I can obviously create more and more playlists based on other factors as I go, but the main structural playlists are set, so if I am looking for my latest stuff, I can simply navigate to the latest folder in ‘Purchase History’ and I’m ready. wav files, I can filter the entire collection, or just that playlist for tracks based on genre, key, BPM, whatever I like. Now my ‘Purchase History’ playlist folder in Traktor, mirrors what I have on my hard drive. Now inside this folder I create a playlist called ‘music – 15/03’ and drag in the new tracks that I jet imported to the collection. I have a playlist folder created in Traktor called, ‘Purchase History’. With the list sorted by import date in Traktor, I can easily see the tracks I have just imported at the top. (Side note: you have to use the zero in the single months, else the order will get mixed up when you get to months 10,11 and 12), Once I have added music to the new folder, let’s say ‘music – 15/03’, then I import my music folder to Traktor. Keeping it simple is the key to success here and using the naming convention of ‘music – YY/MM’ for my collection really helps with this. If you’re using Traktor, and Traktor only, then you will find it way easier to trouble shoot your collection, adding iTunes integration seems to complicate thing a little. I stay away from the iTunes integration as I find Traktor has enough options for filtering and organizing music, plus I don’t like to be reliant on third party integrations as there’s just too much possibility for things to go wrong. Use what you like and what you enjoy and whatever works best for you. So once you’re happy with your music folder structure, it’s time to figure out what role your various music software programs are going to have in this process.Īs I mentioned above, I do not use iTunes. This makes it easy to know what and where your latest tracks are. Anything I buy in March 2015 will get added to the folder called ‘music – 15/03’. The folder naming convention works great for organizing music as you buy it. It’s worth setting reminders on your calendar for backing up. I occasionally copy the entire collection onto my desktop too, just incase the external gives up. This is so that the collection is always backed up. You’ll notice that my music sits on an external hard drive. (The ‘Music’ Folder is set as the music folder inside of Traktor) External HD > Music > Music – YY/MM > Track.‘Release date’ is an alternative method, but this isn’t always in the tags. If you start moving between software, then the import date changes around on you and can confuse you when trying to find tracks based on when you bought them. Music software programs have a habit of adding an import date, or ‘date added’ tag to tracks when you import them. For this reason I don’t use iTunes at all. (More on this later) This is not my preference as I like to keep music organized based on when I buy them. iTunes > Music Library > Artist > Album > Track.If you use iTunes to manage your music then the file structure is set up inside of iTunes filing convention and looks something like: I like to be in charge of how my music is organized on my hard drive. I wasn’t buying as much music as I wanted and that needed to change. wav’s were not only taking up a lot of space, but the cost was adding up. wav’s annoying for not displaying the full details in the track collection. I wanted to keep the quality, yet introduce the ease of reading the meta tags and cover art. I have not tried the ‘.flac’ file type yet, despite there being a hard core set of fans. I’ve tried many file types and my collection has consisted of ‘.wav’, ‘.aiff’ and ‘.mp3’. Debates rage on, but get what works for you. File Typeįirst things first, the file type. If it does, then that’s great and I hope it benefits you going forward. So whilst I’m going to share my method with you here, it’s down to you to understand if it works for you or not. The key with anything in life is to be flexible. Over the last five years I’ve been toying around with file structures, file types, playlists and different software, searching for the ultimate way to organize my music collection. The worst feeling whilst playing a set, is having only a few bars of a track left before you’ve even got something loaded up into the next deck. Knowing how your music is organized and where you can find it with ease, will make your job as a DJ much more joyful. Yet I feel it is the most crucial aspect to making sure that you flow as a DJ. Keeping your music files organized is actually the most difficult part of digital DJ’ing.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |