Do your sorting digitally and play better DJ sets than the old vinyl days.
In How To Organise Your Tunes While DJing, Part 1, we looked at how using the BPM counts and star ratings can help you to keep your eyes on the crowd and out of your virtual record crates when DJing.
This time around, we are going to look at some advanced ways you can really stand out from the rest and look to all the world like you’re putting no effort at all into producing world-class mixes, time after time.
1. Use the ID3 comments field
One good technique is to simply add comments to your MP3s both when preparing or as you’re going along (so you’ve got them for next time), by adding them to the ID3 tag “comments” field. Then each tune has your own tailored notes.
You could write “mixes well with X”, or “sounds like Y” or “same bassline as Z”. That’s why it’s important to do it when you’re going along too (just don’t take all night – remember we’re trying to keep our heads out of our virtual crates here…); there’s more chance of you remembering a good mix if you note it against the MP3 within a few minutes of first performing it than waiting till the next day.
Editing ID3 tags in iTunes.
2. Use tags
Whether you tag from within your DJ software or from your music library software (in iTunes you can add tags separated by commas in the “grouping” ID3 field), adding tags to tunes can really help you to remember them in an instant.
Tagging is good because you can group tracks together for arbitrary reasons – “spoken lyrics”, “hoover noise”, “old skool” – even when those tracks may cross BPMs, genres and styles. It’s a way of grouping records together creatively. Just as long as your DJ software can search for these tags for you, it’s a mega-fast way of pulling up these tunes when you need them.
3. Use a key mixing system
Mixed in Key is a company that has made a name for itself out of teaching DJs to mix harmonically, or “in key”, so basslines don’t clash and tunes blend seemingly effortlessly into each other.
Key mixing is made possible for more advanced DJs with the Camelot wheel.
It’s an ongoing debate among DJs whether such systems are a step too far, taking some of the spontaneity out of DJing (see Should Digital DJs Be Bother About Mixing in Key?) and it’s outside the scope of this article to go into too much depth on this.
In brief though, you can tag the keys of each of your tunes (some DJ software now does this automatically for you), and you can learn a system to tell you instantly whether the next tune will mix well or not into the current one. Trance DJs, for instance, can continually add a sense of energy to their sets by moving up a note in the musical scale with each mix.
4. Use a DJ notation system
This one blew my mind when I first saw it, and if you don’t count yourself as a geek, I suggest you skip to the next section now! Still reading? Then have a look at the DJ notation system here, which as far as I know is unique.
I spoke to Philip Age, the inventor, who assures me he gets emails from people saying it’s been useful to them! Anyway, it’s a system for writing down using normal keyboard symbols the rough structure of a song, so you can post the song’s outline in a normal text field, such as the comments field mentioned earlier.
Sounds crazy? It actually makes sense if you look at it – I love the way you can take advantage of the fact that it’s a fixed-width font to plan DJ sets out in TXT documents. Have I lost you? I do hope so for your own sake, but if you have followed me this far and checked out his site, you’ll probably see also that to be able to write down a whole set accurately in a few keystrokes and then be able to play it again perfectly later may have its uses.
The strange and crazy world of DJ notation... I like it!
Moreover, if you got used to such a notation system, and could be bothered to mark all your tunes up before a gig, you could look like you had the best knowledge in the world of songs you’d only heard a handful of times.
5. Know your tunes!
We said it last time, and we’ll say it again, because in the end it’s the one that really counts. Knowing your tunes is the most important thing – even if only to know that certain tunes are really easy to mix with anything. Even Philip Age, the aforementioned inventor of the DJ notation system, admits that.
Conclusion
So you’ve got to know your tunes. Once you do, build on that with these techniques. Take the time to them write the odd well-placed comment, maybe find a few tunes that you know mix in key well together, add easy-to-search tags (“floorfillers”, “mood change”, “warm up”), and use some of the techniques from the first part of this article too.
In no time at all you’ll be jumping around like a loony in the DJ box AND pulling out perfect song after perfect song throughout your sets – and people will notice. You’ll have become a better DJ by being better prepared. And nobody need know what a geek you are at heart!
Are you a Camelot wheel addict? Do you feel like it ain’t DJin’ unless you’re notatin’? What’s your secret method for always knowing which tune to play next? Let us know.
Now go to:
How To Organise Your Tunes While DJing, Part 1
5 Reasons Why Long DJ Sets Rule
Why Packing a Good Box of Tunes is More Important Than Ever
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Tags: comments, dj notation, djing, howto, james holden, tunes
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Wow, DJ notation looks incredible. I’ve got a whole batch of 60+ songs that I just got that I’ll try notating and see how I feel about it.
[ link ]Once again a great article!
I’ve started using the comment box because of this article and it works great… Especially when I’m messing around and come up with a sweet transition…. I’ll add it to the comment box and off we go… Like u said trying to remember it for a later time was almost impossible to do… Not anymore!
[ link ]I to now use the comment box nice idear thanks I also use mixed in key witch I find makes my sets sound tight.I have been playing house and garage for 20 years on my 1210s but now i have a kontrol S2 and F1 I love it I don’t understand why people get their knickers in a twist over digital djs technology moves on just like the flat screen monitor or phone you are useing to read this at the end of the day if the music sound good and people are dancing who cares 99% of the dancers don’t
[ link ]Sorry rant over it was nice to get that of my chest tho
Great article although I don’t understand how to implement DJ notation. It doesn’t seem to be downloadable software, so how do I use it?
Also I want to start using my ID3 tags and creating a star rating system but I don’t use itunes and to be honest I’m not really clued up as to what an ID3 tag is. All I use is Serato Scratch Live and the oldest version of Winamp.
Is there any way to get all these benefits without installing itunes.
Please help
[ link ]You have to do it manually. One for people with a lot of time on their hands, I’d say!
[ link ]Cheers Phil but I’m still confused. Does that mean that Notaion means that you learn the symbols and use them as short hand or you actually write out the details long hand? Or does it mean that they have devised a way of typing the symbols and the complex description appearing instead?
EG: Type the symbol / (slash)and the long hand description
“Major build up. It’s good to transition to a new track before it’s first major build-up” Appears in the comment section of your software or in your ID3 tags (whatever they are lol)
I can’t seem to find any description of how it works or where you would use it; in the comments section of your software, in your ID3 tags or actually attach the notation to the file itself.
And if it is just typing the description long hand it isn’t really a system worth mentioning. It is really just commenting on your tunes.
As you can see I am a tad confused by all of this. From what you are saying DJ Notation is not much help but I think ID3 tags and using a star rating system might be but I have no idea what they are, how they work or how to use them when I am not an itunes user.
Can you shed any light on these matters?
Cheers
[ link ]Yes, he’s just invented a way of writing down a tune’s structure.
[ link ]So you just learn what the symbols mean and tag your tunes with the appropriate ones?
What about ID3 tags. What are they and how do I use them?
At the moment I just use the comment section in Serato Scratch but that only helps so much as you can only put so much info in that one section otherwise it just becomes a headache.
I usually just put the timing when the tune drops and some additional EQ info and rely on my track knowledge to work out what to play next but sometimes I hit a mental block and end up just grabbing something out of the hat which occasionally goes awry.
What I would like most is to be able to tag each tune with suggestions of other tunes that work well with it; so when a mental block kicks in I can just tap into my previously stashed suggestions.
Is there any way I can do that without turning the comment section of Serato into a running commentary?
[ link ]You got it right re notation. I tend to just turn my comments section into a running commentary. If you tag one tune with the name of another in this section, when you search the name of the first, the others tagged with its name also appear.
[ link ]Hi Phil I’m not sure that works with Serato as the search function doesn’t use the comments section of the software to locate things. Unless you are using ID3 comments of which I still know nowt!
The search function in Serato is pretty redundant unless you have all your files perfectly named and mine are a mess. I use the search option on my PC then drag and drop on to the deck.
As for ID3 tagging whenever I try to learn about them the article is written as if I am already totally educated about them and just looking to refine my usage of them; which as you can see I’m not.
Google reliably informs me that they are a “metadata container associated to an MP3 file” which doesn’t really shed any light on the matter.
Does most DJ software use the ID3 tags to organise and search for tracks or does it use the actual file name. If it uses ID3 tags I guess it is an imperative that I get educated about them.
As you can see I’m totally in the dark about all of this. Rather than me bothering you with this; do you have any articles on here that might enlighten a computer layman like me about ID3 tags or the best way to organise my library.
For instance do you recommend I bite the bullet and start using i-tunes? Most of the articles on Digital DJ Tips seem to make the assumption that we are all using i-tunes already, if so am I losing a vital tool for maintaining my music library?
Anyway I hope you or someone else can enlighten me
Cheers
[ link ]Think of id3 tags as the information behind an mp3 file. The id3 tag of an mp3 would contain the song name, album name, track length, genre, comments, rating, and even the album cover image among other things. All of this is saved within the mp3 file as metadata, this way if I take an mp3 from my laptop and put it on my phone or mp3 player, that same information will be available.
This is similar to a digital photo. Each photo has metadata that contains information about the lens, camera, aperture, zoom…some will even tag the location the picture was taken.
Back in the day there were programs like Tag&Rename that would download mp3 id3 tag information from various sites or even amazon, along with the album title. However, programs like itunes have this function built in for the most part now…and if you’re not ripping your own cds or downloading from illegal sites, most mp3s have the id3 tag information already filled out.
And that’s my nerd moment of the day. Just stumbled across this article in my bookmarks again…dj notation looks handy although its a lot to remember without referencing the site all the time.
[ link ]Great article Phil. Thanks.
I am just a beginner DJ with no particular skills. Il live in Marseille (France) and, by the wy, I am looking for a training on traktor there.
I like to organisze a lot my music library to be able to prepare quickly a DJ set or to mix even songs I do not know a lot.
For that, here is in details what I do on the MP3:
1) check if the mp3 are “clean” (you never know even if bought) with Mp3 scan + repair (free)
2) harmonize the gain level to 92 with macMp3gain (free)
3) Detect and register Bpm into BPM tag with Rapid evolution beta 3 (free)
4) Detect and register harmonic keys into key tag with keyfinder (free)
5) Correct title and singer’s names into corresponding tags and register the genre (my own system of genres) into corresponding tags.
6) Open the DJ software (in my case traktor, but it works well with others) and listen to songs to define and register the relevant number of stars depending on the energy of songs or the time it should be played : 1 star would be for early times, for electronic lounge for example, 2 or 3 stars for Deep House, Nu disco, 90′s rock for example and 4 to 5 stars for tech house, club house, rockn roll for example !
7) Prepare the set organizing first by BPM then keys then stars the genre.
The idea behind is to be able to choose the set quickly with some songs you do not know well.
A late (bad) experience taught me that even if you want to make people discover songs they do not know but that are good to listen to with a drink or to dance to, you can not avoid people coming to you asking for famous songs.
This is why I thought about adding in the comment tag something like “Famous” if it is the case.
I would be very cool if people reading this message were answering by giving examples of complete playlists for different kinds of sets in the spirit of what Phil is speaking about : 7 pm – 10 pm / 10 pm – 00 am / 00 am – 3 am / 3am – 4 am for example. This would give ideas to me and others.
Guillaume
[ link ]For the bar I currently DJ in…
[ link ]I find that the older crowd lingers around and complains when I start playing the newer tracks… And being in a small town with very few venues it doesn’t leave a lot of room for top 40 or club energy tracks so what I do is this….
I use Mixed in Key to batch analyze all the tracks I’m gonna play through the night
And I like to use the front of the file name for BPM and the comments field for Key.
Now when I mix …because I started as a musician… (Piano,vocals,bass,guitar)
it’s not hard for me to blend keys together as long as I follow the simple rules of staying withing the “circle of fifths” within the scales I’m playing from and switching to…
I start with the older tunes(mostly classic rock and oldies)to keep the older crowd drinking…. But once the younger crowd steps into the bar they start requesting newer music… I like to set my cues or sample loops from the oldies and mash them with the newer beats….
in the bar I’m currently DJ’n in… The younger crowd seems to like 90′s hip hop with newer top 40 and the occasional oldie thrown in….. But I control the mix as tight as I can while using subtle blending effects, filters and EQ mixing from one song to the other.
I also have a tendency to take recognizable chorus’s or verses from the old and bring them together with the new to give all the patrons something they can dig….
Living out in a small town as I’ve said makes it very hard to satisfy everyone….
And unless your in a metropolitan area the venue determines what genres you’re going to have to play for the night……
Meaning that predetermining your sets are almost impossible… Almost
Because you never know who’s gonna walk into the bar and if the younger crowd hears oldies will just walk away thinking what’s being played is stale….
the older crowd will complain to the barmaids if you get too future on them….
I also take notes of the songs in the sets I play on my Friday and Saturday nights….
To give me feedback as to how the crowd responded to what I’m playing and eliminate the lemons from the list…. A lot of work…. But that’s why I have had as many residences across Canada as I’ve had…. I also have done private venues,weddings,school dances,radio appearances,video dance parties and live sound for some very big names in the industry…
but that’s a whole other game entirely