Share your digital crate digging tips

Stevan

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/94845#Comment_94845

Yup, youtube is my number 1 site for audio and video digging.

Fritz

I am in promo pools from labels, but also follow tons of independant producers and djs. But what I think give me the most inspuration and new tracks is visiting parties and festivals. I believe we DJs cannot stay connected with our scenes when we stop visiting the parties and events that made us get into it in the first place.

Sûlherokhh

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/95534#Comment_95534

True that. Nothing beats live beats for inspiration. Covid struck hard when it did, making that approach rather difficult for quite a while. Btw, just listening to the newest of your Mixcloud Hard Techno (5/9/22 127/134bpm) sets. Loving it. :)

Edit: second track in the mix is one of my ever greens... I'm kind of missing a tracklist. That makes it so much more comfortable for DJ listeners. 😎

Fritz

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/95544#Comment_95544

Thanks a lot! Really need to update that mixcloud. Tons of neglect overthere. Livegig life again!

when covid hit I started streaming and following and collaborating with other streaming DJs. Helped with the inspiration and turned out to be really good for the network.

Casper's Kitchen

I'll watch mostly Sets on yt. I always check my preferred artists and listen back what they are playing.

Then I hop over to Beatport or Beatsource to dig up the new stuff. While I am browsing the platforms I'll check out other stuff based on genre.

All is packed in playlists, so I can play the stuff on my gear (Traktor or DenonDJ) to see how it sounds and works for me.

Generated Playlists will end up in the shopping cart, get paid and downloaded into my collection.

greetings :)

nachopenades

Bandcamp is the one that gives me the most joy lately, with a system very similar to @Kaiwan_NI . But as always, research has no limits, YouTube set, mixcloud, soundcloud, charts, promos... and of course, the main portals following my favorite producers and news.

leoa69

informative

afrogrit

To be honest I'm listening to more and more records/vinyls from the 90s/90s - picked up a create of 120 records - when one listens close its inspiring and you start to think 'how did they do that and that' - then jump on Maschine and try it

AdelV

I haved some crates with similar translations effects - it helps me to swap track even with diffrient tempos and key.

cgm6066

I'm finding that I'm getting better results from combing through what I already have on CD, DVD and hard drives that I've amassed over the years. When I go to sample sites, I spend much more time browsing and reminiscing than I am producing. I listen to tracks online for inspiration, then I go searching through my collection trying to find something that I already have that fits the bill.

Kayya

I would like to open this title. I didn't dare because I don't want to seem to be making a mess too much :)

I attach great importance to the archive. I have two types of archives. My collection and current popular music. I don't trust the genre label of the music I have, so I label all my music with reference to beatport genres. Their labeling and creating types are best suited to concepts.

So how do I discover?

1. I visit the entire top 100 list in beatport and in genres every 3 months. It's nice to know what other DJs are playing. I'm probably making a lot of new old discoveries according to concepts. I'm waiting for the list to change for 3 months later :)
2. I get bored without any time, I visit the most shazam music from the shazam website globally and by country. It's nice to know what the audience has chosen.
3. I shazam what I hear because I always come across music in my social life and people want to show me.
4. I use apple music as the main center for myself. I follow the artists here. I organize my playlists here. I want to find it with Shazam and go to the auto related playlist. They are always standing there. Apple music does not give any warning that this song does not exist. Even if it's interesting music in question, it has them all.
5. When I switch to my dj software, I fill these discoveries with the necessary concept labels. I put it in playlists suitable for my concept according to my taste or not.

I wish all my music and collection were automatic without trying so hard, but the word discovering requires it. When I reach a large collection, I know that I will spend less time exploring.

Voyager

I tend to use Apple music and beatport to find new tracks. Apple music is nice that it lets you listen to the whole track in quality. You just need to find it elsewhere to buy it if you find one you want to use. (and when you buy it the qualitiy is less ...)

Beatport is good to, but harder to find stuff and lacking some mainstream content.

Owner

My different ways to find new Songs:

• When I'm on the road, I listen to a lot of music on Tidal and when I discover something new or old, I collect the tracks in my playlists. I love playing them all with Traktor at home or in the studio and being able to use my managed and curated playlists... oh no, wait... ;-)
• When I'm bored, I sometimes let the algorithm inspire me as to which tracks might fit into my playlists.
• I often need Shazam when I'm out and about, because there's always music playing somewhere, so there's a lot to discover.
• As others have already mentioned, it is always fun to check on Shazam to see what is most popular in which countries and cities.
• Charts, whether selected by DJs or Radios / iTunes, also provide good basics. Platform dependent, e.g. Juno and Beatsource, I usually look for the sound that I personally like best and that is also of good quality because I can buy lossless there. Personally, I don't find Beatsouce to be very well structured and I find it difficult to check out everything there on a regular basis. I'm only there because of the lack of integrated streaming services in Traktor.
• I also use BPM Supreme from time to time, but only every few months and then I wait until the next time I go there again because the weekly new releases don't really interest me. If there is something there that you absolutely have to have, then you will be aware of it these days.
• I also use Bandcamp and follow the labels and artists there that I like and want to support. Same on Juno.
• Lately I've been watching/listening to a lot of live streams on Mixcloud and every now and then I'll Shazam something or look at the tracklist to see what's been played.

djisang

Spotify radio is one of my favorite tools. It tries to recommend songs similar to the one you’re looking to mix, making digging a whole lot easier

thefunkyboulevards

There is a winner?