Am I over doing my library organizing?

[minuseven]

Hey everyone!

Just thought I would get some options on how I organize my music library and see if anyone has any short cuts or ideas on how to mainstream it.

Here is the breakdown on what I do for each track (More often I do a group of 20 tracks at once):

1. Download track and import it into Itunes (Itunes copies file to library and I delete original download)
2. I correct each track to my liking making sure it's just "Name, Artist, Genre and Rating"
3. Import file into "Mixed in Key" and have it work it's magic.
4. Traktor import the file into my music collection
5. Check "Beatgrids" and "Cue" points.
Done

Seeing what other people suggest

Thanks

-A

[DJ Sunshine]

Aside from the Mixed-In-Key step, our process is identical. The last step is crucial, as I found my mixing ability jump dramatically as soon as I pre-set my cue points. A lot of people don't use cue points simply because they don't take the time to set them, something I was guilty of; I look back now and realize how ridiculous this was. I break mine down like this, your mileage may vary.

Cue 1: Mix-in point
Cue 2: First drop
Cue 3: Breakdown
Cue 4: Second drop
Cue 8: Mix-out point

As someone stated previously, it's almost a "paint-by-numbers" way of mixing, but I play a bunch of Top-40 gigs so I rarely have time to go through and learn 30 new tracks every week, especially when some of them are terrible (Miley Cyrus...*shudders*). This just ensures that I have tight mixes every time I play.

I also write down any BPM transitions in the Traktor comments so I'm not taken by surprise when the track goes into a completely different tempo.

Getting the folder structure organized in Traktor is the main thing I try to get tight, and that is completely up to what works for you. I have mine broken down into folders with a bunch of playlists based on BPM, like this:

[FOLDER]Hip-Hop/Rap
>>60-69
>>70-79
>>80-89
>>etc.-etc.

Just giving a comparison, hope there's something in there that helps!

[manchild]

I don't think that's overkill at all, and that's obviously something subjective to each person. I think whatever works for you, and helps you to be able to find the next best song. Maybe it becomes too organized if songs are organized and segregated so much that you're picking thru different folders and it slows you down then if everything was more lumped together.

[dancindude]

I also add a comment or two whenever I can something like "Sci-Fi speech sample before 2nd drop" I also try to make sure the genre is accurate