Tips for organising your CDs

[Citizen]

So I recently bought a cheap cdj, and am now faced with the task of burning discs to play out.

Any tips for how best to organise tracks logically on CDs?

Do people burn one a disc, so as to be able to play any combination of tunes, or are peeps more frugal, and burn mini-compilations etc?

Sorry if this seems like a dumb Q, but I saw someones wallet the other day and was surprised to see individual tracks burnt to CDs.

All tips appreciated!

[louislogic]

if you aren't keeping to the single track per CD rule, just burn 2x of your CD's that have a couple of tracks on them so you can still go from track to track.

[stezza333]

Yeah I've heard some people burn 1 track per CD. I say waste of time and money imo. $25 for 50 tracks.

I usually burn 7-10 tracks to a CD but thats just me. Sometimes I try and make sure the keys of tracks on the same CD don't match up with one another.

Also you could burn 10 tracks per CD and make another copy of it. That way you won't have to worry about 2 tracks being on the same CD.

[louislogic]

my new avatar is rather sensual

[midtdk]

I normally place 5-6 tracks in a folder

C:\HOUSE\CD 0141 - Apr 09\

then use a freeware program someone here mentioned called Dirlister. It will list list out all the files in your directory in a txt file. I then copy the names into a word document where Ive made a "template" the size of my CD wallet inlays. Print out those stupid inlays, glue them to some cardboard and stick it in my cd wallet... Its quite timeconsuming though... One of these days Im gonna get a printer with software or something that can print directly on to CDs...

I just bought mixedinkeys yday so now I gotta come up with a whole new "system" based on key's etc etc... Ohh the work

[mmc_79]

Itunes, print playlist, put into cd wallet, done :)

[quantum8]

you'll prolly start off with a way to organise your cds, then change a couple of weeks later to a more suitable way.

experiment to see what's best for you to remember where it all is!

[Lloyd C]

Itunes, print playlist, put into cd wallet, done :)

mine always make the font to large, and usually my track names get cut off... do you know if there is a way around this?

[pEAkeR_hAT]

Lol, just go one track per CD.



Trust me, $25 for 50 tracks is stupidly cheap compared with vinyl

[seth111]

^And would you ever need more than 240 cds for a gig?

[khaiyin]

I started off with 1 track per CD; wallet was filling up fast and CDs were flying out the window. Now I do up to 10 tracks (of the same genre) per CD and burn 2 copies of it. Print out little labels in excel with artist name/song title/bpm (and key when I get around to it ><) and slip these in front of the CD, just behind the plastic sleeve thingy.
This requires you to remember whereabouts (chronologically) your tracks are though, since it isn't alphabetical or anything.

[seanious]

I use to do 3-4 tracks per CD that I know I would be very unlikely to want to mix together...then I got serato

[mmc_79]

mine always make the font to large, and usually my track names get cut off... do you know if there is a way around this?

I used to think that was gonna be a problem but let's face it we do have a memory so ull get enough info so YOU know what it is.

[djmaximus]

Organise by artists, i find it rare to ever mix between the same artist. :)

[Skerik]

$25 for 50 tracks is stupidly cheap compared with vinyl

$20-$30 for 2 tracks, 4 if you were lucky...

i'm with you dude, much cheaper these days!

tho lately im starting to regret making mp3 discs with 3297586023865 songs on them for 2 reasons -

1: i forget whats on them and have to carry the laptop to search for a track (gotta love spotlight)

2: Not every club has players that can read mp3 discs...

so im back to burning wavs to disc - makes for easier labeling too - less tracks = writing on the disc!

[Bracko]

.wav =/= CD audio codec.

p.s. told you so :haha:

[Citizen]

Thanks for the tips guys - appreciated!

(DAMN I wish I had my Serato back - Catherine, if you are reading this, please give it back!!!!)

[Jonno115]

Catherine, if you are reading this, please give it back!!!!)

lol

i burn 14 tracks per CD,
2 copies of each CD
it works

[nicbebbo]

I burn as many as i can fit on the cd, i print the cd tracklist out on itunes and i burn doubles of every cd i burn.

I sort my music by genre's in my 400cd wallet, then each half of that genre is split into "new and old" and sorted by month and cd#.. eg " Hard electro New March09 Disc1"

[mmc_79]

i always keep mine in order of date, but now im sorta thinking i wish they were all kept in date order but separated by genres.....was thinking maybe ever a different folder but then id end up with too many.......maybe highlighting a colour for each style is the way

[JDeli]

Generally 4-6 tracks per CD or i just put an EP on if thats what ive bought

Name and BPM written onto the label including an A01 or B01 then obviousy B02 for the next cd etc. The A, B and C is seperate Genres and the number is just to make it easier to put CD's back when im playing in the dark or if i lose 1 i can just go straight to that playlist at home and re-burn me another copy.
2 copies of everything.

This means that my CD's are sorted by date purchased pretty much but i find things quite easily.

I did just buy a new printer on the weekend though that can print onto CD's so im currently deciding whether to change my current system or not. :stroke:

[maaaa]

Question - when printing off playlists in itunes do you use the 'cd jewel case insert' option or the 'song listing' option with customised?

with the cd jewel case template you get bigger writing but it seems like some of the info gets cut off like the artist. with the customised 'song listing' you get all (most?) of the info however the writing seems small.

This is a pretty pointless post on a tedious thing i just wanted to see what people did or if they found a work around for these little things? (Nice big font with all the info :p)

Cheers

[LP15]

A few people have already said it but just to x2

I first started out doing bits of everything, from clubs to pubs, from mobile to corporate so the easiest thing I found was put as many as you can on a CD, double it and appropriately mark/call it.

Even when I moved to just dance music I find it a waste only putting one track on one CD, doesn't make any sense to me. And yea man GET YOUR SERATO BACK!!! It was like all my Christmases came at once when I got that sweet sweet little box. (sounds raunchy haha)

EDIT: and you HAVE to make sure you keep them sorted by genre, even sub genre like I do with my serato crates. The Best thing about this as well is if you do it via folders or playlists in itunes when you get your serato back all the hard work is already done!

[saad]

8-10 tracks per cd, by genre (just a rough genre). Burn in itunes, then use a program called disclabel to print the playlist ona printable CD. Really easy, and automatic. i them comment the tune in tiunes to 'burned'. But I havent burned a CD in a few monhts, just been using traktor

[Eros le Tardfack]

hands up who's flipped through their entire cd wallet looking for a tune, not found it, flipped back again, still not found it and had to admit defeat and play something else?

i hate it when that happens.

[harlsom]

mixed in key has a great guide for this kind of thing on their website:
http://www.harmonic-mixing.com/OrganizeYourMusicCDsForHarmonicMixing.aspx

I also think a MUST is having an index of your own - on paper.
I used to work for a mobile DJ company and the index they made for their song list saved my ass so many times.
Since most of the gigs were private parties and corporate functions it was mostly retro to current pop and commercial dance sort of stuff, so as well as full indexes listed by artist and song title, he also had lists for each different genre/era with ratings of songs.
So like for recent rock kind of stuff he had a page of stuff like "Bon jovi - living on a prayer", 80's rock would have stuff like "working class man" - crowd pleasers rated high.

Of course the indexes and rating lists also had references to what CD and track it would be found on.
Before I stopped doing that gig he had started building some systems that ran on laptops using virtual dj. With that set up, even though i could search for any track i wanted, sometimes I would forget what i actually wanted, and I'd have to look at the hardcopy lists anyway cuz it makes things easy to find, rather than having to memorize ur entire collection.

[slackas]

hands up who's flipped through their entire cd wallet looking for a tune, not found it, flipped back again, still not found it and had to admit defeat and play something else?

i hate it when that happens.

Dude at least once a night... Just realized on Saturday that one tune that i always look for... is not actually in my CD wallet LOL

[Carte Blanche]

One track per CD, sorted by key.

[Skerik]

hands up who's flipped through their entire cd wallet looking for a tune, not found it, flipped back again, still not found it and had to admit defeat and play something else?


:hooray: or :rock: <--- these are the only 'hands up' emoticons, unless you count thes guys - :prydz: and :ahoy:

and yeah, i've done exactly that at least once every gig since i started...

hate hate hate

[samwiseb]

I use iTunes and Disc Label. You can create templates in it and it grabs the info from all the iTunes playlists I've created. The way iTunes prints the cover things out is crap.

http://www.smileonmymac.com/DiscLabel/index.html

[Sprouley]

just do 10 tracks to a cd and try not get shit that would be hetik to mix

[Dj Shuflz]

i've found the best way to keep my collections organised is iTunes, (i do the 10 tracks to a cd of a specific genre, burn x2, get all the data, key etc...) then say for example i download 10 tracks of Hard Dance on 20th April 09, i'll create a playlist and name it this, select all tracks in the playlist righ click > get info > grouping: "20th April 09 Disc 1".
i dont think i did a very goodjob of explaining that but end of story ive never ever not been able to find a track in my wallet with enuf time to cue.

If you want a proper explanation pm me :P, but yeah as somone said wotever works for u i guess.

[SwordSnare]

^^ Pretty much has already been said...create crates, playlists, etc...burn copies X 4 (to be sure).

[maaaa]

haha urgh disclabel is for mac. WTF is a .DMG file im wondering.
Anyone know of a windows equivalent, that can steal itunes playlists?

[SwordSnare]

haha urgh disclabel is for mac. WTF is a .DMG file im wondering.
Anyone know of a windows equivalent, that can steal itunes playlists?

.dmg (disk Image) is like a windows .exe file?...I think you can export a playlist (right-click) to either a .txt or .xml file :thumb:

[slackas]

Does anybody have a really good template for around 7 tracks per disk in cover designer?

Experimenting with a few, just wish i had a mac, because the standard templates on disclabel look good!

[seanious]

Was thinking about how to solve this delema of finding a song in a collection of burnt CDs and my subconcious was naggin me that I had read how to do it before. So 5 minutes of googling and I have rediscovered the solution to his problem

hands up who's flipped through their entire cd wallet looking for a tune, not found it, flipped back again, still not found it and had to admit defeat and play something else?


It is in this:

i've found the best way to keep my collections organised is iTunes, (i do the 10 tracks to a cd of a specific genre, burn x2, get all the data, key etc...) then say for example i download 10 tracks of Hard Dance on 20th April 09, i'll create a playlist and name it this, select all tracks in the playlist righ click > get info > grouping: "20th April 09 Disc 1".
i dont think i did a very goodjob of explaining that but end of story ive never ever not been able to find a track in my wallet with enuf time to cue.

If you want a proper explanation pm me :P, but yeah as somone said wotever works for u i guess.

Proper explanation by me is do what you are doing. Create one playlist per CD that you burn. In that playlist make sure you have all the useful columns (Track, Artist BPM, Genre, Comment) and be sure to have the column "Grouping".

Select all songs click "Get Info", hit Ok on any warning that appears. Enter the name of your CD (ie "20th April 09 Disc 1") into the grouping field, check the checkbox next to it. Hit ok and magic all songs now have the name of their CD in the their grouping field! Repeat on all your playlists (not looking forward to doing this...)

Now just make sure all your CD playlists are organising into a CDs folder or something similar in your iTunes. View the folder, organise by track name, genre or whatever. Copy the entire list to an excel spreesheet and you have a full directory of all your songs and what CDs they appear in. Easy. You will probably only need to print it out once every 3-4 months as you should know where to find all your fresh choons.

Thanks Dj Shuflz!

[Alex Quest]

I normally place 5-6 tracks in a folder

C:\HOUSE\CD 0141 - Apr 09\

then use a freeware program someone here mentioned called Dirlister. It will list list out all the files in your directory in a txt file. I then copy the names into a word document where Ive made a "template" the size of my CD wallet inlays. Print out those stupid inlays, glue them to some cardboard and stick it in my cd wallet... Its quite timeconsuming though... One of these days Im gonna get a printer with software or something that can print directly on to CDs...

I just bought mixedinkeys yday so now I gotta come up with a whole new "system" based on key's etc etc... Ohh the work


Yello!

My way of doing this is almost the same.Except i use winamp to generate a html playlist. Doing that i get the track no. Artist, title, key, the bpm and the lenght listed.

Printing on cds.... don't go there if you can afford inkjet only. Thermal is more expensive and u need thermal cds. If u print usink injet, u'll end up with ugly and messed up cds as humidity in the air and grease from ur fingers will be on it when u put it back in the sleeve. Next time u won't be able to get it out.... it'll stick.....

Pick the songs, put them on cd's, print some covers that u can put in the sleeve in front of the disc (LASER ONLY) and that's it.......

Timeconsuming as hell but will last 4ever... (not that it would be a requirement).

Mixed in key... USE IT FOR REFERENcE ONLY!!!!!!!!!
Building a mix based on the keys doesn't work 4 me and it
took me 6 months to realise.....

This is a personal experience so try it anyway....

To organise ur cds:

Try this if u like the idea:
Create 4 folders. Put 6-8 tracks in each.
Folders are:1-intro, 2-warm up, 3-showtime 4-outro.

Don't make 2x cds of the same tracks. I think it's pointless. Do it only when you NEED to have a backup...

I hope i could help!

Cheers:
Dj Alex Quest

[twiggy88]

Generally 4-6 tracks per CD or i just put an EP on if thats what ive bought

Name and BPM written onto the label including an A01 or B01 then obviousy B02 for the next cd etc. The A, B and C is seperate Genres and the number is just to make it easier to put CD's back when im playing in the dark or if i lose 1 i can just go straight to that playlist at home and re-burn me another copy.
2 copies of everything.

This means that my CD's are sorted by date purchased pretty much but i find things quite easily.

I did just buy a new printer on the weekend though that can print onto CD's so im currently deciding whether to change my current system or not. :stroke:


How do you find out what the BPM is of the song without burning it and sticking it in your cd player?:meh:
Or does everyone just burn the cd, chuck it in there cdj and take note of the bpm?:thumb:

[slackas]

rapid evolution can find out BPM...

Im going to change to One track per disk, using disclabel (fk yea got MBP now), and label it with ARTIST, LABEL, KEY and GENRE

its going to almost feel like searching for vinyl again

[Sideshow Rod]

My shit is usually put together in genre / sub genre... the named CD1, CD2 etc with a date so I know when I burnt them

example: Big Beat & Funk CD 1 ... --> 20
example: Assorted Beats & Breaks CD1... --> 20
example: Assorted tech house CD1... --> 20
example: Hip Hop & club RnB CD1... --> 20
example: Chillled Tunes (Warm Up) CD1... --> 20

I have a big CD wallet and 2 smaller wallets that go with me everywhere I play - you never know what tunes you are going to need.

[Alex Quest]

How do you find out what the BPM is of the song without burning it and sticking it in your cd player?:meh:
Or does everyone just burn the cd, chuck it in there cdj and take note of the bpm?:thumb:


Use a program like mixed in key. That will analyze ur tracks and can rename the file for u, or add comments to it (showing the bpm and/or key).

[talio93]

rapid evolution can find out BPM...

Im going to change to One track per disk, using disclabel (fk yea got MBP now), and label it with ARTIST, LABEL, KEY and GENRE

its going to almost feel like searching for vinyl again

this is almost exactly what i do.. it works really well. i just put one track per CD with TRACK TITLE, KEY, ARTIST... and then i divide everything up into genres in my CD wallet. :) although i am getting torq/traktor soon... so i doubt i'll be makin many CD's

[seanious]

this is almost exactly what i do.. it works really well. i just put one track per CD with TRACK TITLE, KEY, ARTIST... and then i divide everything up into genres in my CD wallet. :) although i am getting torq/traktor soon... so i doubt i'll be makin many CD's

If you intend on playing out at a club at some time it's worth it to keep the habbit of burning tracks. Beats not doing it for 4 months and then spending a weekend getting your CD collection up to date.

[talio93]

^^^ i'll keep that in mind :)