Looking for best way to sort my library

Hi guys,

So thought I would give it a go here, and see if some good tips come up.

I got a library with a size around 70k tracks I always bring on my SSD for the open format jobs (I know I dont need this much music, but you never know what sorts of wishes comes up at weddings etc.)

But I think I need to do a better sorting aimed at the different kind of genres and the age I´m aiming at.

At this moment I have the usual: 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s and so on.

Do you guys then make subcrates, say 00s - 00s children, 00s pop, 00s Rock (This is how I have done it) or are you more specific than that? Or do you focus on the genres instead?

I´m open for new ideas - pics would be awesome to get an idea as well :slight_smile:

Best regards Engell

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I normally get really specific with making my crates. See the pic.

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Vandetta, This a very good sort you have done. Of course it means that you know very good you songs and the years of them. Now after 10 years of being an inactive dj I started to re create in prime 4 all my collection in mp3s with a type of sorting like yours but more simple. My biggest issue is that on many songs genre is not clear, this is a headache for me. Good job!!

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I know your pain. When I first started I did not focus on curation. I had friends who’s library was a mess, some had no titles. I keep my songs and playlists immaculate. All correct art, title, album, genre and year. I took a while to get all my songs organized. I did a little everyday. Now everytime I import a song, I make sure all the information is there. It’s less stress when performing and it just makes me want to play music. You’ll get there. Goodluck!

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Thanks for your input Vandetta :smiley:

Looks good, and as you say - it takes time… But guess its kinda like the road you have gone down, I´m going to take myself…

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It get more tricky if you want to sort out tracks in the same genre. It’s a pain, because tracks can belong to more than one sub-genre.

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It definitely does get stressful sometimes, however, I found a way around it by clicking on the main crate if I need to get macro view of all the songs in the sub-crates.

I add lots of details in the genre category. Listen to all the tracks while I am doing other things. Slowly update my library. For me its about describing what is noticeable in the track. If the track is not in English I often give a region name. Also research many genre and music styles to add more terms and descriptions.

I like adding terms to tracks rather than putting tracks into crates cause it lets me search and make playlist on the fly.

Each line describes a song, this is a sample of my genre category

  • World / Arab / 2 Step / Rap
  • Trap / African / Deep house / Tech
  • Pop Rock Country Rock / Soft Rock
  • Pop Rock / Soul / Funk
  • House African /
  • House / World / Ethiopia / Drums
  • Hip-Hop / Funk / Soul / Alternative Rock / Trip-Hop
  • Hebrew World Soul Funk
  • Future Jazz / Soul / Broken / Chillout / Downtempo House
  • Fusion / Groove / Funk / Hip-Hop
  • Funk / Soul / Big Band
  • Folk Rock / Experimental / world / tuvan
  • Flamenco / Spanish / Latin / Guitar / Fairytale / Magical
  • Electro-Jazz / Chillout / Jazz-House / Funky Breaks / Acid House
  • Downtempo house African / Afro /
  • Downtempo / House / Afro
  • Downbeat / Hip-Hop / Smooth / Rap / Groove / Electronica
  • Disco/Nu Disco/Re-Edits
  • Danehall / Reggaeton / Latin / Spanish / Pop
  • Cuban / Latin / Spanish / Guaguanc / Guaracha / Guajira / Bolero / Son Montuno
  • Country Rock / Folk
  • Brazil Hip-hop / Rap / Portuguese / Latin / Crossover
  • Brazil / Ragga / Samba / Drums / Batucada / Groove / Bass
  • Africanism / Deep house / Drums / Downtempo / World
  • African / Highlife / Jazzy / Chillout
  • Acoustic / Soul / Guitar / Jazz / Minimal / Acapella / Chillout
  • 90s / Hip-hop / Oldskool / R&B
  • 80s Pop / Dance
  • 70’S R&B
  • 2 Step / House / Breaks / Bass / Brazil / Funk
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Just curious what do you call those Kaytranda type tracks.

Not quite sure where they sit, Nu Funk, Future RNB?

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hahaha yeah… Kaytranada is a genre :smile: Really I know his music so I search for Kaytranada more than by genre when DJing. Like all the tracks in my library the more I listen to them and more importantly the more I play them out I adjust the terms. I am a vibe and feel DJ, I do use crates to group vibes but if you look at my genre terms they also start to reflect a vibe. In the end as long as you know what the terms mean to you, it works.

  • Be Your Girl (Kaytranada Edition) - Groove Downbeat Electro Future Funk Neo soul
  • Cranes In The Sky (Kaytranada Dj Edit) - R&B / Groove / Nu disco / Downtempo house / Soulful
  • Diggin’ On You (Flippin’ On You) [Kaytranada Edit] - Future Funk / Hip Hop / Groove
  • Holdin On (Kaytranada Edit) - Funk Electronica / Left field / Ambient Soul / Minimal
  • Hot Jazzybelle - Groove / Funk
  • Hot Jazzybelle (Mr Carmack Remix, ft. Anderson Paak) - Soul Groove Hiphop
  • Just Wanna Be Your Girl Remix - Groove / Electronica / Nu Disco / R&B / 90s
  • Kiss Of Life (Kaytranada Edit) - R&B Soul Jazzy Trip-hop
  • Lite Spots - Fushion Funk / Groove / Hip-Hop / Portuguese / World Jazz / Left field
  • The Right Time (Kaytranada Rmx) - Nu Funk / Breaks / Pop / Bboy
  • Vivid Dreams [ft. River Tiber] - Trip-hop / Downtempo House / Deep
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No truer words

I just have a crate of his stuff lol, a real genre bender he is

Yo. Master Yoda in da house ! :- :smile:

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HI Vandetta, can you show me the rest of your crates?

@Papaoke. Sure, check it out below. Keep in mind I am still refining as I go. For example, my regional section is just a placeholder. I just created an International crate but that will just be broad. e.x. K-Pop, Arabian, Japanese R&B, Grime.

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Thank you very much!

Smart crates was not even here 5 years ago, stop spreading false news.

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Okay, putting max-faked-pic smart crate mis-recollections aside for now, one big thing I’d advise that when you organise a library is to remove your duplicates first.

It’s painful to spend weeks adding album art, tags, etc only to then delete those tracks fully tagged & art corrected album art etc afterwards, just coz it’s got more crackles in.

Duplicates are also a performance nightmare. Why? Well, if you’ve got 3 identical versions of the same track in your collection, as an example “Endor: pump it up” .

At home you might load up a “endor: pump it up” and correct Beatgrid, set cue point, added some names hot cues, and named loops.

At the club that weekend, you load an endor: pump it up and… no corrected Beatgrid, no cues, no loops cause you’d loaded one of the duplicate tracks, not your prepared one. - so duplicates are bad news.

you are not updated, so please stop spreading fake news. See attached. Thank you.

Interesting, even on serato support oldest crates related info is from 6 years ago…

In year 2010 you probably had no idea what smart crates were, no problem, you can always learn something rather than attribute to others the fake.