How to Organize Your Music Library For DJs

As a DJ, tracking your ever-growing music collection may be problematic. On the other hand, a well-organized collection can help a DJ a lot by making it much easier to find the right songs for any situation. 

Knowing how to organize your music efficiently is a necessary skill for DJs.

With that said, this post will teach you the basics of managing your music library, like how to organize your songs into playlists and how to tag and name your files correctly. 

So whether you’re just starting or have been DJing for a long time, these tips will help you get the most out of your music collection and improve as a great DJ.

So this is the place to start if you want to learn how to DJ and get your music organized. Grab a notebook and get ready to be more organized and efficient in your work.

Importance of Organizing Your Music Library

It’s necessary to organize your entire music collection. If your music collection is well organized, you’ll be able to focus more on mixing.

DJs have to deal with time all the time. A DJ must pick a song, match its beat, and plan their transition. Hence, when you organize your music library, you have more time to do the other things you need to do to mix two songs.

If you don’t have to look for songs as much, you’ll have more time to work on a smooth transition. Since you’ll have more time, you can try out different kinds of music and sound effects in your mixes. 

That is, organizing your library gives you time to do things like set up loops, add new parts, or add effects.

Also, it’s important to add new music to your collection often and keep your old favorites. 

If your collection is well organized, it will be easy to decide which songs to keep and which to eliminate. Also, it’s essential to keep adding new music to your collection while keeping your old favorites around. 

Aside from these benefits, putting together a music collection may also make you more efficient and give you peace of mind because you know where everything is. You can save copies of your most current setups and tracklists or put them all in one folder for easy access.

List of Applications You Can Use to Organize Your Music Library

Apple Inc.

DJs often use products made by Apple, Inc.  And these products include iPads, iPods, MacBooks, and even Apple music. Plus, they often use iTunes a lot, too. And this is due to the fact that the system provides a framework for immediate application. But if you use iTunes and already have a list of songs you want to listen to, then half the task is done.

iTunes works with almost all DJ software that is currently available. To get the most out of this situation, we think you should change the software’s parameters even more.

By default, iTunes will try to organize your music library independently. But you shouldn’t put all your music on iTunes right away. Remember, this is still an application and may not manage your music accordingly.

Mixed-in Key App

You can use this program to organize your music library and keep track of things like the key and amplitude level of each song. The program also suggests good places for cue points that help make a smooth mix. However, you may have to make a few adjustments to make things work the way you want them to.

Even if the app says that a particular piece of music has a high energy level, it’s best to check this out before adding the song to the set. There’s a chance that a computer program can’t be as accurate as a person’s.

Because Mixed in Key is so useful, it could save you a lot of time, especially when all you want to do is change the names of your files to make them easier to find.

DJ Software

In most DJ programs, you can also tag the songs. You don’t need to look further if you want more information than a standard ID3 tag gives you. Thus, these functions help organize your music library.

However, there is something to keep in mind when employing such a tagging system. While the program creates the tag information, a file is made on your hard drive. You can’t see the extra information when you copy the same file to a USB device.

Use both together to make running a library easier. Using MP3Tag, you can change the names of many songs at once. Then, with the help of the DJ software, you can add more information.
A lot of DJ software will look at your music collection and tell you about BPM and Key. Then it will update the file’s metadata after processing to include this data.

Even a tiny change in the music can cause the DJ software to make mistakes, like misreading the BPM. It’s up to you to take control and implement the necessary changes in this kind of situation.

Ways to Organize Your Music Library as a DJ

Classify Your Music Content by Genre

If you want to organize your music collection into subgenres, it’s best to start at the top and work your way down. You can store all of your music playlists in one convenient location.

It makes it easy to jump to a specific genre and then explore the subgenres or styles you’ve organized under that umbrella.

The most significant benefit is quickly switching between sub-genres inside a main genre folder while DJing a particular night or party.

Create Playlists

The next step is to organize your media files. You can do this by making playlists or putting them in different folders (within your DJ app). Using lists is helpful because they let you narrow down the search results for a particular folder.

DJs in the past were severely limited in how many songs they could bring to a jam session. They had to pick a special CD or record from their collection to play that night (New age DJs are starting to adopt this trend now.)

Making a playlist is an individual exercise; follow your preferences. Just keep things organized and consistent. The key is to keep adding to and improving your collection and playlists.

Modify and Refresh Tags

If you want your music to be as well organized as possible, you must keep the metatags up to date. Maintaining the file in its current arrangement is a time-saving measure. So, you can always find them with those tags, no matter what device you use to load them. 

Tagging includes titles, artists, year released, key, tempo, album, genre, and sometimes even illustrations.

FAQs

• How can I effectively list my music collection?

Putting your music in alphabetical order is a great way to keep your library organized. This answer is almost too obvious. If your collection is not very large, this is the best way to organize it. But some DJs use this method for their own large libraries.

• Where do DJs store their music?

External hard drives are a common way for disco DJs to store their song libraries. A well-organized digital music collection is a must. When you organize your music correctly, you’ll have more room in your mind to mix.

• What is the most common music library DJs use?

Beatport is one of the most popular ways to share music worldwide. They have a lot of new albums from all the big labels, as well as an extensive collection of older albums. If you’re looking for uncompressed files, Beatport is your best bet.

• How do DJs decide on tracks to play?

When putting together a DJ set, the most important thing is to know the music inside and out. Keep your DJ library up-to-date by constantly looking for new music, narrowing down your options, buying songs, and making a list of what you have.

Conclusion

To sum up, if you want to have a smooth and effective performance as a DJ, you need to manage your music collection. Through the use of music management software, accurate categorization of songs, and the creation of playlists, it will be easy to find the right tunes for each performance. You’ll be able to give your full attention to putting on a show that will leave your audience in awe if you first make sure your library is in great shape.

It might seem impossible to organize your music collection, but a DJ needs to have a well-organized library. 

You can quickly and easily sort and organize your songs using software for managing music collections. You can arrange your music collection and find pieces more efficiently if you tag each track with the artist, the genre, and the BPM.

The post How to Organize Your Music Library For DJs appeared first on GlobalDJsGuide.