I just started dj-ing this year, and I only play cd's, really I consider
myself more of a music programmer, rather than a "real dj"
Anyway, I found it very difficult to remember the tracks I wanted to play
just by looking at the spines & covers of the cd's, no matter what kind of
order they were in, with all those albums and compilations, I'd end up
playing the same tracks at every gig, and then later at home I'd look
closely at the cds and remember that I should have played all these other
tracks. I decided what I really needed was a list of tracks to play, so I
made a word document that orgainzes all my "good" tracks by bpm. Here's a
snipit:
duologic5, city6, work5, zero7.8, zimpala1, bluestates1,
gammas-all-of-me, mr.hermano2
-------------------------------------------------------
80 city12, soulsitce6, bluestates9, underwolves9, easytempo15
--------------------------------------------------------
silentwords2, work11, nylon4, sorry, narcotix2, gerd9
---------------------------------------------------------
85 sonark5, pauls2.13, duologic8, ruralsff8, positivesweat12,
gerd3
------------------------------------------------------------
alexkidd4, jazzanova2.2, balduin18, simply-are, calm3, armada4,
brazilbeats10, pivotal10, bluestates2, gerd5
------------------------------------------------------------
90 minus8.1, bonobo2, pauls1.8, madrid2, work3, MGbest6,
narcotix10, iknights13, bluestates3
-----------------------------------------------------------
(walkin in the rain), modaji7, rollercone4, meltdown1.4
---------------------------------------------------------------
95 alexkidd3(3), precyz3, riviera5(gotan), silentwords8,
ruralsff1, work13, suzuki5, G.deIpanema, sure-thing,
soulstance1, tejada6, gluck4.2, gerd2
--------------------------------------------------
etc....... upto 130 bpm, and a few that are even higher
Most tracks are listed by abbreviated album title and track number. I find
that by looking at these short-hand entries I can quick ly remember more or
less what the track sounds like (or at least 80% of them). This is better
than looking at the album, which just reminds of what the album is like as a
whole, making it easy to overlook certain outstanding tracks.
Organizing by bpm has helped make my sets sound a lot smoother, though it
does have some drawbacks: I find that bpm does not exactly reflect the
energy level of a track, depending on if it's a straight 4 on the floor, or
if it's a break beat, what kind of break beat, or even if there are double
time beats, and how stong they are. But anyway, I find it's a lot better
than what I was doing before.
This is actually more of a "safe" list, done specifically for up-scale
lounge/restaurant type gigs, where the stakes are high, and the manager is
very nervous about pleasing the the well-heeled patrons, i.e. nothing too
weird, so this is mostly euro downtempo, midtempo, and deep house, a lot of
it with a nice latin and/or brazilian flavor.
Other places I can get into more d&b, broken beats, R&B, a little hip-hop,
and classic acid jazz. When I get to play this stuff there's always a lot
less pressure, so I don't worry so much about it, and just play whatever I
feel like.
My case contains all the CD's from the above list, plus whatever else I feel
like throwing in that day. At home, all the other CD's are just lying
around. I have removed all of them from their jewel cases, and put them
into jewel sleeves (see: jewelsleeve.com) I like this a lot better than
using those books, it keeps each CD as a seperate unit, for easy shuffling
in and out of rotationa, and it keeps all the artwork with the CD, the back
part as well as the booklet.
Hope that's enough info for you. Thanks for starting a great thread.
peace&vibes
Eric Kitel
>From: "Mike Rosales" <m.rosales@weserv.com.ph>
>To: acid-jazz@ucsd.edu
>Subject: Slightly OT: Organizing Albums
>Date: 22 Aug 2001 12:11:00 +0800
>
>Ok, here it goes...
>
>I was wondering how you organize your collection (CDs, vinyls, DATs,
>acetates,
>MP3s, what have you).
>
>I usually arrange mine according to date of purchase (which is at times,
>silly),
>and if there's a new album from, say, 4Hero, I'd put it together with all
>their
>previous albums/EPs, so that it would be in the same area. However, as the
>collection grows, I find it a bit hard to track down a particular
>album/track,
>especially if you move an album from one spot to another quite frequently.
>
>A friend suggested that I arrange this according to genre, but I dunno
>where to
>start, and knowing that AJ (or AJ-related music) has a thousand and one
>names,
>I'd probably get lost along the way.
>
>How do you do yours? Inputs from DJs out there would probably be valuable.
>
>Live well.
>
>/Mike
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