Why I Deleted My ENTIRE DJ Music Library

[@djason_music]

I thought I was the only person in the world using star ratings for energy. Now that I know there are others I feel validated.

[@ReallyChrisM]

It’s a game changer

[@deejayinzaneofficial]

never tried it using rating

[@michelosmusic]

So did I 🙂

[@hulk4eto]

likewise, feels good man..

[@simonpreston]

I've been doing it for some time. The rating system never made sense to me (why would you bother playing tracks you hate - well, some DJs do, but that's their business) so using it to give me an indication of the energy helped me choose the next track. Just made it far more intuitive.

[@mrbishi634]

What a rapid-fire list of great advice! There's something in this video for everyone. I've needed a way to tag tracks for removal, and I will try using My Tags as my first use of that feature. I'll make some subtags: Delete, Archive, and Move to Listening Library. My DJ library started separate from my listening library as it was all vinyl and listening music was on everything else. Now they are separate shared folders on my NAS.

[@DominicCarterTV]

See, your library is peaceful. 140,000 tracks over here. I can't even imagine how long this will take me. I'm massively sentimental. Great video

[@ReallyChrisM]

Wow that’s a beast!

[@tankerock]

I was just like you but as Chris said you can always keep them in your personal listening library. The biggest problem I faced was separating what to keep. And the answer is danceablity. If I can't picture a whole room of people dancing to it, I'd delete it or move to listening folder. Hope this helps a bit.

[@Nguyenwhatarmy]

literally just started DJing and decided to use the rating system for energy today before watching this, thanks, your vids are great and your one-liners are crispy

[@ReallyChrisM]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@JUKE179r]

I’ve done this before but it was for 30+ gigs of samples for making music. I’m glad I did it as it made me be more creative. I have seriously thought about deleting my 1.2 TB of music that I’ve collected over the years.

[@ReallyChrisM]

There’s definitely such a thing as too much choice

[@Lavonda_Rocks]

So helpful!!! (Also funny AF) Thank you for sharing this. I’m about to start with rekordbox so I’m gonna be binging your videos.

[@ReallyChrisM]

Large amounts of ups! 👊

[@ArslanAkhmedov]

I just love how you said it all about tech house djs without even mentioning them

[@lukesargent9413]

"low energy drum and bass, this playlist was largely empty" Liquid DnB 👁👄👁 😂😂

[@knvcklednb]

Love your videos man. You deserve way more subscribers

[@ReallyChrisM]

Thankyou! 🙏

[@DomCB]

I'm rebuilding my library at the moment, simplifying & reducing the # of categories, setting up stars for energy, removing dud tracks, setting up playlists of 100 'good' tracks e.g. techno 1, techno 2. techno 3, etc.. apparently playlists of 100 are easier to work with /remember (did I get that tip from your channel?)...anyway, enjoying getting on top of my library & it's amazing what you rediscover.

[@ReallyChrisM]

The good tunes will always bubble to the top i reckon

[@mrdrgonzo]

I’ve recently done the same thing mine become too bloated as I also discover tracks via Spotify. I’ve changed how I’m organising them, instead of putting them into folders as their apparent genre, I’ve named them as a feeling.. Bear with me, I have really bad memory so can be staring at my tracks in a certain genre and still be unsure of what will fit. So now they’re sub labelled as a feeling like “chewing your face off” this is for the tracks with a stupidly high constant energy. “About to climax” tracks that build up into high level. “Calmed down” no explanation.. “well that’s pretty leftfield” tracks that aren’t your normal standard. I’m also trying out a folder with different genres but have that same vibe for electric mixes: “S3x club” tracks that belong in a s3x club. “Indie bands getting funky” mixable indie.. will see how it works, I backed up my previous library so can always revert.

[@ReallyChrisM]

Chewing your face off is a tag i'll be implementing immediately

[@ebbablom]

definitely gonna be using the star rating for track intensity; that's genius!

[@1twoone2]

Fun fact: Retired Sumo wrestlers actually get smaller, OK "back to the scheduled programming!"

[@ReallyChrisM]

🤯

[@CarlosMendez003]

Loved this video!! It really puts into perspective how a lot of us DJs have many tracks in our library that need to go! Don’t worry you can keep them on an external HD. I remember when I switched from vinyl to digital on CDJ 900s using Rekordbox and I only had about 100 tunes for a while. My sets were awesome and I was able to record several mixes. Fast forward almost 10 years and I now have about 5000 tracks in my Rekordbox collection. I know maybe 5% of tracks by name or sight and it’s not often I can get into a good flow whilst at home practicing or just mixing for friends who come over on the weekends. Let’s not even talk about that I haven’t put out a mix since 2017 on SoundCloud or a live mix since 2020. Anyway, the moral of the story is DELETE YOUR ENTIRE LIBRARY and start over the right way!!

[@ReallyChrisM]

Love that! I've definitely been enjoying having a much more curated selection since I did this

[@RajdeepJunnarkar]

May not necessarily resort to something this extreme but perhaps for tracks that were added before a certain time.

[@ReallyChrisM]

Yeah that’s one way to slice it, especially if the older tracks aren’t as good quality file wise

[@chrisdevlin4637]

I’ve done the exact same thing. I’ve cut out about 8000 UK Garage tracks. Just cut them down to cheese and some old US style which I prefer

[@ReallyChrisM]

8000! Wow

[@MrPoblijon]

Good video. I am thinking in a similar way. I accidentally deleted my library and I used this as an opportunity to adjust my workflow. I abandoned a folder structure and focused on the library only leaving all files in the RB folder on a big storage. I used to have tons of duplicates with all the troubles they bring. I have a pair of CDJ 3000 and I am a bit dissappointed that Pioneer would not let the tracks to be tagged with rating and colour, at least (considering the possibilities the players have). Simple tagging is simply not enough. I would get rd of so much garbage having that option...

[@ReallyChrisM]

the 3000 does actually let you filter by colour, MyTag and rating if you press and hold the track filter/edit button

[@CarlosMendez003]

Awesome!

[@MrPoblijon]

@@ReallyChrisM true, but they do not allow you to actively change any of that. It would be great to be able to set the colour or the rating of the track on the player. Some tracks can surprise you when played live on a big sound setup and vice versa. Hence just "tagging" is not enough, IMO.

[@ReallyChrisM]

@@MrPoblijon Yeah I agree. The implementation is far from great

[@laidbackmedia]

The problem builds and build until we must do something like deleting collections. This major issue has been planned and created by the greedy developer of Rekordbox Mixmaster f'n G. For most of us would simply delete the trash from within rekordbox as we curate. Strangely Rekordbox does not offer this basic editing function. You can delete files within rekordbox however there are two things you must do. Pay for an addon and here's the best bit.....own a Mac lol Greedy mofo!

[@descry1]

i find this to be a really refreshing move every year

[@ReallyChrisM]

Not a bad idea!

[@aksoofficial]

Really cool video and also very interesting timing. As I am watching this, I am also cleaning out my library. Not as extreme as rebuilding it fully but I was able to get rid of more than 3K tracks so far. Like you, I've also been working on my metadata tagging over the years and I've found that stars for energy + tags for describing the tunes + colours for moods or sub-genres give me an awesome directiong to build a set list from. I also add the energy as a tag as well with a naming convetion that I am then able to bring to the comments field on standalone gear. So, when I browse on there I see something like 5/02A/..... in my comments field which makes it very quick and easy to find tracks in the heat of the moment. Thanks for the video again. Keep it up! :)

[@ReallyChrisM]

Always interesting to hear how others manage their library! Thanks for sharing 🔥

[@aksoofficial]

@@ReallyChrisM pleasure 💯

[@TechnoMusicFreaks]

As a DJ I can tell you that you can't save the time when you are collecting music you ahve to make an effort and start digging for song that you like there is no other way. ofc I'm an underground DJ and I dont play music which is available on spotify or any streaming service. So I'm digging vinyls all the time.

[@namesurname4666]

at least keep a backup since not all tracks are easy to find + unofficial bootlegs/remixes

[@DJKuryba]

It would be nice if we could have multiple libraries in rekordbox

[@SelcoManufacturing]

but aren't all your cues gone when you wipe out?

[@ReallyChrisM]

Yup!

[@vegaastroo]

did this and immediately regretted it lmao

[@tashfix]

your vids are top tier man

[@emreokten]

Hahaha the way he treats tech house djs is brutal

[@deejayinzaneofficial]

pioneer dj should employ you.

[@ReallyChrisM]

I’m waiting for that call..

[@BILLYWALKER618]

BROCCOLI IS DELICIOUS.. LOL

[@ReallyChrisM]

🥦

[@1973melendez]

2 much just use crate hackers……

[@DJKomoi]

Oops

[@DTrackFinder]

Hey Chris, fantastic video! I also had trouble managing and accessing my music library, especially on Serato DJ. In order to solve it, I’ve created a the MusicFinder3000!(generic name that changes every time I forget what it was😂) anyway: here is a basic demo of it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3_ThpZjo9WkbtU I’d love to hear your thoughts about it!

[@ReallyChrisM]

Looks interesting!

[@shootherunnerNo1]

Spotify shut my account due to copying playlist for tidal. Has to remove the third party before they gave me access again. Boner.

[@ReallyChrisM]

Really? I’ve not heard of this happening before. It’s all done through their own api