For Laptop Dj's: How Do You Arrange Your Music Files?

[markthedoc 0]

I'm about to make the transition from using CD's to using a Laptop and a Numark Omni Control controller at gigs.

 

I've been pondering on what would be the best way to arrange my music files on my computer.

 

I'm thinking maybe have folders such as Party, Motown, Rock etc and then inside each folder have all tracks from that genre but also a folder named something like 'essentials' and put all the biggest and most popular tracks in that folder.

 

Obviously the problem with that is some tracks will fit into many genres.

 

I'm interested in how you guys arrange your music on your hard drives to give me some ideas before I start planning how I'll do mine.

[MintyDave 0]

I have the tracks in genre folders like motown soul 60's etc with actual individual artists listed alpahabetically in folders

Its basically replicates my cd cases.

 

What software are you using? I use virtual dj and have created a load of playlists for the popular tunes from each genre with a golden hour playlist (actually 2 hours) for typical birthdays and weddings. That way especially at the start of a party i can load up a playlist of backgroung music and let it run while i take care of any other odd and ends

[markthedoc 0]

I have the tracks in genre folders like motown soul 60's etc with actual individual artists listed alpahabetically in folders

Its basically replicates my cd cases.

 

What software are you using? I use virtual dj and have created a load of playlists for the popular tunes from each genre with a golden hour playlist (actually 2 hours) for typical birthdays and weddings. That way especially at the start of a party i can load up a playlist of backgroung music and let it run while i take care of any other odd and ends

 

Gonna be using Traktor I think. Not sure if you can create playlists with it, will have to have a look.

Great idea that though.

 

[dj.silver 0]

Gonna be using Traktor I think. Not sure if you can create playlists with it, will have to have a look.

Great idea that though.

You can without doubt create a play list with Traktor, I have, just this second done one for my quiz tonight.

[Dream Catchers 0]

To be honest I am in need of reorganising my mp3s.

At present I have folders for 50s, 60s, 70, 80s, 90s and 00s.

I have also folders for ABBA, Elvis, Motown, Cheese, Northern Soul and Xmas, I have another directory with all my Nows in it.

There are other folders also with compilation CDs like Driving Rock Ballads and I Love 80s in them.

 

When I download a track I normally put it in the decade folder.

 

The problem with it is that I have loads of duplicates for instance It's Raining Men will be in the 80s, Nows, Cheese and also in a couple of the I Love 80s type folders.

 

So I really need to do some proper housekeeping.

 

Jim

[BigBen 0]

I've been going through this very process for the last couple of months. After a lot of head scratching and prototyping I ended up with the same folder structure as Minty Dave...firstly by genre, then by artist, then by year, then by album.

 

The DJ software you use should have the ability to add a track to more than one category. I would create a category called 'essentials' and add your essential tracks to it. I plan to break this down by genre, too, so I'd have soul_essentials, dance_essentials, etc.

 

It's my first gig on Saturday where I plan to use the laptop almost exclusively. I'm just putting it through the final 24 hour soak test!

[stardust 0]

I use Traktor and have the following setup..

 

One Big Folder with sub folders of Genre etc (eg. Punk, 2008 Pop etc) situated on my Desktop (for easy access)

 

I then dragged these folders into Itunes - and have all the playlist folders on the left hand tree structure.

 

In Traktor i then use the Itunes functionality and play my tracks from the Itunes directory in the left hand side tree of Traktor.

 

I like this setup as i can access my music (folder/Genre structure) via Itunes

(which is good for burning music onto CD, tagging etc and generally updating and maintaining your collection)

 

And when i am in DJ mode i can open Traktor and use the same tree structure to DJ!

 

 

 

[DJ Shuggy 0]

i store my files in alphabetical order by artist

 

a

ABBA

alphabeat

b

barry white

beachboys

c

Cascada

Cher

 

i'm sure you are getting the picture now. I then make playlist like 60s,70s, pop, rock, etc....

 

It took a hell of a time to set up, but looking after it is easy.

[Dukesy 0]

i store my files in alphabetical order by artist

 

a

ABBA

alphabeat

b

barry white

beachboys

c

Cascada

Cher

 

i'm sure you are getting the picture now. I then make playlist like 60s,70s, pop, rock, etc....

 

It took a hell of a time to set up, but looking after it is easy.

 

Funny enough, that's the same way as I file the CDs.

 

[Ste Owens 0]

If you go into my hard drive you will see lots of folders with common artists names:

 

ABBA

BEATLES

CRAIG DAVID etc...

 

But then in the same folder I have all my titles stored like:

 

Numba 1 - Tinchy Stryder ft. N Dubz.mp3

Nude - Radiohead.mp3

Nuclear Attack - Gary Moore.mp3

Nu Flow - Big Brovas.mp3

 

Thats because I used to rename every track!! Which took ages but works well. But now I just have this system of about 8000 files and a folder of just albums with about 300 in it.

 

But also I have: Fave Club Tunes and Bootlegs in this I have all the tunes in which I play in the clubs and this is what I use the most and within that I have about 600 dance and club tunes.

 

Ste

[Revelationroadshow 0]

I'm a mixmiester user, not sure if that makes a difference.

 

Albums regardless whether they are artist or compilation have a folder per album, named with the artist and sub folder with the album, or simply (for the sake of the NOW's and similar) the album.

 

For individual tracks, I have a variety of folders. The simplist is years, so for the last few years have had a 2007, 2008 and now 2009 folder as well as 1980's etc... I also have some gendre specific where is helps me to do so. For example, a few weeks ago we did a part where the client was a huge hip hop fan, so I now have a hip hop folder.

 

Finally I generally set up a folder specific to a client where I have a reasonably comprehensive playlist. Find this really helps me focus on there selections.

 

Doing it all this way in Mixmiester really helps find track. As a CD jock for many years, my brain still tells me which CD I need, so having a folder per CD is perfect. It also helps when looking for inspiration on the night in the same way using CD's does. So if I want something a little up to date and there's nothing suitable in the 2009 folder, I just have a look in a couple of the NOW folders and so on....