each on of these has monthly subcrates…(picture shown below)[/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1]file://localhost/Users/ShipIT/Desktop/Screen%20Shot%202012-02-24%20at%204.22.50%20AM.png[/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1] [/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1]Current 2012: same as above 2012 and on[/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1]My EDM folders are in similar format and all include subfolders for monthly organization:[/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1]EDM 2011: any edm tunes 2011-2012 (sub folders of EDM bangers, and EDM other….and monthly subcrates of each)[/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1]file://localhost/Users/ShipIT/Desktop/Screen%20Shot%202012-02-24%20at%204.26.23%20AM.png[/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1] [/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1]EDM 2012: any edm tunes 2012 and on[/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1]EDM miscellaneous: subfolders include failsafe, oldschool edm, etc[/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1] [/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1] [/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1]Im hoping this is kind of what you were looking for. And im sure my itunes still looks complicated to you or whoever else reads it/looks at the pictures. but thats just the thing. You need to find your own way of organizing your music to suit your style of DJing and what music you would typically play, because in the end ITS ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC![/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1] [/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1]Hope this helps…cheers from boston[/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1] [/INDENT]
    [INDENT=1]-2SHAE![/INDENT]

    Thanks for the targeted advice, you nailed my question on the head. Your setup seems pretty complex, for instance, I’m not sure what year I downloaded 90% of my tracks or even what year they are from.
    Could you try uploading those photos to drop box or something? Maybe seeing your system of organizing would help make it clearer to me.
    I really appreciate your time in writing all that out, I’m just not sure I can visualize what you mean.

    March 1, 2012 at 4:12 am #15948
    2SHAE!
    Participant

    Oh you didnt get the Itunes screen shot pictures? My message is pretty much just a mess of text without being able to visualize the set up. I dont know what you mean by using drop box. Ill try to send them to you one way or another. Like I said before though…my set up seems rather complicated to an outside viewer, just because its customized to my liking for my music. This playlist structure is what I’ve developed over about 6 months, improving it almost every night that I would be in “music mode”. Now when playing live gigs

    1. There is no hesitation when picking the next track. (now I have time for using effects on the fly, live mashups etc)
    2. I know all the tracks incredibly well. (Always know whether a track is proper to play at that given venue)
    3. Im have 3-4x amount of music in the playlists a typical DJ has would bring for a 3-4 hour set (good for requests)
    4. Every track is prepared with intro/outro cue points in advance. (reminders of good points to fade in/out…as well as cue points on drops to I can create loop roll build up drops for effects)

    So good organization has made me a 5x better DJ since I started the lists around 6 months ago. I dont mind sharing my techniques here but I never disclose these kind of things to other DJs in the city which are my main competition. Ill try to send you the pictures soon

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