Organizing record collection: when do you start separating out a genre?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Turnaround, Nov 24, 2021.

  1. Jskoda

    Jskoda Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    It freaks a bunch of people out, but I file a lot of vinyl by record company/label.

    I have a lot of old soundtracks and cast albums on vinyl, and they're all by label/catalog number (chronological). I like to see the big companies (Columbia, Decca, RCA, Capitol, WB, Disney, UA) together. "All the Others," where the label has only a couple of titles each are in an A to Z by label section. (But the CDs of all these are alpha by show/movie title. Go figure.)

    Classical is by label/catalog number too. Vocal albums are alpha by artist. Rock and pop are alpha by artist.

    Oh, and Brenda Lee has her own section.
     
    cwitt1980 and DeRosa like this.
  2. DeRosa

    DeRosa Vinyl Forever

    I think how to best organize your own albums really depends on what's in your collection.

    My vinyl collection is now highly focused on only a few record labels, so that's how the majority is organized,
    in catalog number order, then i have a pop and rock section that's grouped the few by artists i collect.

    The best plan also depends on how you have to physically store them, whether they are in close proximity
    all together, the size of the cubes, or spread around in different places.

    Thank goodness for streaming, i was able to focus down what i keep on vinyl to about 1,000 LP's
     
  3. MWebb

    MWebb You and me...we died a long, long time ago

    Location:
    Grand Rapids, MI
    I like to organize by both genres and families. I tend to have the albums within a genre organized roughly chronologically, where the first appearance of that band / family is the starter for that section of the library, but then everything from that family ends up together before the next band or family. Some of the genres don't have that many records in them, but I find it much easier to locate things when musics that are like, to me, are grouped together.

    Solo Beatles go with Beatles in the Classic Rock which is not all that unintuitive; but New Order goes after Joy Division but ends up in Post Punk because Joy Division was first...it does create some weirdness like that; but if the function of an organizational system is to help finding things, then it works fine for me. Probably...definitely not for anyone else, but I can find what they're looking for pretty quickly.

    I used to just alphabetize when I had a smaller CD library as a teen, but I find the constant shuffling of things just to facilitate that order time consuming and not all that enjoyable to browse. I think it's much easier to just keep, say, the Download records with the Skinny Puppy, Mark Kozelek with Sun Kil Moon and the Red House Painters; and the Ian Hunter with Mott the Hoople, and so forth. It also makes it easier for me to remind myself if there are things that I picked up and need to listen to again when I'm browsing.
     
  4. Detroit Rock Citizen

    Detroit Rock Citizen RetroDawg Digital

    When you own a record store.
     
    Musical Chairs likes this.
  5. Muzyck

    Muzyck Pardon my scruffy hospitality

    Location:
    Long Island
    I have always grouped my items based on some type of "genre" concept, never alphabetically. It can get messy and would not make sense to most. Stuff like (Stones, Kinks, Who), (Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello, The Clash), (Grateful Dead, Airplane, Doors), (Peter, Paul & Mary, Joan Baez), (Led Zep, Yes, Deep Purple, etc) and many other sub sets that make sense in my twisted mind. I know where to find most of the things I am looking for. :) The thought of ever going alphabetical is unthinkable to me.

    See if you can spot the shelf with my beat up copies of Led Zep II. :D

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Nov 25, 2021
  6. arem

    arem Forum Resident

    Jazz
    Hip-Hop
    Reggae
    Everything else

    I also have a separate shelf for large box sets like the 1999 Super Deluxe set, and another for odd sized records (I have 11, 10, 8, and 5 inch records, in addition to the usual 12 and 7”)
     
  7. tombayz

    tombayz Hey, can I get some bass?

    Location:
    Kentucky
    CDs: Alphabetical order, no genres. Exceptions are box sets, non-standard sized stuff like Pearl Jam's Vitalogy, and compilations/soundtracks that are grouped together as "Various".

    45s: Alphabetical order, no genres. I'm about at the point of needing a second box for 45s so at that point it will probably be one box for punk/indie and another box for everything else.

    LPs: Cubes by genre, although shifting occurs based on new acquisitions. Once I have enough of a "genre" that it warrants its own cube, I'll make the move. Right now I have a 4 x 3 set up.

    Top row: One cube of jazz, one cube of female singer-songwriter, one cube of "rock" (classic rock and other stuff that doesn't go elsewhere)
    2nd row: One cube of country/Americana, one cube of grunge/post-punk/alternative, another cube of "rock"
    3rd row: One cube of soul/hip hop/Latin/reggae/African music (the African is getting close to having its own cube), one cube of box sets/White Stripes (I have several White Stripes boxes and keep the rest of their records there next to them), another cube of "rock"
    4th row: One cube of cassettes, one cube with a couple of boxes CDs I want to get rid of & sleeves, one cube of non-rock miscellaneous (comedy, folk, etc.) This is the bottom row and this is the stuff I listen to the least, which is why it is there.
     
    Last edited: Nov 26, 2021
  8. eflatminor

    eflatminor Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nevada
    I categorize first by genre, then within each genre alphabetically by artist/composer. Within each artist, I like to arrange by the date the music was recorded (not necessarily the date the album was released). I also break out mono vs. stereo recordings.

    The genres can change over time as I find reason to breakout another category, but for now I use have the following categories:

    Stereo
    • Blues
    • Folk
    • Country
    • World
    • Soundtracks
    • Rock
    • Rock Compilations
    • Experimental
    • Psych
    • Punk
    • Heavy Rock
    • Doom, Stoner, Desert
    • Pop
    • House & Electronica
    • Classical
    • Romantic
    • Classical Soloists
    • Classical Compilations
    • Neo & Modern Classical
    • Opera
    • Opera Excerpts
    • Jazz
    • Jazz Compilations
    • Vox XX
    • Vox XY
    • Vox Compilations
    • Night Music and Other Jazz
    • Christmas
    • Comedy
    • Spoken Word
    • Test Disks
    Mono
    • Mono Jazz
    • Mono Rock
    • Mono Classical
    • Mono Other
     
  9. Carl Swanson

    Carl Swanson Senior Member

    In reply to the specific OP question, I started doing so when I got up to about fifty titles. It became an issue of easily finding what I wanted to play.
     
  10. Swordsandchains

    Swordsandchains True metal never rusts

    Location:
    Chicago
    you must be my long lost twin
     
    Centralscrutinizer likes this.
  11. Hi Carl,

    to catalog my material I started in the late 1970s with a database. This was at that time PARADOX which was some years laters discontinued. I bought the last available version which is edition 11 and I still use it today. Its a very fast instrument.
    Within this database I have the following tables
    - records
    - tapes
    - title Index
    Best is the search function: so I can sort/select after alphabet /label & rec. # / main artist / main title of LP/CD / BB /
    For tapes additional which side of the reel or cassette / length of sessio / rec. data a.so.

    I dont use musical cathegories because this is a question of private taste. For example I know that Charlie Parker or D. Gillespie is Bebob.
    I know the content of my Items so if I want to play SWING I know which one to grab. So no need for cathegories. Or the modern Jazz Wuiartet belongs to the COOL Era.

    My most interesting part of the collection is the "unissued tape" section = radio brodcasts from live events which will to 95% never be issued on official records. From these sources I produce from time to tome private CD-Rs with my own cover art. Have a few partners all over the world with those I trade such Items. Makes lot of fun. No money involved just fun and love for the music.

    See you at BSN
    W.
     
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  12. Adam9

    Adam9 Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй.

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Pretty well what I do. I do file "World Music" separately if it's not rock/pop or classical (although that is inconsistent as I have a Russian language rock CD filed with my rock/pop CDs and a Polish language LP filed with world music along with the likes of Ravi Shankar and a Gamalan orchestra). Even so, it's a dilemma as to where to file recordings like Ry Cooder's where he works with foreign musical traditions.
    As well, do I file blues with jazz or pop/rock? If jazz, then where does The Rolling Stones' Blue And Lonesome go, with jazz or my other Stones' albums?
    In general, I like to recognize as few genres as possible.
    A local store used to file their product alphabetically irrespective of genre which I liked. It wasn't hard to find what you were looking for.
     
    MikeP5877 likes this.
  13. The Lew

    The Lew Senior Member

    I'm A to Z.
     
    Sav likes this.
  14. Emil Zatopek

    Emil Zatopek Forum Resident

    Location:
    Almost there
    And you wouldn't have to decide if blood sweat and tears is pop or jazz, if mahavishnu Orchestra is rock or fusion, if traffic is prog or rock, if zappa's classical records must go to the classical sexction...
     
    Adam9 likes this.
  15. apb

    apb Game on!

    Location:
    DC
    I don't separate genres.
     
    Adam9 likes this.
  16. john lennonist

    john lennonist There ONCE was a NOTE, PURE and EASY...

    I organize them into the following sections:


    Pop / Rock / Funk, etc. --- a vast majority of my collection is here

    Blues

    Jazz

    Crooners --- Dino, Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Julie London, Patti Page, etc.

    Irish / Celtic

    Christmas

    Various Artists Comps --- in same section, organized by the decade they cover

    Classical Music

    Box Sets
     
    Last edited: Mar 26, 2022
  17. john lennonist

    john lennonist There ONCE was a NOTE, PURE and EASY...


    :laugh:
     
  18. Musical Chairs

    Musical Chairs Forum Resident

    I kind of like to mix genres because I take an odd pleasure out of seeing my Black Sabbath LPs next to my Ella Fitzgerald ones, or Roger Whittaker alongside Van Halen. I do really regret not alphabetizing them, however.
     
  19. TerpStation

    TerpStation "Music's not for everyone."

    Location:
    DC Metro
    Big mistake.
     
  20. Danby Delight

    Danby Delight Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston
    Why?
     
  21. Sav

    Sav Forum Resident

    Location:
    Durham England
    Not sure what`s wrong with a simple A-Z ... unless im missing something here :rolleyes:
     
    MGM likes this.
  22. versionsound

    versionsound The six strings that drew blood

    I guess I’m boring, but my collection is mostly alphabetical. The only things that are separate from that are Drum & Bass records, some “oldies” for lack of a better term (Elvis, Nancy Sinatra, Astrud Gilberto, Dylan, etc.), and my dad’s records, which he gave me a few years ago (mostly blues and jazz).
     
  23. RudolphS

    RudolphS Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rio de Janeiro
    I categorize my collection by decade and then alphabetically. I do this for LPs, singles and CDs. Since I have a very broad taste, ranging from 78rpms from the 1910s to the latest releases, it's always a joy perusing through the collection. Like going through the history of music.
     
    john lennonist likes this.
  24. Chazro

    Chazro Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Palm Bch, Fl.
    CD's to LP's, everything is alphabetical EXCEPT for Classical. Since I don't have much of it, I keep them all together.
     
  25. cwitt1980

    cwitt1980 Senior Member

    Location:
    Carbondale, IL USA
    I go European, then America, then comps, and then Beatles (with solo) are hanging out on the side. I also collect instrumental albums (Paul Mauriat, moog stuff, Living Strings, Al Caiola, etc.). Those go elsewhere. Then there's all the weird random ones that I don't know why I have them but I keep them anyways. You know, "Song of the Shakers" and "666: The Coming World Government" kind of albums. I've considered making a soul section. Other than that, I don't really separate genres.
     

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