How do you Organize Your Collection?

[RAJ]

2015 version.

For years it was genre / alphabetical.... but since I moved two years a go, shit's been haywire and I can't find certain things (that on top of the weed smoking and 20 years of records coming in and out of my life).

I'm thinking of just going straight alphabetical... but I don't want 12"s in the mix. Maybe LP > alphabetical .... 12" > alphabetical.

Let's get some record talk up in this bitch.

 

[fishmongerfunk]

1. label


2. genre

 

[HarveyCanal]

1. 12"s


2. 45's





All random beyond that.

 

[mrmatthew]

1 - Genre


2- artist by qty of pieces


3 - label





dont know how i came up with that system though.


probably because i like to see those big runs of impulse and a&m and chess/cadet labels all together.

 

[Big_Stacks]

Hey Raj,





I organize by genre. I place associated artists together (e.g., Rotary Connection is placed behind the Minnie Riperton LPs, same with Junie Morrision and the Ohio Players). I have the following scheme to organizing my records:





1. Jazz is organized by instrument. The sections are broken down as follows: Sax/other woodwinds, trumpet/trombone, piano traditional, piano progressive, organ, guitar, bass/strings, vibes, drums/percussion, jazz groups, jazz vocalists.





2. Soul and R&B are broken down as well:


-Male vocalists ('My favorites' like Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, etc.).


-Male vocalists ('Traditional soul' such as David Porter, Wilson Pickett, etc.).


-Male vocalists ('R&B' like Leroy Hutson, DJ Rogers, Clifford Coulter, etc.).


-Female vocalists/groups ('Traditional soul' such as Aretha Franklin, Betty Everett, Fontella Bass, Honey Cone, The Patterson Singers).


-Female vocalists/groups ('R&B' such as Evelyn 'Champagne' King, Deniece Williams, The Emotions).


-Male groups ('My Favorites' such as Parliament/Funkadelic, The Ohio Players, War, etc.)


-Male groups ('Traditional soul' like The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Originals, etc.).


-Male groups ('R&B' such as Pleasure, One Way, Zapp, etc.).





3. Disco LPs/12"s.





4. Dance/boogie LPs/12"s (e.g., Twilight 22, Derrick, etc.).





5. Ethnic music (Latin, reggae, Italian, Celtic, etc.).





6. Folk.





7. 60's classic rock (e.g., Beatles, Rolling Stones etc.)





8. Heavy metal (e.g., Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple, Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Colosseum, etc.).





9. Pop rock (e.g., Hall & Oates, Genesis, etc.)





10. Punk rock/nu wave (e.g., The Clash, Devo, The B-52s, and some pop-ish groups with nu wave elements like Style Council).





11. Progressive rock (e.g., Archie Whitewater, Nektar).





12. Psychedelic Rock (e.g., Little Boy Blues, Colours).





13. Breaks (including OGs and compilation joints).





14. Hip-hop/electro rap.





15. Soundtracks:


-Blaxploitation


-Drama/Thrillers


-Science Fiction/Adventure


-Musicals


-Comedies


-Imports





16. Blues (thanks for the cue, PCMR, forgot this category).





17. Children's records.





18. Classical.





19. Gospel.





20. Compilations.





21. 45's.





I do not have the LPs alphabetized as I am too lazy to do so.





Peace,





Big Stacks from Kakalak

 

[pcmr]

i am similar to stacks a bit





by genre than by artist and associations differ from genre





Soul is separate from funk


it has male female and group separate then placed in order of overall musical importance


Donny,Al,Marvin,Curtis,Otis first then the others





Blues and gospel are separated by style and era


African, indian and reggae are mostly by artist


Latin is by artist but labels tend to gravitate from one another


Brazilian is like soul but i keep the more psych heavy stuff separate from the more bossa classic





Jazz breaks down as follows


Miles,Coltrane,Blakey, than other important acts by instrument (vibes,horns,piano,drum lead)


Latin Jazz


Jazz funk





Hip hop : 80/90s+ is separate, then by artist





My classical is by composer and instrument





Quebec





Rock is divided in psych, garage, classic crust, soft folk





Boogie,New wave/80s/Disco in the same vascinity





OST


ethnic


Spoken word





I have a separate sample library by genre





organisation relies on quantity of a certain kind per genre


so many coltrane releases he deserves his own section


if you dont have that many african records you wont divide by country if you are frank on the other hand





interested to see how it is for others


great thread

 

[stratasphere]

I had all mine organized by the date I bought them until I moved. I will better organize them once I move to a place I plan to live permanently.

 

[DB_Cooper]

First by format:





LPs/12"s/10"s/7"s





Then split into hip hop/non hip hop, then alphabetical by artist. Still serves me well enough.

 

[ketan]

By genre only... it's a sea of randomness from there. I don't have the patience to keep things more organized. Besides, I'm rarely looking for something specific... more often than not, I just want to hear some jazz, or some rap, etc.

 

[francois parker]

Roughly like this:





Expedit:


Top Row = hip hop albums


Next row down: disco/balearic/House 12"s.


Middle row: hip hop albums albums


Next row down:compilation albums/disco, Balearic, House albums. Hip Hop 12"s.


Bottom: breaks, beats, funk, soul, jazz, rock albums.





Only the hip hop albums are sorted alphabetically.





Various records in unsorted boxes but all the stuff I need on a go to basis is in the Expedit.





Current spins (usually about 50 records) are kept next to the deck.

 

[phatmoneysack]

I split 45s, 12inch singles and Lps into different sections.





LPs are organized by genres.





Favourite artists, of which I own multiple LPs (e.g. Roy Ayers, Kraftwerk, Stevie), are grouped together and given a special shelf.





Then it goes:


• Soul/Funk/Disco


• Jazz/Latin


• New Wave/Synth Pop


• Yacht Rock/AOR


• General Rock


• Oddities/New Age/Library


• Compilations


• Modern Music (1995-Now)


• Hip Hop





12 inch singles live in crates and arranged in the following ways:





Disco/Boogie/New Wave/Italo/Electro/Synth Pop/Balearic/Pop there are thrown in together and organized by year.


• 1975-1979


• 1980-1981


• 1982


• 1983


• 1984


• 1985-1989





Then there are crates for


• Golden Era House


• Modern House


• Future Funk/NuDisco


• Broken Beats /NuJazz etc


• Hip Hop 1979-86


• Hip Hop 1987-Now


• Re-Edits





45s are split between


• Soul/Funk/Boogie/Disco


• Rock/Pop/New Wave

 

[fishmongerfunk]

mrmatthew said: i like to see those big runs of impulse and a&m and chess/cadet labels all together.




the bob thiele wing:

 

[Hotsauce84]

Poorly.





• Stuff I step over.





• Stuff I've been meaning to donate for the past few years.





• Stuff I played at that one all-vinyl gig I did 3 years ago.





etc...

 

[dj_cityboy]

my hiphop is done A-Z and my house/trance/breaks/jungle/DnB is organized but the rest of my collection is in shambles... I know where some stuff is but most is fuckin lost in this sorta organized mess, I NEED to get that shit under control before I keep buying more records, this thread gave me some dope ideas though...





first thing I really need to do is get rid of these fuckin milk crates and build a huge shelf to hold it ALL, then get busy in a mad organized fashion...

 

[ost]

LP's/12":


- Jazz


- Funk / Soul


- Brazil


- Latin


- Rock / Psych / Prog


- Records with breaks or samples I still haven't been able to purge


- Hip Hop by decade 80's (including disco-rap), 90's, post 2000


- R&B (mostly 90's: Mary J, SWV, Erykah, etc...)





- Disco / Disco-Funk / Modern Soul by year pre-1975, 1975, ..., 1979 then merges with the next section (below)


- Boogie / Electro-Funk / Electro / Freestyle / 80's R&B all together by year 1980, 1981, ..., 1986, 1987 and beyond (some modern boogie but also merges with 80's garage house below)


- House by decade 80's (garage, some acid, some detroit techno), 90's, post 2000





45's:


- Funk / Soul / R&B


- Boogie / Electro / Disco-Rap


- Disco / Modern Soul


- Miscellaneous (French & Quebec, Reggae/Dub, Brazil, Latin, Rock, Oddball)

 

[Delay]

Organizing you records should be about finding them and putting them away will as little hassle as possible.





All of my albums are arranged alphabetically in a few sections:


12" singles


rap LPs


Everything else..


I have a few small sections of things I like to keep together, but are small enough to group without alphabetizing. New Orleans bounce, gogo, soundtracks, and libraries

 

[LoopDreams]

Big_Stacks said:





1. Jazz is organized by instrument. The sections are broken down as follows: Sax/other woodwinds, trumpet/trombone, piano traditional, piano progressive, organ, guitar, bass/strings, vibes, drums/percussion, jazz groups, jazz vocalists.





2. Soul and R&B are broken down as well:


-Male vocalists ('My favorites' like Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, etc.).


-Male vocalists ('Traditional soul' such as David Porter, Wilson Pickett, etc.).


-Male vocalists ('R&B' like Leroy Hutson, DJ Rogers, Clifford Coulter, etc.).


-Female vocalists/groups ('Traditional soul' such as Aretha Franklin, Betty Everett, Fontella Bass, Honey Cone, The Patterson Singers).


-Female vocalists/groups ('R&B' such as Evelyn 'Champagne' King, Deniece Williams, The Emotions).


-Male groups ('My Favorites' such as Parliament/Funkadelic, The Ohio Players, War, etc.)


-Male groups ('Traditional soul' like The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Originals, etc.).


-Male groups ('R&B' such as Pleasure, One Way, Zapp, etc.).







Word Stacks, that's me since the beginning of time too. It's the most intuitive way and I find and it makes the collection flow. With the Jazz though I def put the artist in chronological order too... you can't have Maiden Voyage rubbing shoulders with Mwandishi. I keep the peeps that had low output together at the end of each given instrument section. Definitely Jazz is an easy file. This system make you appreciate how many Sax frontmen there were... I break with this system sometimes and have a section for Eastblock Jazz, and some other euro stuff don't know why. Library is all together irrespective of genre. Funk/ Soul is definitely more fluid, but it works alot like your set up as well. Though there' a geographical South North East West thing going on there, and more of a timeline approach because there's alot of low output artists. Brazillian is like PCMR. If it's Brazillian Jazz it's in the Brazil jazz section. Same with there soul/funk. Artists that share an affinity are grouped together. Brazil vocalists are separated m/f, don't really know why... maybe because fem Brazil vocalists are out of this world. Latin is geographical and morphs out of my jazz percussion section. Prog is a tricky ... it's geographical and by artist I guess. I think the only records I really sort by label are all the breakbeats from bitd. All the other genres sort themselves out by artist I think.

 

[BeatChemist]

Delay said:Organizing you records should be about finding them and putting them away will as little hassle as possible.




I've never been the type to pull one specific record at a time. More often, I'm in the mood for a particular genre or mood, and will pull a bunch of records at one time. So it's more important for me to be able to grab a bunch of the same type of stuff to "dig" through. But the ultimate frustration is not being able to find a record that you know you own, so in theory I agree with you. In practice though, I'm more sloppy and lazy.





My roommate and I have 25 expedit cubes, one cabinet that holds about 200 records, and three milk crates that are storing our records. It's roughly split 60/40 - he has a bit more rock and a lot more punk than I do.





I have mine in the following sections:


Hip Hop Albums


Hip Hop 12"s


Funk/Soul


Rock


Jazz


Soundtrack/Spoken/Sample-Source


Children's


Battle/Scratch records


The Good Shit <---- one cube that is basically my all time favourite records.





My roommate and I also have a crate each near the turntable for "Now Listening" - stuff that's in heavy rotation or new. None of my sections are alphabetized, but I've been meaning to do it.

 

[dollar_bin]

I file 45s by alphabetically by label. The label's usually the largest thing written on the record so it's easy to identify where a record goes. Plus it solves the problem with split 7-inches. Makes it a fun trivia quiz if you're trying to track down every record by a specific artist.





LPs alphabetically by artist within a few broad genres:


Funk/Soul/Jazz


Rock/Pop


Hip-hop/Breaks/scratch-battle


Blues/Country/Folk


Soundtracks


Children's records


Christmas


Misc.

 

[parallax]

First filter is format: 12" (LPs and EPs) or 7". I only have a small stack of 10"s, so they're kept separate in a record case.





Second filter is genre.





Third filter is alpha by artist's first name.





I purge often enough to keep my collection manageable. I try to only buy records I truly love and will listen to. Much harder to do than it sounds, as you know.