Traktor DJs, How do you manage files/new music and what do you name your Playlists??
Hey all,
two questions:
1: How do you manage files? Do you have everything on Itunes and then make playlists? and if thats the case how many songs are in each ‘folder’ per playlist
2: what do you name your playlists?
so what I do is have folders in itunes and then import the folders as playlists into my collection. Problem I am running into is once I reach a certain number of songs in a playlist I find myself feeling sticking to music I’m used to and not playing some of my newest stuff.
In terms of what you name your playlists, I’m really just feeding my curiosity. My lists are such as hip hop, pop, edm pop, edm electro, trap, oldschool, classic remixes, ect ect sortve like that.
I usually manage my music in iTunes. I start by giving every new track all id3-information i have. Mostly thats enough due to intelligent playlists. For example my techno-playlist contains 291 songs.
If I’m playing gigs i create some playlists with tracks that go very well together and that i want to play that evening/mix-session.
i also use the latest added playlist iTunes brings on its own. This way i can’t forget to play the newest tracks i found.
The names for my playlists are quite varied and purely based on association. So I have playlists based on a broader feel (e.g. “dark”, “deep” - but I more or less stopped using those, they get too big too quickly), on the sound of certain clubs (e.g. “kater holzig”), or even the names of drugs (“ketamine house” anyone? ). Just sort them by a certain sound/feel and give it a label that you can remember
I absolutely love that idea and I’m going to start doing that. There’s some tracks that are so obviously designed for specific things that there’s no other way to label them. You’re a genius.
I’ve got Deep/Tech House, Dark Tech House/Techno, Chill House, Bassy House/Garage, UK Garage, Minimal Techno, Acid Techno and Funky House. The Drak Tech House/Techno one is basically anything dark which doesn’t really fit a genre, everything else is pretty self explanatory.
I play open format. Sometimes at clubs in the city, sometimes small country bars. I’ve even done a few weddings. My crates are sorted by vague genre labels with around 100-300 songs each. Top 40/House, Bass Music, Trap, Hip Hop, Rock, Redneck Shit, Remix Decks Sets.
For specific events, I’ll make a folder in my music collection and label it #Such And Such Playlist, or whatever symbol will make it pop up first when I open up my root music folder. I also have an encoder on my X1 that scrolls and opens folders, so I don’t need to touch the laptop to get to any of them.
I’m pre editing everything on my PC with MP3Tag then move them to my MBP. Any editing after that happens through Traktor. Back up of those music files end up on my Timecapsule.
I import everything into my Track Collection and then use the Genre playlists to choose my tracks.
I’ve just recently added the year to the comments field and set up playlists in Traktor based on year>genre, e.g 2011 Progressive, 2011 Trance etc etc.
I usually organize them in a folder outside of traktor then import, so in case i want to burn a folder to CDs when i have to play a festival or something it’ll be faster for me to find what I’m looking for and get done. I find it the best way too in keeping my music organized
I usually scramble for certain records in my unorganized record crate and throw the record sleeve across the room, which I subsequently slip on while mixing the next track. From there I get very personal with my crossfader as I hit my chin on it whilst doing a scooby -doo running in place to gain traction on the ground underneath my feet. If that doesn’t work I’ll pick a song from one of the genre folders in traktor.
1 - One playlist of tracks I’ve never played on the podcast, so I can pull from that and not have to worry about playing the same track twice. New music gets dumped straight in here.
2 - For every mix I record, I save a playlist of what was actually played. Helps with #1, and also helps me remember, “what was that track I played after this one 2 months ago?”
3 - Before every live show, I put together a playlist of tunes that I think would go really well with that crowd and venue specifically (like 3heads said). I pick out 2-3 times as much music as I’ll actually have time to play, so that I have room to adapt to what’s happening but don’t have to waste time scrolling through my whole library picking things out.
Everything else in this thread as far as genre etc… I just use tags for that ¯_(ツ_/¯
). Just sort them by a certain sound/feel and give it a label that you can remember 
