RE: Defining 'Compilation' (help?)

[monsterjazzlick]

Hi folks,

I am in the process of ripping my CD collection (to FLAC) and had a specific question regarding the function/term 'compilation'.

I have not be utilizing this feature on any of my rips to date because - for me - I have always classed the term as meaning: a CD which contains different recordings with different bands from different albums. So, you might say something like: "Johnny Cash Greatest Hits", or "The Very Best Of The Bee Gees".

But, since looking more closely at the material on some of my (Miles Davis) CDs, I can see, now, why dBpa has automatically been checking the 'compilation' box within the tagging page:



For instance, I have a Miles Davis single-CD ("Star People") which (I did not realize) contains material from THREE concerts:



In such cases, if I wish to include the fact that this album is indeed material collected from three different dates (albeit with more or less the same ensemble), then do I leave the 'compilation' box checked, please?

Secondly, in order to specify which tracks correlate with which recording/session dates, do I need to use the: "Meta Data For Track" option, please?:



I have never used this before but I think it would be the correct facilitator.

Cheers,

Paul

[mville]

Re: Defining 'Compilation' (help?)

I am in the process of ripping my CD collection (to FLAC) and had a specific question regarding the function/term 'compilation'.

I have not be utilizing this feature on any of my rips to date because - for me - I have always classed the term as meaning: a CD which contains different recordings with different bands from different albums. So, you might say something like: "Johnny Cash Greatest Hits", or "The Very Best Of The Bee Gees".

But, since looking more closely at the material on some of my (Miles Davis) CDs, I can see, now, why dBpa has automatically been checking the 'compilation' box within the tagging page:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1559[/ATTACH]

For instance, I have a Miles Davis single-CD ("Star People") which (I did not realize) contains material from THREE concerts:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1560[/ATTACH]

In such cases, if I wish to include the fact that this album is indeed material collected from three different dates (albeit with more or less the same ensemble), then do I leave the 'compilation' box checked, please?

Personally, I only use the Compilation tag to distinguish albums with a consistent Artist/Album Artist from Various Artists albums. You can do something different if you choose.

So, although I would consider the Miles Davis's - Star People live album as a non-compilation with the Album Artist Miles Davis, you can treat it as a compilation album, if you wish. These things are not set in stone.

Secondly, in order to specify which tracks correlate with which recording/session dates, do I need to use the: "Meta Data For Track" option, please?:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1561[/ATTACH]

Yes.

[Oggy]

Re: Defining 'Compilation' (help?)

Hi folks,

I am in the process of ripping my CD collection (to FLAC) and had a specific question regarding the function/term 'compilation'.

I have not be utilizing this feature on any of my rips to date because - for me - I have always classed the term as meaning: a CD which contains different recordings with different bands from different albums. So, you might say something like: "Johnny Cash Greatest Hits", or "The Very Best Of The Bee Gees".

But, since looking more closely at the material on some of my (Miles Davis) CDs, I can see, now, why dBpa has automatically been checking the 'compilation' box within the tagging page:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1559[/ATTACH]

For instance, I have a Miles Davis single-CD ("Star People") which (I did not realize) contains material from THREE concerts:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1560[/ATTACH]

In such cases, if I wish to include the fact that this album is indeed material collected from three different dates (albeit with more or less the same ensemble), then do I leave the 'compilation' box checked, please?

Secondly, in order to specify which tracks correlate with which recording/session dates, do I need to use the: "Meta Data For Track" option, please?:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1561[/ATTACH]

I have never used this before but I think it would be the correct facilitator.

Cheers,

Paul

Hi Paul,

I sincerely hope you haven't got, Led Zeppelin, The Song Remains The Same, in your collection!! Each song, often has sections, or notes from different performances!

More seriously, I've always taken Compilations to be, albums like, 100 Hits Of The 70s and Ultimate Reggae. But, Neil Young, Decade, I use Album Artist to put under Neil Young - even though it has tracks by, Buffalo Springsteen, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, I have not put it in Compilations. Choices!

Your Miles Davis, Star People, I wouldn't put in Compilations, but if you see it that way, you have the choice to.

I guess that some may use the song Title, to differentiate, different dates.

[garym]

Re: Defining 'Compilation' (help?)

I only use the COMPILATION tag for things that have different track artists (soundtracks, Top Songs of 1967, Tribute Album to XXXX, etc.). Something like a Greatest Hits of a particular artist I don't treat as a compilation. This is all a personal decision. Some people don't use COMPILATION tag ever. For things like Soundtracks, etc. they simply put "Various Artists" in the ALBUM ARTIST tag.

[monsterjazzlick]

Re: Defining 'Compilation' (help?)

Personally, I only use the Compilation tag to distinguish albums with a consistent Artist/Album Artist from Various Artists albums. You can do something different if you choose.

So, although I would consider the Miles Davis's - Star People live album as a non-compilation with the Album Artist Miles Davis, you can treat it as a compilation album, if you wish. These things are not set in stone.

Hi mville,

So you would only use the 'compilation' tag if the CD album was (say): "The Fabulous Hits of the 1960s"? (ie. this would be classed as a 'various artists' album).

I would like to consider the Miles "Star People" album as a non-compilation because I don't actually consider a mish-mash. Personally, I view it as being something like (pardon the ad hoc analogy!): lets say that The Beatles "Sergeant Pepper" recording was recorded in two locations, and in two different years. A studio in Germany in 1965, and a studio in London in 1966. So, even though Side-A and Side-B were recorded separately, the album, as a WHOLE, is ONE concept album.

I have noticed that (over the past couple of weeks), dBpa assumes the CD is a compilation (checking the box automatically) if: the CD was recorded on many different dates (as in "Star People"), and when the CD features a 'guest artist' (eg. "Dolly Parton featuring Kenny Rodgers").

In any event, Miles Davis (in this instance) is both the 'Artist' and 'Album Artist' throughout.

Cheers,

Paul

[monsterjazzlick]

Re: Defining 'Compilation' (help?)

More seriously, I've always taken Compilations to be, albums like, 100 Hits Of The 70s and Ultimate Reggae. But, Neil Young, Decade, I use Album Artist to put under Neil Young - even though it has tracks by, Buffalo Springsteen, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, I have not put it in Compilations. Choices!

Your Miles Davis, Star People, I wouldn't put in Compilations, but if you see it that way, you have the choice to.

I guess that some may use the song Title, to differentiate, different dates.

Cheers Oggy,

Yes, I would tend to agree with you on the Neil Young tag choices.

Because the 'compilations' box was being checked in a few certain instances, I assumed that I had done something wrong! And so I wanted to check first with everyone before moving forward with my mountain of ripping.

I don't think I want to go to the extent of including 'Song Title' because I already have enough settings on my plate to handle!

Thanks.

[monsterjazzlick]

Re: Defining 'Compilation' (help?)

I only use the COMPILATION tag for things that have different track artists (soundtracks, Top Songs of 1967, Tribute Album to XXXX, etc.). Something like a Greatest Hits of a particular artist I don't treat as a compilation. This is all a personal decision. Some people don't use COMPILATION tag ever. For things like Soundtracks, etc. they simply put "Various Artists" in the ALBUM ARTIST tag.

Hi Gary,

Interesting you hear that:

Something like a Greatest Hits of a particular artist I don't treat as a compilation

I will have to think about that one as and when it arises.

Thanks.

[garym]

Re: Defining 'Compilation' (help?)

I have noticed that (over the past couple of weeks), dBpa assumes the CD is a compilation (checking the box automatically) if: the CD was recorded on many different dates (as in "Star People"), and when the CD features a 'guest artist' (eg. "Dolly Parton featuring Kenny Rodgers").

I've never seen the date issue (then again, I assign only one date to my CD rips (the date the original album was released in most cases; if there is some sort of remastering, I'll put that in the title (e.g., "Rubber Soul (Mono 2009)". But yes, dbpa assumes that an album is a compilation if any of the tracks have a differing ARTIST. In these cases (where I don't want compilation) I simply untick the tag and make sure I have the ALBUM ARTIST set to the primary artist.

[monsterjazzlick]

Re: Defining 'Compilation' (help?)

Howdy!

OK, thanks guys. I have just tested out specifying different years for each track (ie. Miles Davis "Star People").

So, for track-1 meta-data I added the 'Year' of '1982':



And similarly, '1983' for track-2:



And, low and behold, for the 'Album Meta-Data' the 'Year' field automatically changes to "<Various>":



Is this all well and good, please?

Paul

NB. On the 'Manual Meta Review' page, 'Year' is shown as "<different>" rather than "<Various>"?:

[monsterjazzlick]

Re: Defining 'Compilation' (help?)

I've never seen the date issue (then again, I assign only one date to my CD rips (the date the original album was released in most cases; if there is some sort of remastering, I'll put that in the title (e.g., "Rubber Soul (Mono 2009)". But yes, dbpa assumes that an album is a compilation if any of the tracks have a differing ARTIST. In these cases (where I don't want compilation) I simply untick the tag and make sure I have the ALBUM ARTIST set to the primary artist.

Gary,

Thanks for confirming.

Oh I see, so you included the 'date' within parenthesis alongside the 'Album Title'?:

... if there is some sort of remastering, I'll put that in the title (e.g., "Rubber Soul (Mono 2009)".

Paul

[garym]

Re: Defining 'Compilation' (help?)

Gary,

Thanks for confirming.

Oh I see, so you included the 'date' within parenthesis alongside the 'Album Title'?:



Paul

This is all in the ALBUM tag. I do this because I have the Beatles's Rubber Soul from the original 1987 CDs, I have Rubber Soul in Stereo from the 2009 Stereo Box, and I have Rubber Soul in Mono from the 2009 Mono Box. So when I'm browsing Beatles CDs in my music server by album title, I want to know which I'm choosing (the 1987, the 2009 Stereo, or the 2009 Mono). In my case for the original 1987 CDs, I simply have "Rubber Soul" in the ALBUM tag.

[garym]

Re: Defining 'Compilation' (help?)

Howdy!

OK, thanks guys. I have just tested out specifying different years for each track (ie. Miles Davis "Star People").

So, for track-1 meta-data I added the 'Year' of '1982':

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1562[/ATTACH]

And similarly, '1983' for track-2:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1563[/ATTACH]

And, low and behold, for the 'Album Meta-Data' the 'Year' field automatically changes to "<Various>":

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1564[/ATTACH]

Is this all well and good, please?

Paul

Yes, the Album Metadata YEAR *has* to change to various, because there is not a single value for year associated with that Album. But if Compilation is ticked, I'd untick it.
EDIT: And it's not changing your year values....they are what you entered. It's just temporarily displaying "various" in the overall listing, because there is more than one value.

[monsterjazzlick]

Re: Defining 'Compilation' (help?)

Yes, the Album Metadata YEAR *has* to change to various, because there is not a single value for year associated with that Album. But if Compilation is ticked, I'd untick it.
EDIT: And it's not changing your year values....they are what you entered. It's just temporarily displaying "various" in the overall listing, because there is more than one value.

That's great Gary.

Thanks.

There is another Q/screengrab tagged to the foot of 'post *9' above - if you will, please.

Paul

[Oggy]

Re: Defining 'Compilation' (help?)

Cheers Oggy,

Yes, I would tend to agree with you on the Neil Young tag choices.

Because the 'compilations' box was being checked in a few certain instances, I assumed that I had done something wrong! And so I wanted to check first with everyone before moving forward with my mountain of ripping.

I don't think I want to go to the extent of including 'Song Title' because I already have enough settings on my plate to handle!

Thanks.

Yes, I agree, there really is a lot to be said, for keeping it simple. Less work, less scope for errors, and simpler naming, look neater, and better reflect the title on the CD.

[garym]

Re: Defining 'Compilation' (help?)

There is another Q/screengrab tagged to the foot of 'post *9' above - if you will, please.

Yes, that's correct and OK.