Ean is back with another episode of DJ Fundamentals – this time looking specifically at DJ music library organization. Tagging tracks is a great way to make finding great matches easy in the moment of a set. In this episode, Ean shares his tagging techniques.
Instead of making hundreds of playlists for each mixing situation, there’s a better way to keep a good idea of what songs will mix well together. In the video example, Ean shows off how he started tagging tracks over a decade ago by adding simple phrases in the comments of songs.
Why song comments and not [other tagging tool]? There’s a good argument for not using a built in tagging tool – like those inside of Rekordbox or Beatport Pro’s softwares. Writing tags in an ID3 tag like the comments section means that these comments will always live with the songs in any software. So if every DJ platform goes out of style in the next five years, you’ll still have your well-tagged songs.
Tagging Protips:
- Be sure to tag songs with something that you’ll remember in the moment. If it’s too hard to type or remember, you won’t use this system.
- Use a hash symbol # to make your tags unique
- Group tracks into ‘vignettes’ – a series of songs that mix well together and you might want to repeat in future sets.
- Adding numbers to these vignette tags (ie: “#Rave Trap 1′) means that if you sort your results by comment, it will order your tracks in that order. This can be incredibly helpful for recreating a similar mix in future sets.
Have your own tips for tagging tracks and organizing them in DJ libraries? Chime in and share in the comments section below.
