A couple questions on music library file management and organization
So I’ve finally tagged and trimmed down my entire Traktor library with trainspotter and got all tags and cover art from beatport. Now the only thing I haven’t figured out is how to organize the actual files on my hard drive.
I trimmed down a massive library of all types of music from like 30,000 songs I hoarded over the course of almost 10 years and trimmed it down to 2500 or so for DJing. Now I deleted the files through traktor or trainspotter which still leave a huge mess of abandoned folders and subfolders leftover from when I had everything intricately sorted.
This is annoying and it takes forever for traktor to import folders and consistency check anything.
I need to pull all of my tracks from wherever they are in my nest of folders and sort them into a simple system that will just split everything up into genre folders unless I can think of a better system. Is there any program for mac that will do this for me?
What about a program for mac that will rename all my files from their tag information so everything looks neat?
I just went through my old HD last week. I dragged stuff from traktor into different genre folders then made a playlist in traktor for each of those folders. idk if that helps, not to sure about programs either.
btw thanks for mentioning trainspotter. Ive never heard of it, but it my come in handy
Why bother with genre folders when the Traktor collection displays by genre? idk, I just let itunes put everything in organized folders as I never use the finder to get my tunes.
Also, if you’re using Trainspotter, make sure to take advantage of the Dynamic Playlist feature. I have my songs arranged by energy level, theme/sub-genre (chick, beach..), and bpm ranges.
Check the Relocation page in the preferences, then click Manage Playlists, right click on the playlist you want to process and click Tools->Relocate Tracks, then click Start.
Probably best to test a small playlist first before renaming your entire collection.
Honestly, iTunes is going to be your friend here. I’ve always hated it too, preferring to organize my folders my self (I always did big genre based folders too, and still keep my “master” backup organized like that).
Install iTunes, set it to copy files into the itunes music folder and to keep that folder organized. Import your whole collection into it, take a little time to make sure you’ve got your genres how YOU want them (ummm, was that Deep Soulful House or Progressive Dark Cryptic House or…ARRRGH). Then, whip up some quick smart playlists based on them.
After that, you’ll have perfectly genre organized playlists to use in Traktor. And when you drop a new song into iTunes it will automatically route its way into those playlists.
Also, doing it that way will leave your existing folders intact, copy them off to a backup drive or something.
Like I said, I’ve always loathed iTunes, but it really is worth it to use it for Traktor.
No thanks, that’s not what I was asking and I refuse to use itunes within traktor since there is no cover art among a ton of other reasons why itunes still sucks. Some people seem to suck it up and use it but the cons far outweigh any pros.
I’m just looking for a way to sort my files and clean up my collection and looks like trainspotter will do it (and trainspotter also does smart playlists).
Though i find some art work in serato (when i use it) doesnt show up with AIFF files. Which is a shame cause that’s my preferred format now that beatport do em
I see myself in the future being on both SSL and traktor and then using ableton for prep work. So I’m trying to find a program that plays well with all, auto filling information would be a huge plus as well.
And no need for a separate key program, huge plus.