Help! My DJ music library is a MESS...

Loads of "can't find file" warnings in your DJ software? Duplicate tracks? Missing metadata? Scared to play gigs as you can never find the songs you want? You need HELP - and this lesson will help you!

⚡ TIMESTAMPS ⚡
0:00 Intro
2:20 Is this advice for you?
4:15 The root of the problem
5:11 Our biggest DJ library tip..
5:39 Back everything up
6:07 Write down your strategy
7:54 Find track locations
12:21 Keep it on ONE computer
14:20 Relocate lost files
15:44 Delete unwanted tracks
18:30 Tidy up metadata
18:49 DJ community chat

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[digitaldjtips]

⚡ TIMESTAMPS ⚡
0:00 Intro
2:20 Is this advice for you?
4:15 The root of the problem
5:11 Our biggest DJ library tip..
5:39 Back everything up
6:07 Write down your strategy
7:54 Find track locations
12:21 Keep it on ONE computer
14:20 Relocate lost files
15:44 Delete unwanted tracks
18:30 Tidy up metadata
18:49 DJ community chat

[VitaminCee_]

Great video brethren! I am OCD about my music files as I was with my vinyls. I’ve been digital since 2006. Serato and iTunes. iTunes was my main library where I organized my files. Edit and retag info, etc. What I loved about it was the columns available. Year. Genre. Time. Kind. BPM. Album. Artist. Etc. I have in many occasions done sets strictly on these different columns. When I download new music I immediately click from DL folder and then delete it as it’s in my iTunes/Music library now. Then I would analyze them in Serato and all is fine how I like it. Now with Music I love that I can use multiple laptops and not worry when I add new tracks. Each laptop will have the new track and info. I have a couple master externals that copy the whole libraries. PET PEEVE!!!! I can’t stand when I jump on a DJ’s set on request and their library is a complete mess. From track titles & artists to not being properly categorized in genres. I take pride everytime a DJ buddy of mine easily navigates my library because last thing you should worry about on the spot DJing is trying to Rosetta Stone a library. Kudos to the best school on the net! -Dj Cool CH (Miami)

[allandenola]

Boy am I glad i followed your music library tips in my first Dj course as i have a comprehensive system that I follow like religion - download new songs-run thru platinum notes - fix metadata- get artwork if needed - fix the year to be date it was released - fix Genre if needed - then add into Serato and analyze files ! No more issues and No Mess at All !

[johnvanjones]

Doing your Rekordbox course prompted me to do all you talk of in this video. It taught me that you really can’t move forward to well organised music library unless you have the fundamentals sorted first. Phil and Ben have been fantastic in helping me achieve this. Many thanks. John 🎉

[anthonyk]

Was really surprised to learn how difficult/impossible it was to have a DJ library across two computers! Really having good luck with organizing my library on desktop and synching to Rekordbox mobile on both iPad and iPhone with the FLX4. I can edit my library on any of the devices and have the edits reflected everywhere. It's so nice to leave the laptop at home and have the large iPad screen to work with. FLX4 plus 9th gen iPad came in at under $1000. I hope we can see some more coverage of the mobile app, would love to be sure it will keep being supported and developed!

[Earthcitizen]

Phil is a wise man I like how you interact with people you make your point across, but you don’t make people feel they wrong

[DJ.JamHut]

In most DJ software you can show the file path as a column, this allows you to sort your files by location and helps spot files in different locations.

[clubtonberry]

As someone with 27, 000 songs (33, 000 including all the stupid duplicates) these tips are great, but I'm still so overwhelmed with the task 😂

[johnvanjones]

The 3 2 1 approach to backing up is great but. …External hard drives are so spacious and affordable now it is easy to save many many tracks but the same doesn’t apply to cloud storage which could cost £10 £20 or even £30 per month ad infinitum. That in itself could be a reason to purge yourself of old unused tracks. Less is more n’ all. 😊

[Tesnopesno]

I use itunes for organising music, but I should frankly work with the library more. it's so easy to lose info when converting files.

[IamPreacherMan]

Omg. This came at the right time. Hmm. I’ve been using Serato and I’m happy with my playlists. Maybe a bit large in some genres but meh. The problem is I want to start prepping for rekordbox. Specifically in export mode to setup some cue points and put playlists on a usb. 🤦🏼‍♂️ So getting em all in one folder and getting rid of duplicates had been time consuming. I did start separating them into folders, but after watching this, hmm, idk. I still have way too many files left. Most of which I wouldnt DJ with anyway. But I don’t necessarily want to get rid of the tracks. I just don’t want em with my DJ tracks.

[BLXSB]

This video was such a sigh of relief! I do have some questions related to my issue..

How do you avoid duplicates when managing music files? I deleted my music.library, and my songs disappeared until they were redownloaded from the Cloud. Now, I’m getting duplicates when I search in Finder and click on a file—it opens and creates another copy (duplicate).

I just want to keep all my music on my laptop without it disappearing. I know iTunes (Music) auto-organizes files by artist in the Media folder.

Where is the best place to store my music? I prefer organizing by playlist or year. What’s a good way to organize files for that purpose?

My head hurts 😅

[myths]

What’s the best way to handle the metadata, does it automatically stay with the music file in master or is saved as a separate info in the system your using tractor, engine etc.. Also is there any particular file type that is more flexible or better at metadata?

[touchyfeely]

Apologies as this question is off topic but do you know of any upcoming Engine DJ updates? Many thanks enjoying the new book 👍🏻

[julduc]

thanks for all your great content… 🙏 i’m djing with itunes and and traktor on my mac since ages, probably 2003.👏 the challenge is, i define myself as a dj AND a music collector. that is very well reflected in my immense music collection .-) AND yes, i’m still organising it in apple music (itunes). actually as a openformat dj, i really enjoy having to hole collection with me. buying new tracks there, downloading them localy etc. and i love having big cover-art in apple music. but also since apple music’s «drag and drop» - functionality (to traktor) doesnt work for all the tracks anymore, i used swinsian instead. because drag and drop is working, and the look and feel is similar to apple music. but the workflow is getting really cumbersome. actually is terrible. also i find it very difficult updating my commentfields etc because it is not reflected in traktor. swinsians comments on the otherhand works. would be nice having everything everywhere. would you recommend separate my dj library from my collection? or what to do in this case.. ? thanks again

[laughingman]

sort by play count and start there ... 😳😳genius idea !!

[kangaroosekcie]

Beatport sometimes deletes songs or and artist will remove the release

[luxlikuidmc]

Turn your mp3 external hard drive into a RECORD STORE and do it like if going shopping for wax that’s what I do now

[jamalljones]

Also when you have multiple tracks.. you might have track qued up ..loops etc on one music app bit not on the others...

[IanDeVos]

It just astounds me how people don't understand this basic computer stuff: file management.

It's easy.

But then I remember our phones hide the file system from the user.
I'm 38 and worked with DOS and Windows 3.1 as a kid. It all comes naturally to me.

But apparently people really don't understand computers. 🤷‍♂️

It's sad that computer literacy is so low.

Most 'computer troubles' I see on DJ communities are PEBCAC. It's not a problem with the software, it's a problem with the people.