Labelling CDs for Djing out

Just wondered how anyone else who plays out using CDs labels them. Do you do the black marker pen or colours or print them? And do you cram tons of tunes onto each disc or have them more as singles/EPs?

I used to print the odd CD but found a good source of plain (no label) white CDs which get the black marker pen and my crazy red dot system of how massive a track is.

A mate was at Derrick Carter & DJ Sneak B2B gig in London in April and took this pic of one of their CD wallets.. Thought it was rather colourful. Wonder who's music it is? Nice artwork.

yah got a red dot system too

need to got more colours so it looks more like that shiz

weirdos

ya big red dotted weirdos

I have enough trouble reading record sleeves.

a real DJ doesn't read, they can tell a tune from the grooves on their records

real DJs would never be seen dead with a red pen

green, sure but red?

weirdos

Dj braile?

they aren't blind, just intellectually challenged

reading is for grown ups

music is for children

it rocks to be constantly 12

*builds cardboard fort and defeats the hordes of hard house DJs attacking*

For me its dnb loving orcs!!

ever tried pointing in a different direction to your fort to them orcs?

they will wander off following the general direction of your finger... try it

Take note don't point your red marker pen at them, it gets them overly excited



back to the topic in hand - no I don't have a system for marking cds I play in a public environment (which is rare anyways). last few times I've 'played out' I've burnt CDs for the occassion and them dumped them or given them away to the ladies when finished (I write my phone number on them)


strangley my phone never rings

The only thing that will drive a dnb loving orc away is massive disco bombs!!!
Drop Donna Summer, crank up the mirror ball, flick on a light or two and they run like vampires in sunlight!!
Agree on the red marker thing btw.

I used to do what bob does, make cds for the occasion and then give them away to people when I am done

Cds suck tho.
today's reason is you will make 3 or 4 and then you realize you put all the trax you want to play together on the same cd…
So in the end I would end up burning 2 of every cd, cos ya can…

I have never, knowingly, bought 2 of the same record so I could do that tho

What about dvd's? do cdj's read these?
That could make things really confusing, over
four gigs of tunes.

only a DJ could get confused over 4 gig of tunes

a music lover would be excited

Ha ha. Call. Haven't made that mistake for a while. Usually group stuff but put one major, key tune on a CD and then a couple of others. CD booklet is arranged sort-of into broad groups: New stuff, old stuff (Redzone/Box/Crow classics), lounge stuff, peak-time techno.

Just thought about it after seeing the pic of Carter/Sneak's CDs and their artwork efforts.

seen a similar pic somewhere before,
it was sneak's if i remember right

Always happens to me dammit

I actually do need a good system for my CDs. I have always played predominantly vinyl and am only just now starting to move some stuff to CD, so naturally, I am yet to work out some kind of classification system for when the number of CDs I take out with me expands past 4...

Any pointers?

New Genre!! Yes!

BRAILE FUNK

Dont need eyes to know that some booty!

brap brao brap brrrrap brap

I just sort my CD wallets by mood and tempo.
Different wallets for different genres.

this is exactly where ii go wrong!
ii put all th songs that are `similar' together and then end up completely screwed.
ie:
1 x cd of NY soulful house
1 x cd of minimal techno

theres a set akli dying to hear!!
soul
minimal
soul
minimal
continue for 2 hrs or till everybody has left....

I usually burn a couple of CDs worth of purchases before I head out. I don't write on the disc itself but have a word doc template I can type the names onto, print it to paper and tuck it into the wallet with the CD.

I'll burn 8 or so tunes onto each CD. I put all the house-y stuff first on the CD and the disco, boogie, etc at the end. That way when I flick through the wallet I can scan across the first 4 or so track names on each label looking for house or if I'm playing non-house stuff I can skim across the last tunes on the label looking for disco stuff.

All my cds are burnt in keys ie A - A minor about 6 tunes per cd and duplicated so you can all the tunes nothing worse than having a tune you want to play on the cd thats being played.

Then placed in wallet in circle of 5ths so you can play relative minors to major notes Nothing worse than clashing keys TBH its as bad as a trainwreck

I like this

Scandals too...

^^ My god, dj's that know what a relative minor is!!

that would be my little cousin??

Dont know how you guys can fit 10 or so tunes on each cd, I can only fit 6 at the best...?

I can fit hundreds, all you have to do is compress em right down to 96kbps mp3s and long as you're playing at somewhere like Code, nobody will know the difference, mwahahahahaha!

/jest

I usually cap it around six also unless it's an LP. It just seems the right number so you can keep your writing big enough to see in the dark.

Rob, out of interest, what is the main reason you're not laptop-based yet? (using serato CD controllers, for example)

Simply - I'm comfortable with CDs and the players are (almost) universally the same as well as being many generations old so the majority of issues with them are long gone.

I've tried Serato, abeit a couple of versions ago, and wasn't feeling the filing system they had to be honest. Now it's fine.

Also wasn't keen to play out where there is always only the option of 2 decks. I always like to have a 3rd - sometimes you get into a groove and beats/acapellas are needed.

Greg and Angela's CD wallets always took my fancy.

They take the time to print the CDs and from what i remember, re-jig the artwork associated with the release or artist.

Looks really cool in the wallet and a great visual reference just like when DJs used to use the record covers.

I havent seen their wallets in a couple of years, i wonder if they still doing it.