Rippin’ & Runnin’

I haven’t forgotten about this space. It’s just that, it’s Fall, you know? These past two weeks I have been juggling like crazy. And there…

by j. brotherlove

I haven’t forgotten about this space.

It’s just that, it’s Fall, you know? These past two weeks I have been juggling like crazy. And there are so many things going on—or about to.

Rippin’
I have finally begun ripping my entire CD collection to my computer. It’s taking awhile because I have so many CDs and my burner is outdated (4x?). Prime is configuring something that’s bigger and badder for me — I can’t wait!

However, I have a question about the “genre” field when dealing with mp3s. Do you adjust that field? I’m finding that I need to because I just have too many types of music. When I want to create some sort of mood, it’s annoying to get a song that has nothing to do with that particular mood. Labels like “Rock” “R&B” and “Pop” are almost useless; even “Jazz” needs some tweaking. I don’t want to have John Zorn mixing with Miles Davis mixing with Najee — well, not usually.

And what about Björk, Peven Everett, or Wendy & Lisa? Right now, I’m using places like Dusty Grooves America and as a guide and using labels like “Soul/Funk”, “New Grooves”, “Smooth Jazz”, “Deep House” and “Pop/Folk”. Many of the artists I like don’t like to be labeled but lets’ face it, it works. Any suggestions would be lovely.

Runnin’
When I haven’t been ripping music, I have running all around Atlanta with Loverboy, who likes to keep a full plate. Within the past week, I’ve attended a theater preview party, finally found Havana, had brunch at American Roadhouse (one of my least favorite places) and talked to Karsh for over an hour. Somewhere in there I ate at Emeril’s Atlanta. Great design, excellent food, and an attentive staff although the kitchen was a little slow. They’ve only been open two weeks, I’m sure they’ll improve.

And although I’m a big TechTv fan (or, used to be), I forgot Digital Digs was in Atlanta, this past weekend. Luckily I rolled up on Leo, Patrick and Michaela at Lenox Mall. All of them were great, especially Michaela. But, my favorite ZDTV/TechTV “personality” is still Chris (although, I’m not sure why).

This week, I’m attending openings for two plays: Regina King’s Crowns at Alliance Theatre and Charles Bush’s The Tale of The Allergist’s Wife at Horizon Theatre. Both should be entertaining.

On a different horizon, I have an interview on Friday (an internal position) and Atlanta is celebrating photography this month. That last tidbit is courtesy of Soopa Star, the recently nominated cultural attaché to thebrotherlove.com. She’s got the lowdown on today’s special, fo’ rilla!

Geezus! I forgot about all the stuff listed in anticipation. I’ll get back.

I usually don’t rip unless I plan to burn. My PC is somewhat of an antique now and I don’t wanna pack it with a bunch of mp3’s. So in that case I usually don’t worry about labeling the genres so much because for the most part I delete tracks months later anyway.

My comment was so pointless, wasn’t it?

I used to do the same thing. But now I’m finding it easier to have all my music ripped so I can make compilations easier and create extra copies for the car or traveling (nothing worse than losing hard-to-get CDs).

I have a big hard drive - may I well put it to use.

I tend to rip everything. I like easy access. My entire CD collection isn’t on my computers but it’s getting there. Just about everything new makes it there (and then I just delete what sucks).

Now, tagging. Good tags are the most important thing. I like the way allmusic deals with genres, styles, and moods and often use them as my guide because they are pretty accurate. I tweak genres often but then I add or use the other tag “style” or “mood” and give that a better descriptor. That way if I’m trying to “head-nod” I can or if I want “ethereal” I can get there easily as well.

Try “Moodlogic” - and while no mp3 tagging system is perfect - this one allows you to combine tracks/make mixes which can be based on the songs’ actual tempos (easy) or “moods” (wierd) or dates (surprisingly good) or mixes (omg, the crap that some people listen to…) posted by other users on MoodLogic’s server. Not free - but cheap.