How I Built The ULTIMATE DJ Library in 5 Easy Steps (Full Guide)

[@ReallyChrisM]

Join thousands of DJs learning to create better DJ libraries: bit.ly/3NV0wij

[@tomsunha8645]

hi Chris m, am glad I found your content, just signed up to your substack and will be digging in, I can't find the Mac shortcut you made for deleting poopie files, is it on there? thanks a lot, looking forward to that!

[@ReallyChrisM]

@@tomsunha8645 thanks for subbing! You should have received a welcome email with the link-check your spam :)

[@tomsunha8645]

@@ReallyChrisM Much appreicated!

[@DmitryInNz]

That bitrate drop in the video when you mention 128kbps mp3s is the cinematography I'm after. Top video!

[@cane3805]

This video is so good it's insane. From beginner to seasoned djs you really gave something to everyone in here.

[@JEEKMUSIC]

"getting on these lists is harder than listening to an entire tech house set"... you made me drop my coffee with that one mate 🤣🤣

[@ShaynAlmeida]

That was hilarious, and I Love good TechHouse 😂

[@jimmythetulip_]

This video is one of the most important in my DJ life! 🙏🏻 I always stuck with my tags, libraries, playlist’s, etc… Thank you Chris Keep going 😎

[@Just_Digri]

Chris, just today I discovered you and divoured your content, thank you for existing. You are one of the Goats. Your advices are real and tell the same things I have wondered for some time.

[@ReallyChrisM]

🙏

[@SHARMPILLAY.-DJ]

You are amazing!! Thank you for your insights helped heaps! Love your sense of humour🙂

[@Dilattente]

Great vid, as always. Some of the best DJ content on YT. Great newsletter as well. Thanks!

[@djbiendubai]

How is this guy not at 1M subs 😂😂 super fun to follow

[@deemus133]

The song energy rating tip is 💎

[@dmjeep28]

I love your DJ library system. Gonna be implementing them to my own Recordbox library! THANK YOU SO MUCH🔥🔥 **Also love the way how u insert subtle jokes (the capitalist one cracked me up)

[@FrithonaHrududu02127]

This is flat out the best dj info ive found. Real life tips and solutions. I used to spin jungle and disco house plus alot of straight up disco/funk etc. this is 30 yrs ago. Long story i went to prison,spent a lot of years away. Lost all my vinyl in a fire while i was in the can as well as equipment. Anyways i got out (and went back in a couple times) got married, life was great but she died and i kind of lost my way. In the video you talk about waiting 24 hrs. and listening to a track again, I used to do that with music before Id spin it too, funny u mentioned that. Anywayb'm kind of trying to get back to a point where things made sense and you know 30 years ago spinning music,hitting 3 raves in 5 days before life turned into a shitshow. Im 48 I'm not going to be fucking Raving but I'm thinking seriously again back into the dj end of things. But theres been a few changes since the last time I stood behind a couple of decks I got to say this is really helpful video though it's clear concise and funny thank you for putting this out there

[@arunask883]

Hi, just wondering how old were u when u got out of the "zone" and got married ? Honest curiosity.

[@FrithonaHrududu02127]

I've been in and out a few times, once for six years once for 3 once for almost 5, although I was doing 12 years that time but won an appeal, I got married in between the last two but I've been out for good since 2014 which would have been when I was 38

[@mh_dot_fm]

The most heart warming moment of djing for me is one time my fav DJ sent me a whole unreleased EP after me praising a performance of him playing one of tracks on it at the rave in my country, and just talking about the original artist the edit was based on. Thanks MRD (of 1988), that is belief in humanity restored!

[@zolawilliams1]

Outstanding! Thank you!

[@omgedson42]

Your humor is the chefs kiss hahaha! Thanks for the good info!

[@erwinbona]

What a incredible recomendations!!! The link between two tracks blow my mind.

[@ipread]

Mate. Your humour is on point. Love the dog about tech house and always laugh watching your videos coz of your dry humour.

[@krunge]

Thanks for all of these tips! Now I just need to find the time and mental energy to go through and rate/re-tag +7000 tracks...

[@steptothemix4146]

Love your channel man so well made and yer off yer rocker . Great advice on this video

[@Kaycie020]

5:14 hahaha 'Progressive Gabber' and 'Vacuum Core' 🤣 haha, sounds like the perfect match to me :D

[@Gareth.W]

Haha, great video... love the humour and I picked up some handy tips too. Now time to go listen to some Hanson tracks.

[@AlishaTodd]

Hilarious and so helpful! Proper nerd-like, extremely informative and concise tips! Amazing, thank you :)

[@jaygreenakajackstax9345]

Hi Chris, just been watching many of your vids, because if all goes well I'll have 2 CDJ3000s coming at the beginning of october. I know big IF at the moment. Anyway that aside. Thanks a lot for all the really really helpful videos. I'm in the same situation as you were. I have 650 playlists and over 10'000 tracks in Itunes. Coming from Traktor I never bothered building a Tarktor Library, because let's face it, Traktors Library still sucks after 100 years. Unfortunately the Music apps Library is getting worse with each update and has been for a while now. So I will watch this video twice, take notes, and start on recordbox. From Scratch. :-))))) THX a lot

[@ReallyChrisM]

Good luck! Let us know how you get on 💪

[@jaygreenakajackstax9345]

@@ReallyChrisM thanks a lot. I've been busy with tags and colouring systems. After watching the Masterclass vid of Pioneer on the CDJ3000 I was able to see parts of how you can filter in different ways. I'm adjusting my Recordbox Tagging and Traffic Light to how CDJ3000 works, or can work. One thing I'm not sure about is filter by Release Year of tracks. That would be quite cool because in between I could filter to find an old banger which would match the other criterias of the playing track. Do you have any ideas of how to implement the Release year into the filtering system of the CDJ3000?

[@djelevateusa1714]

You're hilarious and content is great. Liked and subscribed.

[@SoCreaty]

Nice video! Currently im developing a new tagging system for electronic songs to better search them for

[@drakek5737]

this was so helpful and also rlly funny 🙏

[@jayzell]

Super helpful, thanks man!

[@ekozlov]

Thank you, Chris Keep going more 😎

[@JJW001]

Great insights and knowledge as always :)

[@roccitynewyork490]

Keep up the good work and it's very informative.

[@crizza2000]

"This track always goes down well with capitalists" 😆😅😅 - The amount of wit in this video is fully entertaining!!

[@rickyvad_]

Bro... I was already in, but when you spoke about "the paradox of choice" and how structure can help creativity... Subscribed 🦾

[@Ben-pb7sj]

This helps thanks

[@djason_music]

Another great video!! I love love the 24 hour cooling off period and the three follow up questions.

[@kendeelD]

your work is amazing.. Thank you for sharing it :D

[@TheMrAlwaysLoveMusic]

good tips!

[@redmangoose182]

The exporting of unused tracks is such a good tip! I had no clue. Always appreciate the underrated tools.

[@devilcity5827]

Save all my Music in Specific Folders for different Occasion in a 2TB External Hard Drive . Works for me. ❤

[@Eze1kel]

simply....thank you. And how do you keep organized your files on hard drive?

[@Clafff]

Goatherding, progressive gabba and vacuumcore is wonderful

[@williamarmstrong5522]

Hey @reallychrism did I miss somewhere how to create that Mac shortcut to delete playlists? Thanks for the great video.

[@ReallyChrisM]

you can grab it by signing up to the newsletter - but I also have a vid coming up with more detail on this 🫡

[@creeperareinsane]

Tech House beef still going strong ahaha

[@jeremyr8793]

was enjoyin until he dissed tech house 😔

[@jeremyc1034]

​@@jeremyr8793it is a scourge though

[@mrljk3]

"your sets can sound like everyone else's" LOL. perfect!

[@coolcazc]

Great advice ! I got turns Sl 12s techs & the old SL Rane box which is not supported by serato . But the disc drivers are still sealed as I never got round to using it. Originally I was into breaks ( not D n b more for cutting extending ) over time I got more n more into older vintage sounds mostly 60s stuff I've got a large collected that I want format as mp3s . Some djs say if you got enough power on a decent laptop the rane boxes will work so I'm hoping I can load mp3 streams onto the vynls .But not sure if it will work . I also got a new rane controller & reloop reflux audio interface & powerful laptop . But more interested getting the vintage music on the 12s then in the future transfer to the laptop & create lists eg northern soul , funk , psyche rock , garage punk , prog , rock roll, surf , studio one , ska etc

[@JustinBull-k7c]

Hello Chris , amazing detailed videos and great humour. I have subscribed, but I can not see the link to the "delete playlist shortcut " as described at 16:00 minutes on the video, can you help please? Justin

[@ReallyChrisM]

The link to all the mac tools are in the welcome email - check your spam :)

[@JustinBull-k7c]

@@ReallyChrisM Hello Chris, thanks for the message , Ive got the shortcut, but when I save the smelly turds playlist to the computer , I can't find it anywhere?

[@ReallyChrisM]

@@JustinBull-k7c you'll need to open the shortcuts app and it'll be in there. Check your applications folder

[@truthordarrenmusic]

4:23 " Where do I go if I want a loaf of bread? ...the supermarket, because I don't like to support small businesses" 🤣☠️

[@circulator13]

Hi Chris! Great video, as always! Where exactly can I find this shortcuts?

[@tomsunha8645]

WOW Chris, really impressive work all round, now I'm hoping a bit of cheap but honest flattery has warmed you up to answering a simple question about running your delete shortcut... when one runs this and navigates to the m3u8 file, if I open it it goes straight to itunes. what do I have to do to make this godsend of a tool work? thanks so much for this shortcut. its beyond me

[@ReallyChrisM]

Hm it sounds like you may be opening the m3u8 file directly before running the shortcut. Make sure you are running the shortcut as the first step. It'll then ask you to select the file itself - this shouldn't open any programs

[@tomsunha8645]

@@ReallyChrisM 🙏 Man I just deleted 161 🐟's and said what a f'in g!!! man that was such a tedious task before this, thank you so much!

[@Martin.Balcer]

Super video.I have a problem with finding out the year of release of the song. Can you give me some advice? Thank you in advance and cheers. Martin

[@ReallyChrisM]

Discogs.com is the bible for this

[@eyeviewfocus]

Very informative, thank you.... I needed it👌👍🙌

[@daveryan-kv4wx]

Vacume core… you are quickly gaining a fan 😅

[@Xylume]

You don't have to delete all of your music to become organized. You can simply place them in a different folder and drive. Some music that you won't be playing could be useful for sampling intros and outro or for creating mashups or DJ edits. I agree that having only the music you'll be playing is very important. I delete music all of the time, but I don't mind having a big bone yard of resources for production purposes. When it's time to perform live, you'll have just the songs that are mixable and playable pre-organized.

[@ReallyChrisM]

Great points 👍🏼

[@simonemonda17]

Hi! Nice video, a question please 🙏 When you download music from bpm supreme, can you play music through usb on cdj? Or you need the laptop? Thanks so much.

[@ReallyChrisM]

It's just a standard mp3 file so yes, you can!

[@simonemonda17]

@@ReallyChrisM ok thanks, and i have the files forever? Or when i unsubscribe i will lose them?

[@ReallyChrisM]

I would advise checking the T&C on their website for the definitive answer @@simonemonda17

[@joewight7432]

Love you bro ❤

[@geraldrogers3374]

Chris, how do you set these settings in Serato?. Please explain.

[@skymakai]

I wonder if this would work for a PA system with multiple speakers. And I wonder how it works with subs. I’d love a video covering calibration for PA’s.

[@MannYgfx]

Thanks for creating such a detailed walkthrough sprinkled with just the right amount of humor! However, how do you actually organise the files themselves, outside of rekordbox? I tried using Apple Music for this but eventually gave up, and now I've got a plethora of folders full of duplicates and complete chaos. Help?

[@ReallyChrisM]

This one's on the roadmap..

[@mwihaki__]

Question, when downloading music, is it better to start off with just one folder on my macbbok having all the music then categorize on Rekordbox or to organize each song into different sub folders on my macbook based on the genres?

[@ReallyChrisM]

Keep it all in one folder and do some light organisation with sub folders is my approach. You can then do heavier categorisation within RB

[@mwihaki__]

@@ReallyChrisM Okay I like your approach and I have one last question just to clarify. Using your approach, if I mostly play a combination of Amapiano, Afrohouse and AfroTech, when I download the music I can have it all in a Music Folder then Sub Folders labelled Amapiano , AfroHouse...etc. Then on RB I can go into heavier categorisation of say for the Amapiano folder and tag every song either as 'Private School Amapiano', '‘Amapiano-Sgija' , 'Amapiano-Anthems' etc

[@ReallyChrisM]

@@mwihaki__ nailed it

[@jacobhofilm]

Awesome video! Rekordbox’s file management is absolutely insane! I’m starting out and are more interested in Open-format DJ-ing and finding the stems in Serato to be super useful. Does anyone know if Serato has an equally good file management system?

[@ste8701]

nope, Serato music management is super dummy simple..using it when coming from RB is just painful🤦‍♂️😅 RB music management is indeed insane but of course because they started there😁 however Pioneer bought Serato so hang on, RB stems should improve soon😁

[@sihargreaves]

Can recommend Lexicon DJ for library management too

[@karanonline25]

Hi chris, am struggling with the re order option in playlist. Instead of sortin bpm or key wise i want it to number the tracks my way. But everytime i add few tracks to the folder and analyse the playlist, the re numbered ordr changes and i have to redo again. Please help

[@BaneLoki]

Thanks for the great tip. Will have to start using the rating system for energy. Now have to find a video on genres as I’ve got a lot to learn

[@NiallDoran.glasgow]

Hi Chris Glad found your channel I'm making the switch from Traktor to RB got DDJ FLX-10 so trying to work everything out for the weekend I currently use an External HHD for my files so running RB on a Dell and MAC would the files I've done on the Dell like Playlists with tags etc be possible to be transferred to the mac so can prep on my dell Transfer onto the mac if you get where I'm coming from ? MANY Thanks

[@ReallyChrisM]

Welcome aboard! You would need to either manually backup/restore the libraries across the two systems or easier (but paid) use a Rekordbox plan with Cloud Library Sync

[@GreyGroove]

When using your Mac shortcut it says this shortcut can't access shall do, I make it as an administrator?

[@ReallyChrisM]

You'll need to give it permission to read the folder so yes I would try as an admin

[@GreyGroove]

all good now thanks @@ReallyChrisM

[@FireKingDJ1]

Hi Chris, i would really really liked to do the step 5 and delete songs from collection from RB also from my computer. I made a playlist (not intelligent playlist tho) that i put songs i dont want anymore in it, right click and selected the same option as you that make a m3u8 file but when i delete this file it doesnt delete my songs from my computer. I dont have a Mac and dont have shortcut apps. Can you help with this ? Thank you :)

[@ReallyChrisM]

Sorry the shortcut will need a mac - I don’t have the ability to make this sort of thing for PC unfortunately

[@ronaldvandermeulen4192]

Please help me; How do you choose the energy-level? BPM, feeling or how ...?

[@ReallyChrisM]

it's pretty subjective

[@ronaldvandermeulen4192]

So the feeling or setting it's for is best choice?

[@djsparkyy]

Recordbox doesn’t have the serato control/shift/delete style function to remove songs??? I thought every software had something similar

[@deepzone31]

Bandcamp (hopefully not RIP soon) has been my favorite for sourcing music. I pay way more per track but grab WAV, 320s, and FLAC for everything I buy. I haven't played out in years but I'm still really apprehensive about ever playing MP3s on a system, even 320s. I think the cringe of people playing 128k bootleg MP3s over club systems tainted me back in the 00s. +1 for the DnB crew. It's one of the few genres where you can meet and interact with your musical heroes....and beg for "dubs".

[@mickyquinn2547]

Not a single human being alive will know the difference between an high quality MP3 and WAV in a club.

[@tolaris4455]

@ReallyChrisM I subscribed to your great channel, but I can't find the shortcut to delete files from RB collection and harddrive - pls help, thanks!

[@ReallyChrisM]

You'll need to sign up to the newsletter and it's in the welcome email 👍 bit.ly/3NV0wij

[@djadamlive]

At 16:00 munites into the video you Deleted tracks from playlist shortcut. How do i get this shortcut on my mac? I couldn't find it where you said i can find where it explains on your newsletter page.

[@ReallyChrisM]

Once you sign up to the newsletter it’s in the welcome email you will receive 👍🏼

[@djadamlive]

@@ReallyChrisM i found it thanks. so helpful 🙏

[@lexasakie8107]

Is the Shortcut app only available on certain mAcOs versions? I can't seem to find the app or download the shortcuts. Incredible video BTW!

[@ReallyChrisM]

It's been available since 2021 I believe - so Monterey onwards (I think)

[@carlos_mann]

Hey you mentioned something about purchasing songs.... you happen to know how I might be able to purchase a track from the Amazon UK site if I'm in the states ? I've tried using a VPN but that doesn't work? And its a remix I can't find ANYWHERE, except for Amazon UK site.

[@tyler-xh6oc]

It’s crazy to see how my more features RB has compared to Serato.

[@stephenreg700]

Hey can oyu tell me how you did the shortcut to delete files from playlist?

[@ReallyChrisM]

I used apple shortcuts and some jiggery pokery

[@justno789]

I am worried that I get more excited by well organised library structures than playing the music. Like why just find songs, maybe I can find the chunks of my brain I left in every club toilet ever. I also can't use a poop tag because I have a genre in my breakcore lists that is actually poo songs. Thank you for helping me organise this, I can guarantee audiences of at least one will be thoroughly horrified by my ability to choose the songs they hate most with expert efficiency. I am a success!

[@kieranmoscrop4188]

Hi what a useful video it has helped me alot

[@ReallyChrisM]

Assuming you mean from 87/87.5? I like to do this but the important thing is everything is consistent to save doing sums whilst you are playing

[@RandomGamesHDPlay]

need something similar for Traktor

[@DJ_ETHAX]

I’ve tried the rating method before but for some reason the stars go back to default the next time I open Rekord box

[@djadamlive]

You explain about making an intelligent playlist and saving a file then using shortcuts to delete the Tidal tracks. I get that. So the question i have is what happens if you are using BPLink which im using would it be the same? I tried it but i had no success. Also if i deleted BPLink tracks from RB would it leave any digital residue on my hard drive even though they have been deleted from my RB? I also have a problem that my RB keeps slowing or hanging even in Export mode. I use a MacBook Pro 2018 - Processor 2.6 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i7 - Graphics Radeon Pro 555X 4 GB Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB - RAM 16GB Any solution i would appreciate your help ))

[@ReallyChrisM]

The shortcut only deletes physical files (eg mp3s/wavs). If you use a streaming service there are no files on your computer to delete. Just right click in RB and remove the tracks from your collection to get rid of any analysis data :)

[@djadamlive]

@@ReallyChrisM ok got it. Do you have also a solution to speed up RB or stop it from overheating my laptop and slowing or lagging

[@BojarLaci]

But all these doesnt work on standalone units does it?

[@ReallyChrisM]

If you are preparing tracks on RB on your laptop and then exporting to USB to play on standalone the majority of things spoken about here should work :)

[@jeffjefferson9885]

A waiting period is the only way to go when buying new tracks. I always have Traxsource and Hard Wax carts out there waiting for a review before final purchase - a must. Sometimes I can't believe that I added a track to my cart when I listen 3-4 days later. Much better then the vinyl days when you would buy stuff right off (especially when travelling to new shops for gigs) then have buyer's remorse AND be broke once you got home.

[@djSoundShed]

I subscribed to the newsleter but can;t find that apple shortcuts download for removing files from a playlist

[@ReallyChrisM]

You will have received a welcome email it can be found on there- check your spam if you didn’t get it :)

[@djelevateusa1714]

"So your sets can sound like everyone else's" xD

[@mikeblades]

video was good...but the dry humor was excellent :)

[@martinbroeren5747]

does anyone know in what mp3 tag Rekordbox writes the rating? I'd like to edit that in a separate program such as mp3tag

[@Avtomat]

I love it how Baddadan is in your poop playlist xD

[@dernico3381]

Holidays: just book Ibiza FFS 🎉

[@DouglasHorch]

I guess I need an airhorn sample.

[@thomasrodriguez8797]

TRUTHHHH

[@KokoB71]

As a DJ if you can't do most of these things he is talking about I suggest giving up mixing..Or like most wanabe dj's you can become a SYNC dj... BUY your music spend some money & before anything know what style you wanna mix!

[@MatthewGillespiedj]

I thought I was going crazy that I couldn't separate stems from Tidal anymore, asking myself "Wait, was I ever able to do that at all?" Didn't know they turned that off until now.

[@ReallyChrisM]

It wasn’t widely publicised, just a line in a release note

[@tkpng]

have i not see mthis video before

[@cody_raves]

Organize music based off “like” sounds Meaning this sounds like that, so place them in the same folder. Next thing you’ll know you now have a entire set of music that is similar sounding. This way I can pull one random track out of the folder and guarantee it goes with any song in the list

[@DJJuxtapose]

Lol, did you say "I go to the supermarket because I don't like to support small businesses?" Also, I share a studio building with ShockOne :)

[@ReallyChrisM]

Oh nice! Grab me some dubs please

[@NicleT]

4:45 "... and making sure your set sounds like everyone else's." Isn't this what we exactly want to avoid?

[@bikesbeersbeats]

whooosh!

[@LothoOdy]

😊😊😊😊😊

[@hi_im_fido]

good video, but some points are irrelevant for cdj users

[@daveryan-kv4wx]

Harder than listening to an entire tech-house set!!!😅

[@JEEKMUSIC]

this track always goes down well with capitalists... WTF!!! 🤣🤣

[@HikariSakai]

wdym Hackers is a terrible track?! also love how Baddadan is there lmao

[@ReallyChrisM]

It’s a great track - this is one of the streaming service issues I mentioned- they remove it and add it again meaning there’s ghost tracks RB can’t load any more 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@HikariSakai]

@@ReallyChrisM And that's why I have mp3's of every track, no issues. Granted I have TONS of time to tag and grid everything and such, I'm extremely OCD about my organization haha. But at the same time I understand that not everyone has the time or motivation to do all that work so streaming is a quick option I suppose.

[@ReallyChrisM]

@@HikariSakai Yep I'm in the awkward transition phase back to mp3s after some time away

[@HikariSakai]

@@ReallyChrisM it's a lot of work but it's worth it for sure imo. Btw don't think I've asked this before but is there anywhere I can listen to some sets you played?

[@ReallyChrisM]

I actually just did my first guestmix in a long time on Data Transmission: soundcloud.com/datatransmission/pachelle-presents-over-the-moon-episode-5?in=pachellemusic/sets/over-the-moon-radio @@HikariSakai

[@stereothrilla8374]

Don’t delete all of your music. Just pull a set and make sure everything is labeled properly.