tips on organizing your tunes
There have been many questions asked pertaining to managing music in terms of whether or not to delete, keep, and even organizing tunes. Rather than respond to those threads, i decided to create a new one to help out others. Feel free to share and add your methods so that others can benefit from various ways.
This is my way. There is no cookie cutter. However, by using my basic principles, you will be more knowledgeable and be able to better manage your tunes based on your specific needs.
There a few things that I have observed and that need to be addressed. Most answers are never to be black and white. I have seen too many "yes" "no" "delete" responses... There is rarely any absolute in life and particularly in music.
Rather than writing lengthy sentences, I will break my advice down in list form and give examples at the end of what I do. This should help.
1- All music should be properly organized. Find your method for each genre based on your play style for each genre.
2- Music not readily used in current sets should be stored in a separate hard drive for possible later use. (This should be common sense but you have responders advising to delete old tunes…)
3- Don’t delete music!! You paid money and it is of value. If you don't need it, share it as it may be the treasure of a dj starting out. Don't delete it. Honor the artist...
4- This should be #1. There is too much music with varying genres out there for you to remember all your music. You need to load your organized folders into your mp3 player like a phone or ipod and play it in your car. This will help to bring to your attention older tunes that you haven’t played out but want to bring back.
Storing old tunes
I no longer spin hip hop but I have over 500 vinyl records dating back to 1993 and who knows how many mp3s. My open format library is from 1998 to 2010 from Promoonly and other sources. Genres range from mainstream to rap, dance, rock, alternative, Caribbean, and Latin. It just sits there. But when there is an open format house party that I am compelled aka forced to do because it’s a friend or a friend of a friend, I break out the drive and put the player on shuffle and we have a party!!! I charge $100-250 for the equipment and lighting as a ghost dj.
Ordering your tunes
I have a “2 be determined” folder and a “purchase” folder. I listen to music throughout the week and save the samples in the “2 be determined” folder until I am ready to purchase. At the end of the week or after 2 weeks, I keep listening to them to make sure I am feeling them. I purchased them then placed them into my purchase folder. They stay there until I organize my tunes.
Organizing your tunes
All of my tunes are organized the same in all 4 places: External HD, Tracktor, Itunes, IPOD. They are all the same by genre and sub-genre. Like I said earlier, there is too much music for me to remember because I play most the entire spectrum in dance music. I place all those genres in subgenres for better organization. Keep in mind that all you have to do is organize the external hard drive folders then you can “copy”- not cut and paste, the folders into your itunes as “add to library”. Add to library each folder at a time. Once in the music library, right click and select add to which ever folder you created in your itunes tree.
I organize my itunes according to the meta-data. I have a free software off the net (pm me for the name as I don’t I can’t recall it- I’m not near my music desk top) I create my own little number such as “3344” in the year section. That way, all those tracks regardless of genre are “3344”. In the event that I have to re-install itunes, they will be readily organized. You can do this on itunes by selecting and editing all files. Then organize each folder by year. So that way you know where all my newest tunes are.
What I do is after I purchase them, I sit and listen to each one and place them according to their appropriate folders (see folders below). I made up my own subgenres because of the styles I play. I play at cafes, lounges, beach parties, and super clubs so I have a wide range.
Keeping up with your tunes.
My tunes are so well organized so I get my “new imported tunes” and other folders and place them into my IPOD as they are in my HD and itunes. I listen to only AM talk radio or my IPOD. Not suggesting you do that but my music is rarely heard on the radio. I don’t listen to random tunes often as I am always learning my tunes. I also get to listen to tunes I haven’t heard in a while. I play out 2-3 times a week so I can’t afford not to know my tunes. And there is no such thing as old tunes. After 6 months or so, I create another folder that has again the same breakdown of genres as listed below. That way my folders are fresh and what is not used I move the older than 1 year folder into my sitting hard drive at home. However, I do go back to my “at home” hard drive and bring back older house tunes from 2002 and up. I classify them as “2012 replays”…
So here is what you have been waiting for- the list….. Again, this is the way I organize my list because I have a wide range of music and can't keep up with it all. But creating this tree, I can transport it on to my IPOD and listen to it as if i was behind the decks. My programming is beyond reproach as I have everything right there. It takes time and effort. But if you want your programming to also be beyond reproach then adhere to some type of organizational tree. Trust me, it helps in the long run. The worst thing is to be mixing up genres.
NEW IMPORTED TUNES:
New imported tunes – these are new tunes that I just organized and placed into genres that I haven’t gotten to really know yet) this helps so I can pick at the new tunes quicker.
AFRO HOUSE:
Big room afro percussive
Small room afro percussive
Afro deep
Hard driving tribal
LATIN HOUSE:
Big room latin vocal
Small room percussive, funk, vocal
Minimal latin
Beachy- lounge latin
Tech latin
DEEP HOUSE:
Hard Soulful, Big Room Diva vocal
Small room percussive
Deep tech
Deep loungy
Deep latin
DANCE:
Dance pop remixes
Big room electric dance
Euro-dance
Electro
FUNKY HOUSE:
Big room club/vocal/ percussive
Big room filtered/pumping dub
Small room percussive
New wave funk
Disco funk
TECH HOUSE:
Big room melodic
Big room non melodic, dark
Small room melodic
Small room non melodic dark
Minimal tech
Tech tribal
PROGRESSIVE HOUSE:
Big beat sunset (EDX, deep slow trance style)
Fast Tempo vocal melodic/non melodic
Slow – Mid Tempo vocal melodic/non melodic
TRANCE:
I don’t play trance.
