How do you manage your mp3 files??

milc · Post by **milc** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 12:08 pm

well, it's been about 2 months that I've switched to digital djing.
(with wonderful Connectiv/Torq gear)
i'm quite satisfied so far, but the only problem is managing mp3 files.

I've tried many different clasification method, alphabetical, genre, label,...even release dates! but still it's hard to find quickly what i want while scrolling over the tracklist with mouse.

back in the day with vynils, i didn't even know how a track called exactly,
there was much more visual clues like vynil covers, labels on the vynil, even the state of vynil (if it's older track, it's more dirty!)

but with mp3s, all i can get as ideas on the tracks is track name and artist name tags. i find that it's very difficult to remember what was what between some 15G of music....

and also, while you djing with vynils, you can put some following vynils beside to prepare the order already 5-6 tracks furthur.
but apparently, at least with torq software, there's no fuction that you can put some tracks in advance somewhere.
it only makes playlist automatically with what you've played so far.

i know i need a little more time to get used to,
but if you guys have similar experiences while switching,
and if you have some special tips to share,
then it'll be sooooooo cool!

qnm · Post by **qnm** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:54 pm

i have split my torq window. i use torq in the upper half and foobar2000 in the lower half of the screen.
works very well.. although you then have to drag the files on the decks...

but with foobar you have massive control over your files. i tag everything with discogs plugin, get the cover art from discogs and set my personal rating for the track. its highly customizable and you can sort by label, artist, genre, year, last played, rating, everything you can think of. you can design the playlist like you want it with coverart next to the name and infos. everything is possible

milc · Post by **milc** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 4:01 pm

thanks for the information, sounds really promising.
but unfortunately, I'm on Mac.

maybe someone knows a similar application for osx??

revy · Post by **revy** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 4:13 pm

for net label stuff i used to organize by artist name but after a few years collecting the list became way too big to manage and so many forgettable names...and choosing genres is usually impossible.
now i just go by netlabel, then release#, then tracks...itd be nice to have cover art to help remember but im using ableton. that foobar thing sounds great

juanm2t · Post by **juanm2t** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 2:18 am

i make 4 playlists every month...and all of them have different styless...they go like dark "minimal", bright "minimal", "minimal" techno and dark lite "minimal"...so every time i want to play some songs, i just try to remeber when i used to play them and what kind of style do they have...i think is the easiest way to remember music....i can't remember song names, ep names, labels or released dates...sometimes artist names are ok.
try to arrange tracks in diferent ways and after sometime you will get your own way to arrange your tracks and will be easier to find everything...use playlists is my suggestion

!

northernlight · Post by **northernlight** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 10:12 am

i use itunes on osx. it allows me to organize my music in anyway i could imagine + it's preinstalled.

it also works great with serato.

gubenhinden · Post by **gubenhinden** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 1:00 pm

qnm wrote:i have split my torq window. i use torq in the upper half and foobar2000 in the lower half of the screen.
works very well.. although you then have to drag the files on the decks...

but with foobar you have massive control over your files. i tag everything with discogs plugin, get the cover art from discogs and set my personal rating for the track. its highly customizable and you can sort by label, artist, genre, year, last played, rating, everything you can think of. you can design the playlist like you want it with coverart next to the name and infos. everything is possible

that sounds realy cool. i have to check foobar. im trying to find a way to get album covers cuz its just too much work to make them myself.

at the moment i got my music sorted by general kind of music like techno, drum&bass, chillout etc and artist-names but i think i will go for labels when i find some time

juanm2t · Post by **juanm2t** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 11:17 pm

juanm2t wrote:i make 4 playlists every month...and all of them have different styless...they go like dark "minimal", bright "minimal", "minimal" techno and dark lite "minimal"...so every time i want to play some songs, i just try to remeber when i used to play them and what kind of style do they have...i think is the easiest way to remember music....i can't remember song names, ep names, labels or released dates...sometimes artist names are ok.
try to arrange tracks in diferent ways and after sometime you will get your own way to arrange your tracks and will be easier to find everything...use playlists is my suggestion !

this is what i do for mixing...but i really arrange my eps by label