What DSP Effects and Genres do people use?

[DLD-UK]

Hi,

I have to start a new batch of ripping (and I'm thinking of re-ripping my library too) and I wondered what DSP Effects people use. The Configuring DSP Effects section says "Add a DSP effect ReplayGain (not ReplayGain (apply)" and I'm not sure if this means to ignore the others? I would appreciate any advice. No matter how many times I read about things like volume normalization I end up confused! In particular I've never understood the difference between Track Gain and Album Gain, or more precisely, which to use? Does it make sense to rip to FLAC with no DSP Effects as a kind of reference file and also rip to FLAC with DSP Effects for playback?

Also, when I look at my existing library I think I made a big mistake with Genres in that I used them inconsistently and incorrectly. Again, I wondered what other people do? For example, how do people classify The Beatles? Are they rock or pop? Do you break Rock down into different types or just use Rock? How do you classify artists like Frank Sinatra? Jazz or Easy Listening? I had a category of "Male Vocal" and "Female Vocal" but they don't seem to be recognised Genres.

Any advice much appreciated.

Regards,

DLD

[monsterjazzlick]

Re: What DSP Effects and Genres do people use?

Also, when I look at my existing library I think I made a big mistake with Genres in that I used them inconsistently and incorrectly. Again, I wondered what other people do? For example, how do people classify The Beatles? Are they rock or pop? Do you break Rock down into different types or just use Rock? How do you classify artists like Frank Sinatra? Jazz or Easy Listening? I had a category of "Male Vocal" and "Female Vocal" but they don't seem to be recognised Genres.

Hi DLD,

I agree, you have to make some tough choices in pigeon holing certain artists/recordings. Some artists/recordings fall into a cross-section.

For me, I use JAZZ as the genre, and then (in all of my many JAZZ CDs) I add the STYLE tag (which I view as a sub-genre). The STYLE field is likely to be: LATIN; FUSION; FUNK; BLUES; and so forth. But I never use 2 STYLES (eg. JAZZ/ROCK) - only ever 1. Usually (except for some of Miles Davis's electronic period works) 2 sources of data is suffice; but as I say, I will narrow it down to 1 GENRE and 1 STYLE.

If you could give an idea of what proportion (per GENRE) your music library is then I might be able to offer some help. For example, mine is circa: 50% JAZZ; 30% CLASSICAL; 20% POP.

Hope this helps,

Paul

[DLD-UK]

Re: What DSP Effects and Genres do people use?

Thanks Paul. I didn't know there is a STYLE tag. That is most helpful. I would say that most of my music would be classified as Rock but I've never really liked the term. The Beatles are a good example. I don't really think of them as a rock band but I also don't think of them as pop. One of the things I struggle with is classifying artists like Van Morrison. That is why I used tags Male Vocal and Female Vocal as I didn't think rock or blues was quite right to be able to find the sort of music I wanted.

One other question I meant to ask, but forgot, is about ratings. Is there a standard for ratings that is recognised by all music players, rippers, taggers etc.

[monsterjazzlick]

Re: What DSP Effects and Genres do people use?

Thanks Paul. I didn't know there is a STYLE tag. That is most helpful. I would say that most of my music would be classified as Rock but I've never really liked the term. The Beatles are a good example. I don't really think of them as a rock band but I also don't think of them as pop. One of the things I struggle with is classifying artists like Van Morrison. That is why I used tags Male Vocal and Female Vocal as I didn't think rock or blues was quite right to be able to find the sort of music I wanted.

One other question I meant to ask, but forgot, is about ratings. Is there a standard for ratings that is recognised by all music players, rippers, taggers etc.

Hi DLD,

Initially, circa 2007, I ripped all of my CDs (using 'WMP.!) haphazardly; hence I am starting over (having thankfully discovered 'Illustrate'!).

Yes, I started to use the STYLE tag last month. I found GENRE was not enough on it's own.

The issue you are having with 'Rock' sounds similar to the issue I was initially having with 'Jazz'!

I think the likes of Oggy would be better at answering your Beatles questions. But I would say that I am having a similar issue with Miles Davis (who changed his STYLE every decade or so). When you look on Amazon, Spotify, or Wiki at these artists, they are placed in many different categories!

Personally, I would not make my tags gender-specific. But I have asked a question, elsewhere, on whether to create a tag exclusively for VOCALS (ie. stating whether or not an album does, or does not, contain vocals). That way, I can instantly search for all albums with VOCALISTS.

If your CD collection only has a small proportion of Jazz type vocalists (eg. Tony Bennett; Sinatra; Harry Connick Jnr; Paul Anker) then I would simply place them all under a Jazz GENRE. But if you have a larger and varied collection (of which included vocalists such as: Dean Martin; Perry Como; Bessie Smith; Billie Holiday;Engelbert Humper-trump!), then I would be thinking about creating a scheme which incorporated (say): BLUES; EASY LISTENING; SWING; etc.

I created a thread called: 'Tags And More Tags' earlier this month which you may, or may not, find useful.

I do not use RATINGS myself; and most people don't seem to either. There is a dedicated thread, of recent, on this topic somewhere here (I seem to remember posting some screengrabs).

Hope this helps mate,

Paul

[Oggy]

Re: What DSP Effects and Genres do people use?

Hi,

I have to start a new batch of ripping (and I'm thinking of re-ripping my library too) and I wondered what DSP Effects people use. The Configuring DSP Effects section says "Add a DSP effect ReplayGain (not ReplayGain (apply)" and I'm not sure if this means to ignore the others? I would appreciate any advice. No matter how many times I read about things like volume normalization I end up confused! In particular I've never understood the difference between Track Gain and Album Gain, or more precisely, which to use? Does it make sense to rip to FLAC with no DSP Effects as a kind of reference file and also rip to FLAC with DSP Effects for playback?

Also, when I look at my existing library I think I made a big mistake with Genres in that I used them inconsistently and incorrectly. Again, I wondered what other people do? For example, how do people classify The Beatles? Are they rock or pop? Do you break Rock down into different types or just use Rock? How do you classify artists like Frank Sinatra? Jazz or Easy Listening? I had a category of "Male Vocal" and "Female Vocal" but they don't seem to be recognised Genres.

Any advice much appreciated.

Regards,

DLD

Hi DLD,

The only DSP I use when ripping, is ReplayGain. This writes only a tag, and in no way affects the file; some players can utilise the ReplayGain tag, and some can't. The default settings work extremely well, and even if your current player doesn't use the tags, they do no harm being there, and may well be beneficial in the future.

Genre, is I believe, an extremely useful tag. I personally tend to search by Artist and then Album, but as a quick way to find music of a certain genre, or simply to have ready made playlists, consistent naming makes this easy. I attach importance to Genre, because nearly all apps and players have a search by, Genre, function.

The problem with the Genre tag, is that you have many conflicting entries, and if you accept the default tag, you can easily end up with 150+ different genres, often 8 being variations on one genre - not useful for searching! After either accepting, or changing the cover art, I always press Capitalize Tags, which immediately removes lower / upper case variations.

To answer your question, my Beatles CDs were the second band I ripped. As record shops put their LPs in the "Rock" section, I used Rock. Some of the Genre tags had Rock, some Pop and some Pop / Rock. I settled there and then on Rock, and haven't ever used Pop / Rock.

To be honest, as 75% of my music is "Pop / Rock", apart from putting a label on a musical genre, as there are a couple of thousand that fall into this category, as a search tool it is useless, and so merely a label.

Frank Sinatra, I put in Swing, but when I realised how few swing records I had, changed it to Easy Listening.

As my wife has a large number of compilation CDs, I used a few very generic terms, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, Oldies, Disco, Party, Christmas, Dance, Glam Rock, Punk Rock. For quick playlists, these are very useful. Did the Male Vocal, Female Vocal, not show on your player or app?

You could of course put, The Beatles, in with 60s!

Luckily I've heard of The Beatles, and know the album names, so if I haven't decided which album to play, I look under B, for The Beatles. If I want to listen to Abbey Road, I type in Abbey Road. For The Beatles, the Genre tag, for me, really is a meaningless label.

If I want to listen to some reggae, I can search by Reggae. If I had a far bigger reggae collection, I would use Roots, Dancehall, Lovers, etc.

Classical, I use Classical! Again if I had a bigger classical collection, Baroque, Chamber, Opera, Symphony or Symphonic, may be more useful.

I suggest you use whatever Genre tags, that make searching your music as logical and simple as possible. You are not trying to please anyone, apart from those using your library.

To be useful, then yes, different types of Rock makes searching much quicker. BUT, any of these genres are only useful, if we tag them using a term, we as individuals understand, and are consistent. A good starting point is deciding which variation of terms like Alternative Rock and Progressive Rock we want to use! Even capitalising both the first and second word, there are many possible variations!

Fortuitously, changing a Genre tag, is extremely easy! With only a few mouse clicks, I can change every Genre tag of The Beatles, to .....