Track organization and workflow
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  1. #1
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    Default Track organization and workflow

    Hey how's it going everybody? This is a topic that continues to come up over the years and so far it seems no one has really cracked it: track organization and workflow. I'm wondering how everyone here handles track organization and what your workflow is like. For me track organization is something that can't be ignored anymore. My library is out of control and I haven't even done much digging because I don't want to add to the mess. So i'm hoping to find a better system or some tools that would help.

    Currently I get tracks from 3 sources: iTunes, record pools (DJCity, DMS) and Soundcloud. Once tracks are downloaded I run them through MIK. Then tracks are added to iTunes and i'll try tagging them by genre at which point they get thrown into a smart playlist. A big problem i've ran into now though is even my smart playlists are starting to get cluttered. I've considered using beatunes but the workflow didn't seem very intuitive.

    So what is your current method for track organization? How do you keep things fresh and make sure your playlists don't get too cluttered? Do you ever delete stuff? Do you limit yourself to new tracks? Let's hear it!

  2. #2

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    I organize my stuff by year & genre.

    Maybe put each key in a seperate folder?

    I have roughly 12,000 tracks and don't feel much clutter.
    If I ever find myself playing a track and I have lost touch with why I like it , I delete it.
    I dont think there is any issue with having too many tracks in one play list but if they are all different genres it gets a little frustrating.

    Do you have your tracks in a play list or a folder then for every event or set you do create a fresh play list.

  3. #3
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    I organise mine the same as I used to with vinyl

    I play 4 or 5 genres so have a crate for each with about 50 tunes that I currently play in each, then I have a crate with each genre that I rarely play.

    New tunes go in the current crate for the genre, Tunes that have worn a bit thin go in the old genre crate

  4. #4
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    in each crate I sort them from funkier tracks at the top to harder tracks at the bottom, ones that mix well together go together,

  5. #5
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by atontheproton View Post
    I organize my stuff by year & genre.

    Maybe put each key in a seperate folder?

    I have roughly 12,000 tracks and don't feel much clutter.
    If I ever find myself playing a track and I have lost touch with why I like it , I delete it.
    I dont think there is any issue with having too many tracks in one play list but if they are all different genres it gets a little frustrating.

    Do you have your tracks in a play list or a folder then for every event or set you do create a fresh play list.
    Do you use anything to add "Year" metadata to your tracks? I've tried using Tuneup but I find it gives pretty mixed results.

  6. #6

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    I just look up the year of the track and folder accordingly.

  7. #7
    Moderator keithace's Avatar
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    Default

    I would never want to sort through 12,000 tracks...no matter how organized it was....

    edit:

    my current rotation is 97 tracks...and even that is bloated...
    Last edited by keithace; 01-27-2014 at 01:01 AM.
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  8. #8
    Tech Mentor jayo's Avatar
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    Default Track organization and workflow

    I try to keep my track list down to a minimum. I try to never have more then 350 to 400 tracks in iTunes (covering 3 dif genres). Once a month a go through everything and delete any track I don't love or see myself playing. Saying that everything I have ever owned/downloaded is stored away on a hard drive.
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  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by keithace View Post
    I would never want to sort through 12,000 tracks...no matter how organized it was....

    edit:

    my current rotation is 97 tracks...and even that is bloated...
    Yea, it takes some time but if you keep ontop of things before they get out of control (as you're adding new tracks in) its relatively easy. First run through does take a good amount of time though but I find it to be worth it in the long run.

    In the end its all about what you prefer. The only reason I had no problem sorting all my tracks like this was I had hours upon hours of time to kill while I was at work & able to access my personal computer.

  10. #10
    Tech Mentor ConnectControl's Avatar
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    my current rotation is 97 tracks...and even that is bloated...
    Yeah I do something like this. A current selection of potential set songs (I try to keep it under 80 - 100 max so i'm not scrolling through my playlist a ton)

    Everything else is tediously sorted into playlists of sub or sub-sub genres. I've stopped buying compilations because they're too annoying to sort though and classify, in spite of getting a good price for a lot of songs. I just sit on singles I'm really feeling and then buy them as I feel I need to freshen my sets (which is like daily lol)

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