Practice Help

[Dharmaboy]

So finally got the decks I always wanted for practicing (800 MK2) and moving away from the Virtual DJ and Numark MixDJ plastic toy thingy. Well I have burned quite a few CD's when I got the tracks but they were a bit disorganized and I was always hunting for stuff. So finally decided to organize by month of purchase, genre then Key follow by BPM. I made a copy of the CD-R and I had the same tunes in both decks. I had the folder structure setup so that the root had all the songs in folders arranged by key.

I got the BPM and Key tagged via TagScanner (great free tool btw) and had my files named with the KEY and BPM at the end of the track names.

http://download.cnet.com/TagScanner/3000-2141_4-10056506.html

I had such a blast as I was mixing faster, finding tracks faster and enjoyed my practices way more. Plus with them in key I was able to go from -1 to +1 without having to search around and enjoy the music more.

Thought I would share. Any suggestions to enjoy practice sessions would be appreciated.

[DJ Highline]

Yea Organizing music in a way that makes sense to YOU is important. This system works for you but would never work for me...so its just a matter of trying things until you find what works for you. Although I think if you stick with DJing for a few years, and start to accumulate a large music library you will find that you will re think this way of organization. But for now...it works and you are having fun and that's whats important.

[Jimmy P]

Ditto on what Highline said about what works for you. Like in my case, I keep my music on a dedicated harddrive (have several backups) and have the tracks organized according to genre, with a subsequent organization by artist. Granted, I only have about 300 tracks or so, but the organization works for me and I can navigate it pretty efficiently.

[DJ Elroy]

Sometimes I have fun just mixing up all my songs and seeing what goes with what. I've come across some great combos in the past that I never would have thought about. Also, recording your practice sessions could be helpful too, since dj mixes sound different when you're just listening compared to when you're mixing.

[BurntToast]

I searched this forum for the best way for me to do it, and found that there was none. I just burn my mixes either by artist, or by a common theme that helps me remember. For example, "Spring 2012" or "Winter Music Conference 2012"... it doesn't sound that organized, but anyway that helps me remember what CD the song is fine with me. I also stick notecards in my CD wallet with the track names in order.