How do you Organize Your Collection?

RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,779 Posts
edited January 2015 in Strut Central
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.

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  Comments


  • 1. label
    2. genre

  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    1. 12"s
    2. 45's

    All random beyond that.

  • mrmatthewmrmatthew 1,575 Posts
    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_StacksBig_Stacks "I don't worry about hittin' power, cause I don't give 'em nuttin' to hit." 4,670 Posts
    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

  • pcmrpcmr 5,591 Posts
    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

  • strataspherestratasphere Blastin' the Nasty 1,035 Posts
    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_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    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.

  • ketanketan Warmly booming riffs 3,095 Posts
    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 parkerfrancois parker formerly know as Parkz. 125 Posts
    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.



  • phatmoneysackphatmoneysack Melbourne 1,124 Posts
    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

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

    the bob thiele wing:







  • Hotsauce84Hotsauce84 8,450 Posts
    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_cityboydj_cityboy 1,459 Posts
    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...

  • ostost Montreal 1,375 Posts
    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)

  • DelayDelay 4,530 Posts
    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

  • LoopDreamsLoopDreams 1,195 Posts
    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.

  • 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_bindollar_bin I heartily endorse this product and/or event 2,326 Posts
    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.


  • parallaxparallax no-style-having mf'er 1,266 Posts
    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.

  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,885 Posts
    12"s A-Z
    LPs A-Z

    There's always the dread of having to shuffle a whole heap of stuff around to accommodate something in a physically packed-solid section. I guess this is where the random piles start out.

  • skelskel You can't cheat karma 5,033 Posts
    Oh really dudes?
    You only need three sections:

    Records That DB Cooper Can Dance To
    This contains a full run of Depeche Mode releases, a couple of Tears For Fears 12s and a beaten promo copy of 'I Ran' 45 by Flock of Seagulls.

    Records That White People Think They Can Dance To
    File all jazz, funk and soul here.

    Norwegian Death Metal
    Ideally this would be empty, but is a good place to stash all those thrift scores that you will never be bothered to spin, ever.

    B/w sold all mine, barring a batch of libs and blaxplos

  • kalakala 3,358 Posts
    i do it like big stacks the exception being that when i do a mixtape all those records stay grouped together thereafter

  • kalakala 3,358 Posts
    Delay said:
    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

    you still on just that one book case collection?
    it's so easy when you have it whittled down to 500-800lp's
    once you got 5k + it really s a challenge

    my biggest issue is the incoming collections,space for them and actually selling the shit/keeping what i want.

    i don't keep as much anymore and have been acquiring more and more as time goes on,
    easier bought than sold
    i guess i am almost approaching hoarder at this point

  • CBearCBear 902 Posts
    Even though I've had about 10k come and go, I keep my collection at about a 1,000, sorted by genre as I like to listen to them. The genre subsections are not sorted, as I usually like the randomness when I pull.

    Records that I like to put on when other people come over - these live under the living room stereo for quick grabbing.
    Jazz
    Latin
    French
    Reggae
    Hard rock / Punk / Metal
    Hip-Hop
    Folk
    Soul/Funk
    Indie
    60's rock
    70's rock
    Psych
    Misc - Classical, Opera, un-genre-able
    10"
    stacks and boxes of edited but unsorted 45s
    Bins of records that are cleaned, priced, and ready for sale.
    Bin of records that are currently on discogs.


  • asstroasstro 1,754 Posts
    I'm the only one who has the whole damn collection in one alphabetized group? I can't imagine trying to separate things by genre, I'd get to hung up on whether some things were funk or soul or jazz, or metal or punk, etc. Although separating the 12" from the LP's does sound like a good idea, gotta think about that one...

  • Big_StacksBig_Stacks "I don't worry about hittin' power, cause I don't give 'em nuttin' to hit." 4,670 Posts
    asstro said:
    I'm the only one who has the whole damn collection in one alphabetized group? I can't imagine trying to separate things by genre, I'd get to hung up on whether some things were funk or soul or jazz, or metal or punk, etc. Although separating the 12" from the LP's does sound like a good idea, gotta think about that one...

    Hey Asstro,

    Genre-based organizing helps me because I tend to select records to listen to based upon my mood. So, it's quick and easy to go to a particular section that has the type of music that suits my mood. I'm well over the 10K mark, so wading through a non-category based system would take forever. Now, the problem has become re-filing stacks of stuff once I listen to them (or compile them to make mixes). Hell, I have a collection of records unfiled on the floor as we speak! Oh well, one day...

    Peace,

    Big Stacks from Kakalak

  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    asstro said:
    I'm the only one who has the whole damn collection in one alphabetized group? I can't imagine trying to separate things by genre, I'd get to hung up on whether some things were funk or soul or jazz, or metal or punk, etc. Although separating the 12" from the LP's does sound like a good idea, gotta think about that one...

    Yeah, the hard-to-define stuff is what resulted in my hip hop/non-hip hop split. It was the only genre split that didn't raise problems, but I need some sort of genre split to make the whole mess more manageable.

  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    skel said:

    Records That DB Cooper Can Dance To
    This contains a full run of Depeche Mode releases, a couple of Tears For Fears 12s and a beaten promo copy of 'I Ran' 45 by Flock of Seagulls.

    RAIN DOWN IN AFRICA BRO. I WILL SERVE YOU ON TEH DANCEFLOOR.

  • ostost Montreal 1,375 Posts
    asstro said:
    Although separating the 12" from the LP's does sound like a good idea, gotta think about that one...
    I don't really understand the reasoning behind this strategy. Why separate records by the same artist or style simply based on that factor. I understand for 45's because there isn't really a good way to store the 45 next to an lp or 12".

  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    ost said:
    asstro said:
    Although separating the 12" from the LP's does sound like a good idea, gotta think about that one...
    I don't really understand the reasoning behind this strategy. Why separate records by the same artist or style simply based on that factor. I understand for 45's because there isn't really a good way to store the 45 next to an lp or 12".

    Originally, I separated them for DJ purposes. Now I just remember what format I have a track on and I can grab it easily.
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