Ripping compilation albums

**Spoon** · January 29, 2010, 12:53 PM

Re: Ripping compilation albums

Compilation CDs (where all the artists are different) do not need Album Artist filling, they need the compilation tag setting (check compilation in CD Ripper)
Then Artist is set for each track.

**Andyroo** · January 29, 2010, 02:53 PM

Re: Ripping compilation albums

Thanks for the swift reply. I thought I was going mad! That check box works for one compilation album i've just done but does not appear to work for another compilation. In the latter the 'artist' column is wholly populated by the words 'various artists'. Do I need to do something on the metadata settings or god forbid type all the artists names in manually?

**Spoon** · January 29, 2010, 04:02 PM

Re: Ripping compilation albums

Press ALT + M and hope another database have them.

**Avalon** · February 27, 2010, 09:10 PM

Re: Ripping compilation albums

As this thread is the nearest i can find to my concern, pls forgive me jumping in.

I'm using:-
RipNAS Statement/Asset 2.1
iTouch/Songbook 2.1 (and Kinsky Desktop, which I prefer not to use)
MP3TAG v2.45a
I'm currently ripping only to FLAC.

I have quite a few compilations among the 1700 CDs currently onboard, for which MP3TAG's Extended Tags show Compilation set to 1, but Album Artist always(?) still blank...

1) which software uses the Compilation tag? It'd be nice if its set status could reduce the overflow of Artist info!

2) When should Album Artist be non-blank? I'd have expected Album Artist = Artist in many cases.

Too often (World music), the artist is "strange but uninteresting" to me, and I do not want the increasing number of such strange artists to overwhelm my selection by Artist on the iTouch, nor do I want to discard the original info.

So as to counter the growing list of strange artists coming from compilations visible in Songbook, I've been using MP3TAG's File Export and editing the .txt file to contain only the Artists, then Convert TXT->Tag these into the Album Artist fields (%band%), and replacing all the Artist fields by "Various Artists".

Even tho most folk here might prefer "Various Artists" as more logical in the Album Artist field, and to retain the artist's name in Artist, my logic (hope) is that I can discover the strange artist should I need to via Songbook's
Advanced Search > Album Artist.

Then I thought @&£%!...

3a) what happens to the Insecure/AccurateRip process? -
Should a track be Insecure, will my MP3TAG-assisted field-content jigging (or even RipNAS-Explorer-assisted corrections) upset the automatic track replacement if a future re-rip occurs?

3b) is the .flac filename used (I'm often changing its composition in MP3TAG), or other embedded properties?

3c) if I don't jig with fields in Insecure, then perhaps the track is auto-replaced but its fields not then consistent with the new scheme I'm following - er, does a re-rip replace the whole album or can it be made to just replace previously bad tracks (presumably, provided nothing has changed in one's setup)??

In a previous life, I wrote many thousands of lines of code, high and low level, and designed early database systems. I'd like to better understand the tree structure and container concepts within Asset, and how this interrelates with such as Songbook or iTunes. Often, the forum conversations assume more familiarity than I currently possess, so I can't yet benefit, even from hours of forum reading. I'm sure I'm not alone...

4) Is there a (detailed) mug's guide, please, with examples?

Cheers!

**Spoon** · February 28, 2010, 09:55 AM

Re: Ripping compilation albums

MP3Tag is not reading the correct tag for Album Artist, as for flac we write 'ALBUMARTIST'

Album artist should be blank for compilation CDs, or optionally single artist CDs (CD Ripper will populate album artist with artist for single artist cds).

'Various Artists' should not really be written to the album artist tag, instead the compilation tag should be set.

3a) RipNAS will replace the file if ripped at a later date and the name is the same.

3b) Yes

4) Just what is in the help file.

**Avalon** · March 01, 2010, 08:08 PM

Re: Ripping compilation albums

Thank you for your succinct answers.
How do you, Mr Spoon, find the time to answer such stuff every week?! Website Help refers us to the forum. With much respect, however, I’d prefer not to tax your patience, but to read up on all this via a consolidated reference, avoiding many hours exploring various manufacturer forum headings (newspaper style) that reveal titbits, like small pieces of a large jigsaw. Roll on, such a reference!

As you can guess, MP3TAG was using %band% for Album Artist.
I’ve added the column titles Albumartist (=%Albumartist%) and Multiartist (=%compilation%) and can confirm that:
almost all the compilation albums already have %compilation% set to 1, and %Albumartist% set mostly blank (or the mixer/publisher e.g. Claude Challe or Ministry of Sound). All single artist albums had %Albumartist% = %artist%, except one CD had %artist% originally set to "Various Artists" and its %Albumartist% was not set but neither was %compilation% - perhaps a candidate for tweaking?

As better handling of compilation albums raises the albumartist and tree concepts, please allow me to expand a minute...
(1)- Before editing Asset’s Advanced settings, we’re warned to refer to documentation. Where, please, can I find such documentation - in particular, a reference to browse tree editing? – or am I free to experiment without fear of a heart-stopping screw-up? (Yes, I have backups, but...)

I'm using default Statement/Asset settings;
from WHSC/Settings/Asset/Edit:
(2)- must I remove and reinstate all the tree to put a new container immediately under the root? (I want Album Artist (%Albumartist%) there, and Artist moved lower, maybe even inside Advanced

(3)- what’s the significance of blue-coloured containers? (cross-platform incompatibility??)

Please remind me: what happens to previously securely ripped tracks – is later re-ripping of those bypassed, or do we get a full CD’s worth of duplicate re-ripped tracks?
(4)- Am I missing an option, or would it not be desirable to flag when a duplicate CD is inserted:
i) re-rip all and replace
ii) re-rip only previously insecure tracks and replace
iii) skip this duplicate CD

Thanks for your pointer to http://dbpoweramp.com/Help/dMC/Naming.htm
Considering the re-rip track replacement function, I guess one ideally needs to set one’s naming rules once and for all so that previously insecure track filenames are consistent? – pls confirm.
(5)- Is it worth putting more detail in the filename than track and title to avoid ambiguous track replacement – since the original target path is not clear from \_Insecure ?

I’d like to use the consistent name structure as follows, even if parts may be redundant:-

Compilation single or multi CDs:
[Path]\Albumartist*\Album\ Discnumber Tracknumber Album - Artist - Tracktitle

Single-Artist single or multi CDs:
[Path]\Albumartist**\Album\ Discnumber Tracknumber Album - Artist - Tracktitle

* or “Various Artists” if Albumartist is blank
** or Artist if Albumartist is blank

In RipNAS/Advanced Settings/Naming, I’m guessing I need (on one line):-
[SETLEN]2,48,,[disc][]
[SETLEN]2,48,,[track][]
[MAXLENGTH]200,
[IFCOMP][IFVALUE]album artist,[album artist],Various Artists[]\[album]\D[disc] T[track] [album] - [artist] - [title][]
[IF!COMP][IFVALUE]album artist,[album artist],[artist][]\[album]\ D[disc] T[track] [album] - [artist] - [title] []
[]

(6)- Can’t find Maxlength syntax – is the 200, and final [] correct please?

Many thanks indeed.

**Avalon** · March 02, 2010, 09:50 AM

Re: Ripping compilation albums

A few afterthoughts...

Does Asset have a %multiartist% flag besides %compilation% ? I have noticed the state of %compilation% to be a bit mysterious on some CDs.

When I set 'The [artist]' to '[artist], The' in Asset advanced config window in WHS settings, this seems to do nothing to AlbumArtist, for which I need similar. Can I achieve this (to Albumartist) during rips? - or do I need to run a utility codec in dMC separately?? The available tag manipulation in DSP effects at rip time seems limited.

What's a reasonable max these days for a fieldname length?! In particular, any useful 3rd party progs come to mind that need filename 64 chars or less?

During attempts to reorganise file and path naming as per my post above, I hit obstacles in MP3TAG batch editting possibly due to my composited fields becoming too long in a few cases.

At rip time, perhaps I should limit album names, artists, albumartists and titles thus (all on one line):
[SETLEN]2,48,,[disc][]
[SETLEN]2,48,,[track][]
[IFCOMP]
[IFVALUE]album artist,
[del]31,,[album artist][],
Various Artists
[]
\[del]31,,[album][]\
D[disc] T[track] [del]31,,[album][]
- [del]31,,[artist][]
- [del]51,,[title][]
[]
[IF!COMP]
[IFVALUE]album artist,
[del]31,,[album artist][],
[del]31,,[artist][]
[]
\[del]31,,[album][]\
D[disc] T[track] [del]31,,[album][]
- [del]31,,[artist][]
- [del]51,,[title][]
[]

Comments very welcome.
Firstly repositioning the "The" in Albumartist might not worry the above, but is important for user selection in Songbook.
Thanks vm.

**Spoon** · March 04, 2010, 08:50 AM

Re: Ripping compilation albums

>(2)- must I remove and reinstate all the tree to put a new container immediately under the root? (I want Album Artist (%Albumartist%) there, and Artist moved lower, maybe even inside Advanced

Yes

>(3)- what&*blooper*8217;s the significance of blue-coloured containers? (

They have an option set which limits the track listings in the folder

>hat previously insecure track filenames are consistent? &*blooper*8211; pls

Yes

6) MaxLen is correct to limit the filename

>Does Asset have a %multiartist% flag besides %compilation%

Only compilation, if your tracks are not tagged as a compilation they are not a compilation (there are plenty of discs where there is a 2nd artist with the main artist on some tracks, but these are not compilations, only duets).

>When I set 'The [artist]' to '[artist], The' in Asset advanced config window in WHS settings, this seems to do nothing to AlbumArtist

I will make a note to check this.

Your naming above limits just the filename elements, but is not required. Mp3tag would be editing the tags in the file, not the filename.