Collection cleaning?
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  1. #1
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    Default Collection cleaning?

    I've been wondering for a while now, how often I should give my collection a proper cleaning. It is obvious that most DJ kinda change their taste through the course of time, and I've definately started enjoying different music than when I began DJ'ing. So I think I would rather give it a proper cleaning and know my tracks more intimate, than having a big monster you don't know so well.

    So my question is, how often do you go through your collection and remove the stuff you're not into anymore?

  2. #2
    Tech Guru synthet1c's Avatar
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    I use a star system, if I don't know about a track anymore it gets 1 star, I will usually bring up all the 1 and 2 star tracks every so often and delete the ones I will never play. I really avoid getting tracks I don't like though, because I only buy what I want, I never torrent random shit..
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    Moderator keithace's Avatar
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    when you as a person get tired of it...you will subconsciously move it lower in the stack...

    i am in a current striping down of all my tracks and moving alot of the older stuff to the side...

    it's tough because you think to yourself "Man...that is a great track...I'll leave it"...

    you have to ruthless with your thought process and be honest with yourself...

    now if you play out in clubs i would think you need to constantly update your tracks and move things in and out according to whats popular...

    i still haven't gotten used to the whole playlist non-physical sorting of tunes...
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    Moderator keithace's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by synthet1c View Post
    I use a star system, if I don't know about a track anymore it gets 1 star, I will usually bring up all the 1 and 2 star tracks every so often and delete the ones I will never play. I really avoid getting tracks I don't like though, because I only buy what I want, I never torrent random shit..
    i started with the star system too...although a little differently...
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  5. #5
    Tech Guru Bassline Brine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by keithace View Post
    you have to ruthless with your thought process and be honest with yourself...
    .
    I think that hits the nail on the head.

    But that being said, it's nice having a backlog to bring out some old classics now and again. I'd suggest just moving the files to a separate folder and then not loading it into your itunes, and just keeping them there. If there's ever a point where you realllly feel the need to bust out some of the tracks, then you'll be able to.
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  6. #6
    Moderator keithace's Avatar
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    exactly what i did...i marked it "older deep funky house"...and the other is marked "classic trance"

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    Tech Guru Garygary1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by keithace View Post
    exactly what i did...i marked it "older deep funky house"...and the other is marked "classic trance"

    i do something similar too. I have a folder labeled "legacy tracks" where i throw tracks that i take out of circulation. I only like to keep about 100 tracks together for making sets, and then i dip into the legacy when i really need a track that fits.

  8. #8
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    I've been on cleaning mode for the last few weeks. My goal is to have a perfect DJ ready library with zero fluff. So far I have gone from 12k tracks to 6500. My goal is to get down to about 5-6k of killer tracks ready for parties. I have tagged extensively which had been a daunting task but allows me to sort by genre so I can quickly pull up a great set at any time.
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  9. #9
    Moderator keithace's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bigbeatzz View Post
    So far I have gone from 12k tracks to 6500. My goal is to get down to about 5-6k of killer tracks ready for parties.
    that is just mind boggling to me...
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  10. #10
    Tech Guru mostapha's Avatar
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    As far as how I do it…I have weird, ridiculous combinations of automated and manual backup systems. When I realize I haven't played a song in a while (iTunes can sort by Last Date Played) on my laptop, I check to make sure it's not a track that I only listen to while DJing…if I decide I don't want it anymore–really, if I don't decide that I do want it–then I just delete it…confidant that it's still in my archives and on my TimeMachine drive (for a while, at least).

    And I don't remember the last time I went to my archives for something I'd deleted that I wanted to spin in a set. Wait, yes…I had a remix of a Gorillaz song that I wanted for a specific party. It's a really lousy bootleg that sounds like it was mastered by me when I was 20 and had just discovered iZotope Ozone. I never want that track in my set unless I'm 100% confident that like 10 specific people will be at a house party, 'cuz is sounds like crap on a real system and isn't worth it unless those people are going to get a kick out of it.

    Quote Originally Posted by keithace View Post
    i still haven't gotten used to the whole playlist non-physical sorting of tunes...
    Neither have I. I can still find specific songs in my vinyl collection in a few seconds, and I haven't owned turntables in 2 years. It often takes minutes to find an old track on my iTunes library if I don't remember the artist or title (which happens quite a lot), and it might take an hour to find one in my archives, because they're not indexed in iTunes.

    I don't miss paying $12/song; I don't miss not having key lock; I don't miss carrying it…but I really miss big pieces of cover art.

    If I could, i'd switch traktor into using Micro decks shoved up at the top with minimal information, ~200x200px pieces of cover art below each one, and have the rest of the screen dedicated to a cover art browser. Heck, I'd consider a bigger screen for my DJing laptop if I could have that. I'd probably sacrifice big waveforms for that…just have 2 to 4 pieces of cover art side-by-side at the top with a really minimal waveform above each one.

    Quote Originally Posted by bigbeatzz View Post
    My goal is to get down to about 5-6k of killer tracks ready for parties.
    How the heck do you remember that much music?

    My goal is usually <200 or so for a night…and the same ~100 make the cut for months at a time.

    Seriously. I can't imagine bringing that much music to a gig. I mean…I've done it before…and I still mostly pick from the same 100 tracks…it just takes longer to scroll between them.

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