Music Discovery/Where to Find Tracks

[robbyluca]

https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.tick...mi+2015%29.mp3

[keithace]

https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.tick...mi+2015%29.mp3

Why did you post a live set?

[djadrenal]

The same standard sites everyone uses. Mostly Beatport and Trackidown. My favorite search method is finding a track i like in a podcast or mix then going to the links or "other people purchased" links. I also scope certain labels a lot. Finally, I am lucky enough to be friends with a top producer/dj that sends me all his new releases for his label. Feel quite fortunate on that one and love to support my friend when I can.

[Lanz the joiner]

...
Tracks sit in my cart for a few days and then gone through again and again until I am convinced I have the best tracks for my dollars. (the marginal ones go to my hold bin)

rinse repeat...

I used to follow this process, but have recently switched to a different one, which I'm enjoying a lot more.

My problem with using your method is that I tend to wind up with boring tracks. One limitation is that I get hung up on aiming for a cohesive idea for 'my sound', so I decline to add tracks to my cart that wouldn't fit well together. This makes the harvesting process seem more arduous to me - a lot of time is spent exposing myself to 'bad music', and even most of the good stuff gets rejected. Secondly, as I'm listening to the crate over and over for quality control, sometimes I won't be in the same mood as I was when I added the track, so I'll inevitably delete or hold-bin the ones that are more mood-particular. I'll end up with a weedy selection of nondescript, inoffensive tracks; not too cheesy, not too dark. Straight down the middle. Your mileage may vary.

So since I picked up mixing again a few months ago, I've been going by a new system. During the harvest, I add everything - everything - that sounds good to me. I pay no attention to genre, bpm, preconceived ideas about what my style is, whatever. As long as I think it's good. I use beatport classic because I find it more responsive and I prefer the layout. When the cart gets full at 150 tracks, I head to beatport.pro, where I can move the entire lot to the hold bin after a cursory skim. I do this two or three times, until I have about 400 tracks in my hold bin.

From this point, I start listening through the bin, making connections and thinking of ideas for sets. Instead of adding tracks back to the crate, I write lists of songs on paper. I find that this forces me to really consider whether the track will fit into my original concept, or whether I'm just excited by the piece of music at that point in time - it seems stop me getting carried away. It also allows me to construct more than one set simultaneously - you can't really do this when adding to a single cart in beatport.

I have three beatport accounts, so I can then add the tracks from my paper sets to their own crate and listen through for consistency. I'll delete or hold-bin about 15% of the tracks, because they won't fit in with the rest. It also means I can use coupons three times. Each 400 track harvest will itself yield about three or four purchases or 'sets'. After this I'll clear the lot and start afresh.

This method seems to make me feel more excited about shopping on beatport. I buy more extravagant and adventurous stuff, and I find my sets are more focussed and rounded. And sifting through 400 tracks that are all good and listening for ideas, is so much more enjoyable to me, than sifting through a crate listening for tracks that aren't good. It also reduces the amount of critical thinking time during the period of exposure to 'bad' music (ie. stuff that's not already in my crate/bin) because I make the decision about whether something fits or not at a later stage.

This brings me to one tip I can wholeheartedly recommend to anyone: during the period of exposure to junk, keep the volume down. This helps me a lot. If I turn it up for a song that I like and forget to turn it down after, my musical appreciation module gets saturated much quicker and I end the harvesting session, feeling sick of all the crap music out there. Once you have a crate or hold bin full of tracks that are at least half decent, then you can start listening at higher volumes.

[keithace]

That's YOUR workflow for finding records.

Mine works great for me. I find bomb tracks. I play bomb tracks.

[Lanz the joiner]

That's YOUR workflow for finding records.

I'm aware of that. Did it seem like I wasn't?

I wrote a post about my experiences finding music because I thought someone might find it interesting and/or helpful. I wasn't commenting on how your methods work for you, or on the destructive power of your bombs.

[Patch]

I found a couple of your bombs, keithace:

LazyDogs.jpg

[daviedavedave]

I used to find that I bought some seriously bad tracks until I started using the hold bin more gratuitously...

[ImNoDJ]

I used to find that I bought some seriously bad tracks until I started using the hold bin more gratuitously...

Yep, the 'safety' listen of the hold bin a day after I put songs in there has saved me hundreds of dollars. Its amazing how fickle I can be about some songs.

[Lanz the joiner]

What a coincidence. I just got an email from Beatport saying they are introducing multiple carts into Beatport Pro. That gets rid of much of my long-winded process described above. I look forward to putting that to use, once the Pro site starts functioning at a normal speed. Right now it is a great deal slower than the Classic site for me.