Insane project of musical proportions

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SweetLowdown
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Insane project of musical proportions

#1 Post by SweetLowdown » Sat Feb 19, 2005 4:44 pm

So this is my first actual post to Swing DJ's . . I've been a lurker forever. This is the one dance/music related forum that I could possibly get hopelessly addicted to, so I've stayed away thus far to avert the inevitable.

Anyway . . I am coming to you because I have started the massive project of 1. finishing putting all of my music in my database on my laptop and 2. (the more nefarious bit) I've decided that I am going to list complete personnel for every recording per track AND list the original album information that each track first appeared on including location/studio/label etc.

I realize that this is an impossibly large task given the size of my collection, though much of it is already well-cataloged. I really have a bug in my ass about putting together an amazing and comprehensive database for my music.

So my question to you guys is: have any of you done this before (retroactively gone and researched the hell out of your music)? And if so what resources have you found helpful?

Allmusic et al are only helpful to a point since they tend not to give specific enough information for a lot of the things I'm looking for especially if the original album hasn't been directly reproduced verbatim on CD. Also the original recording dates/personnel which these databases usually list are for the whole album, rather than by track, which for compilations etc is a real issue (though I've been able to work out a lot of the personnel by just listening and comparing to the list of 'possibles'). Even liner notes on CD's themselves are often void of the specificity I want. Mostly I've been using online discographies and some academic/biographic sources.

Any ideas?

--Kelly

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LindyChef
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#2 Post by LindyChef » Sat Feb 19, 2005 5:34 pm

Take some clomipramine?

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Mike
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#3 Post by Mike » Sat Feb 19, 2005 8:29 pm

Hi Kelly,

I share a similar passion and have for years... It is not an impossible goal but certainly a difficult one. I have wanted to create the "ultimate" music database for such a long time but it is such a big project that it has yet to materialize. I pretty much had what I thought was the final data model all created... It is centralized around individual recordings. I thought this model was great until I started reading about some well-respected jazz discographies, which are all centralized around the recording session. My database currently has no notion of recording sessions. So at that realization I got a bit frustrated and my project has stalled for about a year. With some retooling, I really think it could be fantastic. Some of the biggest work comes in figuring out the easiest and quickest way to enter the data in. I've worked on some basic user interface widgets to accomplish this, but much more work needs to be done. I would really love to complete this and actually get it working... and I'm actually really excited that someone else thinks this should be done! I can send you the database model as it stands if you like. And I definitely work better if someone is working with me, hint, hint! ;) Not sure if you have any database experience but plain old fashioned encouragement would certainly go a long way :) Then again, if you are just looking for the information about the recordings and not so much a comprehensive system for cataloguing said information, well... poor me.

My ultimate goal is to get this database up and usable as a website, then convince this guy to join forces and import his superior data into my superior (and online... his is lame CD-ROM only) database. Wishful thinking :)

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CafeSavoy
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#4 Post by CafeSavoy » Sun Feb 20, 2005 11:34 am

Mike wrote: I pretty much had what I thought was the final data model all created... It is centralized around individual recordings. I thought this model was great until I started reading about some well-respected jazz discographies, which are all centralized around the recording session.
i can believe that recording session would be the atomic unit since that was a hurdle i encountered on this round of re-ripping my collection. I didn't use recording session numbers per se, but recording dates because that was the easiest approach to resolving duplicates. i may have to add in session numbers later. Also since i was encoding all the information into the file name, i didn't list all the musicians but rather just an indication of the size of the band. And i didn't rip every track, so the discography will be incomplete. But after this round i figure there will be enough information to get started on seeding and developing a database. I'd be interested in seeing what interfaces you developed for updating your collection. Also what structure you used for the database.

Oh, Kelly, there are some good session listings on the web. One good source is http://www.craftone.co.jp/solo_flight/guitarist/ (e.g., http://www.craftone.co.jp/solo_flight/g ... raphy.html) but it is in japanese so negotiating the menus will be a challenge. [You can try google translate] furthermore it only includes sessions with guitarists.

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SweetLowdown
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#5 Post by SweetLowdown » Sun Feb 20, 2005 5:53 pm

CafeSavoy wrote:i can believe that recording session would be the atomic unit since that was a hurdle i encountered on this round of re-ripping my collection. I didn't use recording session numbers per se, but recording dates because that was the easiest approach to resolving duplicates.
That's how I'm resolving the problem as well. Then by listing tracks by date and searching musicians you can retrieve a resonable proxy for session.

Right now I am actually using a customized version of Media Center 10 for my database (I am not so programming-savvy that I could do my own without issues), but I've found it quite flexible to my needs especially in its querying abilities.

Mike-- good to know that someone else is roughly as nuts as I am. Your interface looks to be a good idea. I'm including all musicians in one field since I can limit and combine queries within a field (i.e. I could set search terms such that recording date=7/10/1928 and personel contains Bubber Miley and Sam Nanton)

The jazz discography CD-ROM you posted looks amazing . . . though being an underemployed archaeologist I'd be hard-pressed to afford it.

--Kelly

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Jerry_Jelinek
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#6 Post by Jerry_Jelinek » Mon Feb 21, 2005 11:10 am

Mike wrote:My ultimate goal is to get this database up and usable as a website, then convince this guy to join forces and import his superior data into my superior (and online... his is lame CD-ROM only) database. Wishful thinking :)
Mike,

I own the Lord Discography and use it OFTEN. It isn't cheap, but has marvelous information.

The biggest problem with the Lord Disco program is the easy ability to take the personnel and important the session data into ANYHTING. The data is not designed to be exported.

For my use, I have to resort to capturing screen shots and using the data that way. It isn't database friendly, but it does work for putting session data onto a label maker program. eg - Nero CD Cover Designer.

But your right, it would be WONDERFUL to have this CD ROM data in a easy to use database format.

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Mike
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#7 Post by Mike » Thu Feb 24, 2005 12:31 pm

Jerry,

Exactly... One of the goals of my database is to be able to easily import and/or export its data.

All,

Here is my database structure as it stands... As you can see the recording sessions table is off to the right with no connections yet :|

Any questions, comments, or suggestions would be more than welcome.

Mike

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trev
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#8 Post by trev » Thu Feb 24, 2005 8:35 pm

If you are looing for information on early recording sessions, you may need to pick up something like this: Jazz and Ragtime Records, 1897-1942. Or at least track it down from a library.

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Lippy
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#9 Post by Lippy » Tue Mar 22, 2005 3:13 pm

WOW, that's quite a project! I also have been starting to do some DB of my music and I found a few different programs that help quite a bit. They don't list as much information as you're looking to enter, but at least a lot of the basics get listed for you.

http://www.firetongue.com/cd-database.html

It accesses the online CDDB and enters all of the basic information based off of UPC Code, Artist, etc...

It's worth a quick check out. They have a free trial.

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