Strangely enough, I did this almost verbatim to begin with, but for those who are lost/confused on how to tag classical tracks, this appears to be the accepted standard in doing it.
I wonder why this article suggests putting composer in the artist field? More and more info downloaded from the CDDB has things this way and it annoys me to no end.
The composer isn't the artist, and ID3 supports the "composer" field, so why put the composer in the artist field?
Plus, the album title repeats the track name, which is just lots of extra typing and data. I prefer to title the album using the short name usually found on an album's spine that sums up all the works on that album, then use the song title of the piece in the track field. If the album is devoted to a single piece and that is explicit in the title, I use only the movement information in the track field. Otherwise it's redundant.
The more succinct and organized the information, the easier it is to read on displays with limited space (iPod, squeezebox). When the track name is a page long and repeats info you already know from another field, it's very user unfriendly.
Originally Posted by hempcamp /img/forum/go_quote.gif I wonder why this article suggests putting composer in the artist field? More and more info downloaded from the CDDB has things this way and it annoys me to no end.
I think the reason they recommend that approach is so that you can see the composer when you playback on a portable device which is just presenting title and artist.
iTunes started fixing this problem around iTunes 7, I think it was. They now have a "grouping" field for situations where multiple tracks are part of a single musical piece (common). And they present Composer correctly too. So, I'd tag one of my favourite pieces this way:
Composer: Ralph Vaughn Williams (1872-1958)
Name: I. Agnus Dei (Lento)
Grouping: Dona nobis pacem
Artist: London Symphony Orch, Richard Hickox
Album: Vaughn Williams: Sancta civitas - Dona nobis pacem
Remember to check the "Compilation" box if there are multiple groups of artists performing on one disc.
I notice that they now have an "Album Artist" field in addition to "Artist". I wish we'd just work out a common classical tagging framework and stick to it...
Artist: Composer (Surname, Forename)
Year: Year composed (so I can produce chronological playlists)
Album Artist: Performer (if I'm interested, which I'm generally not)
Album: Work (i.e. different works on the same CDs become different albums) with the conductor in round brackets if I've ripped the work more than once
Composer: Composer (Forename, Surname, dates)
Track: Movement
I guess it could depend on the software used, but in Itunes, I do not see why not put the interpret in the artist field, and the composer in the composer field.
The only reason could be that you cannot 'browse' by composer (you can by genre, artist and album) BUT I would say this is just the limitation of current itunes (and I do not understand why they do not allow it).
Using the artist field for the composer is imho not the good way to do it, and would lead you to retag everything in the future.
Folder: Classical/Opera
Folder:Composer
Folder: Work (full title)
Folder: Work (short form) > Year Recorded > Venue/Orchestra > Conductor
MP3: Same as above with _Act1, etc.
It looks like this on my computer
Classical/Opera
Verdi
La Forza del Destino
Forza_1960_Met_Schippers
Forza_1960_Met_Schippers_Act_I (this is the MP3)
Originally Posted by lionel marechal /img/forum/go_quote.gif The only reason could be that you cannot 'browse' by composer (you can by genre, artist and album) BUT I would say this is just the limitation of current itunes (and I do not understand why they do not allow it).
If you turn on "composer" in View Options you can then just select Classical as the genre, click at the top of the Composer row, and voilà, browse by composer.
Better yet, make an automatic playlist where Genre is Classical, then click the top of the "composer column" and turn on cover art browsing and it will be in order that way plus the pretty pictures.
Originally Posted by hempcamp /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you turn on "composer" in View Options you can then just select Classical as the genre, click at the top of the Composer row, and voilà, browse by composer.
Better yet, make an automatic playlist where Genre is Classical, then click the top of the "composer column" and turn on cover art browsing and it will be in order that way plus the pretty pictures.
--Chris
That's not what the poster meant by 'browse'. He was referring specifically to the 3-way Browse columns which you activate with command-B. You're talking about the list of items which is always below the browse list. The browser appears to be hard-coded with Genre, Artist and Album in 3 columns. You can't move them, you can't drag-and-drop the composer column up there -- I can't work out how to do it.
But you're right -- in my "G: Classical" smart playlist I move the Composer column over to the left and sort by that instead.
Originally Posted by mikuhf /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's not what the poster meant by 'browse'. He was referring specifically to the 3-way Browse columns which you activate with command-B. You're talking about the list of items which is always below the browse list. The browser appears to be hard-coded with Genre, Artist and Album in 3 columns. You can't move them, you can't drag-and-drop the composer column up there -- I can't work out how to do it.
But you're right -- in my "G: Classical" smart playlist I move the Composer column over to the left and sort by that instead.
Michael
Correct, I meant truly 'browse', bit 'sort' by composer. I am using some dynamic playlist for some of them, but I wish Itunes would open that. When you think about it, you can do it on the ipod, why not in itunes ?
Lionel
Originally Posted by lionel marechal /img/forum/go_quote.gif Correct, I meant truly 'browse', bit 'sort' by composer. I am using some dynamic playlist for some of them, but I wish Itunes would open that. When you think about it, you can do it on the ipod, why not in itunes ?
Gotcha. I don't see much of a difference, probably because I know what I have well enough to get to it in a jiffy, and I'm used to sorting it by composer if I need to.
I think they avoid adding "composer" to the official browse columns because it would complicate the UI -- that's an Apple no-no as we all know.
Most media players can't sort by composer. Plus, when you send your listening info to Last.FM, do you really want people to know you listened to the Viener Philharmoniker or to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? I at least think the latter is more pertinent.
I organise my music into folders; artist > album. I have the composer as the artist folder, with songs inside the albums tagged as such. I don't have a problem with multiple composers because I haven't bought any CDs like that yet!
I also refuse to buy a DAP that won't support drag+drop or rockbox
Originally Posted by Aman /img/forum/go_quote.gif Most media players can't sort by composer. Plus, when you send your listening info to Last.FM, do you really want people to know you listened to the Viener Philharmoniker or to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? I at least think the latter is more pertinent.
Well, I do not use last.fm.
Where do you store the interprets then ? I mean in the tags ?
Lionel
Originally Posted by Aman /img/forum/go_quote.gif ...do you really want people to know you listened to the Viener Philharmoniker or to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart?
The great thing about tools like Last.FM is that either artist or composer would be very useful in helping you expand your musical interests. For example, I have pretty good exposure to Mozart's main repertoire, but I've never heard many of his pieces performed by more than a handful of artists. A tool like Last.FM could use the Wiener Philharmonic information to link me to other orchestras I might enjoy, regardless of composer, which then might also expose me to new composers.
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