Playlists and Set Preparation

Organising music for different sets and situations.

Crates beat folders. A good playlist is a question your future self will ask you live.

+40 XP

// WHAT IT DOES

A playlist (or 'crate') is a saved list of tracks grouped by anything you choose — genre, BPM range, vibe, gig, set position. They don't move files; they're just lists pointing at tracks in your collection.

Smart playlists are dynamic — set rules like 'BPM 122-128 AND Energy 3-5 AND Key = 8A' and the playlist auto-fills with matching tracks as your library grows.

Folder structure beats giant flat lists. A typical pro DJ has folders like: Genres → House → Tech House, Energy → Peak/Build/Close, Sets → 2025-11-22 Warehouse, Tools → Acapellas/Loops.

Think of it like → Crates in a vinyl bag. Physical DJs carry 3-5 crates to a gig; digital DJs do the same with playlists.

▸ WHY YOU CARE

• Live, you don't have time to scroll 5000 tracks. You navigate playlists, not files.
• Smart playlists do the curation work for you — when you import 50 new tracks, the relevant ones automatically appear in your peak-time crate.
• Set playlists (one per gig) become a record of what you played — invaluable for studying your own decisions later.

// SEE & HEAR IT

Bass · Sub Pluckdrag →
Lead · Acid Sawdrag →
Pad · Glass Choirdrag →
Keys · Soft Rhodesdrag →

▸ HOW IT WORKS

▸ Signal flow — watch the dot

▸ SIGNAL FLOW

Glowing dot = your signal travelling through Live.

▸ LISTEN FOR

• Tracks that show up in every gig playlist — those are your signature sounds.
• Tracks that smart playlists suggest but you ignore — interrogate why; maybe re-rate or retire.

▸ WALKTHROUGH (5 steps)

1. DO: Create a folder called '02_NEW' and inside it a smart playlist with rule: Date Added in last 30 days AND Genre = House.
▸ LISTEN: It populates with anything fresh from a house import. No manual sorting.
2. DO: Create '01_TONIGHT_<date>' folder with subfolders Opener / Builder / Peak / Closer.
▸ LISTEN: Drag 15-20 tracks into each subfolder from your library. Now you have a 60-80 track set pool, structured by role.
3. DO: Export only the 01_TONIGHT_ folder to a USB stick (right-click → Export to Device).
▸ LISTEN: Stick is now small, focused, fast to navigate at the gig.
4. DO: After the gig, in rekordbox, create '99_PLAYED_<date>' and drag the tracks you actually used from the gig folder.
▸ LISTEN: You now have a record of every track you played — sortable, searchable, learnable from.
5. DO: Smart playlist: rule 'My Tag includes Peak AND Key = 8A AND Played count < 3 in last 90 days'.
▸ LISTEN: It surfaces strong peak tracks you haven't been over-playing — your idea-generator for the next set.

▸ COMMON MISTAKES

✗ Flat folder structures with 1000-track playlists. Unnavigable live.
✗ Deeply nested folders >5 levels. CDJ navigation becomes tedious.
✗ Never deleting playlists after gigs. Library becomes a junkyard.
✗ Relying only on smart playlists. Manual curation for the actual set matters.

// QUIZ (QUICK)

Question 1 / 40 correct

A good playlist organisation strategy includes

← My Tags and Advanced Tagging Crate Digging →