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naming-conventions.md

Music Naming Conventions

This document specifies the naming conventions for my DJ music collection. This includes formatting for ID3 tags as well as directory structure and file naming conventions.

Track file types

All music must be either a 320kbs MP3 or a 16bit or 24bit unsigned PCM stream stored in a AIFF file. Both of these files are commonly readable by Pioneers DJ equipment and most, if not all, DJ software. These file types both offer ID3 tagging capabilities which ensures the metadata is kept with each file.

ID3 tagging conventions

The following conventions should be applied when tagging tracks using ID3 tags. The string in [brackets] indicates the ID3 v2.4 Frame name.

  • Artist [TPE1]

    This tag should include the primary original producers of the track. This does not include the remixer of the track, but should include producers and vocalists.

    • If there is exactly two artists then the artists names should be concatenated using the ampersand (&). "vs" may also be used in place of the ampersand if this is how it appears on the track credits.

    • If there are more than two artists then they should be separated by commas. The exception to this rule is when "vs" is used, in this case all artists should be separated by "vs".

    • When a vocalist is included in the track credits using "Featuring" or "Ft." their name should appear as the last credit, prefixed by "Ft.", separating them from the other artists.

    Examples:

    • EvanP
    • Dougal & Gammer
    • Dougal, Gammer, Mickey Skedale
    • EvanP vs Descent vs A.J.
    • Technikore Ft. Lisa Abbot
    • Dougal & Gammer Ft. Jenna

    This is a REQUIRED field

  • Title [TIT2]

    The title of the track should be the same as it appears on the track credits. It should also include at the end, in parenthesis, the remixer of the track if applicable. It may also include, in parenthesis, the mix name.

    • If the track is a remix the 'Remix' should always be capitalized after the artist name. The artist name should follow the Artists convention above.

    • "Original Mix" should only be included if this is how the track is credited.

    Examples:

    • Lose Me Forever (Sparkz Remix)
    • Code 6
    • Hypnotic (Sunset Mix)
    • Falling Out Of Love (VIP DJ Mix)
    • Breakaway (Original Mix)

    This is a REQUIRED field

  • Album [TALB]

    • If the track is part of a album then the name of the album should be included.

    • If the track was released on a EP then the name of the EP should be used as the album.

    • If the track was released as single then the name of the track should be used as the album.

    This is a REQUIRED field

  • Remixer [TPE4]

    If the track was a remix then the remixer tag should be filled with the Artist(s) name who is credited for the remix. This again should follow the above Artists conventions.

  • Publisher [TPUB]

    The publisher is the same as the "Label" a track was released on. This should be included if possible. Many tracks may have not been released on any sort of label, as is the case with many free tracks, in this case no label should be added.

  • Comment [COMM]

    The comment tag is exclusively used to store the Catelog ID of the track. If the track was never officially released this can be set as "UNRELEASED". If the track was provided on a CDr this can be set as "CDR".

    Tracks released without a Catelog ID should have no comment.

  • Track Key [TKEY]

    The track key should be in the format defined by the Caemlot System.

    This is a REQUIRED field

  • BPM [TBPM]

    Because these tracks will be primarily used with the Pioneer Rekordbox software which stores BPM in a separate database, this should be LEFT BLANK. This convention may change in the future, especially if Rekordbox allows for the BPM to be written to the ID3 tags like it does keys.

  • Year [TYER]

    The year the track was originally released to the public. For unreleased tracks this should be left blank.

  • Track [TRCK]

    The track number. This should always be set, even if it's left as '1' for a single.

    This is a REQUIRED field

  • Disc Number [TPOS]

    If the track was released on a physical disc then the disc number should be included. This may also apply to a digital release that has specified 'discs'. If the track is part of a single digital release (EP or Single) the disc should just be 1.

    Otherwise no disc number should be set.

  • Genre [TCON]

    The musical genre of the track. This should indicate the primary style of the music, as well as possibly the sub-style of music. The following format should be used:

    Primary Genre: Sub-genra

    An effort should be made to reasonably discern when a track falls into a sub-style of the primary genra. Primarily for organization puproses. For example Japanese Hardcore should be classified only when it has that very distinct J-Core sound.

    Examples:

    • Hardcore
    • Hardcore: JP
    • Hardcore: UK
    • Hardcore: Powerstomp

All other ID3 tag Frames are open to interpretation. Some level of consistency should be attempted, especially if the purpose of

Album Artwork

An effort should be made to collect album artwork and store it as part of the file. High quality artwork can usually be found on Discogs

Directory and File structure conventions

The metadata from a track may be used to organize all music files into a directory structure.

Music/{publisher}/{album}/{track}. [{key}] {artists} - {title}.ext

When no publisher is set for the track the string "[No Label]" should be used.

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