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[Listener]

Today, I responded to a query on Audio Asylum about using MC 12 for classical music.  Here is the link

    http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/pcaudio/messages/2/27559.html

I tried to point a beginner to the options he needed to set and the concepts he needed to understand.

I've felt for a long time that MC 12 really needs some good how-to information about setting up MC 12 for classical music.  (And some more detailed description of MC's conceptual model.)  I'm aware of threads about some of the issues and have contributed to some.  I'm also aware that JimH has links to some threads in the sticky threads on info for new users.  I don't think the sticky thread is organized enough and just searching is often very unproductive.

I think the MC 12 help and the Wiki are the right places to explain how to use MC 12.  A one or two sentence description of each menu item just doesn't help a beginner.

I'm past the stage where I need better documentation to use MC 12 effectively most of the time.  However, I don't think that beginners can use a significant part of MC's features without better documentation.  The result is that many people try MC 12 out and don't understand why it is different from or better than any other music player software.
 
Bill

[JimH]

Thanks, Bill.  When we finish, we'll start on perfecting the docs.

[darichman]

I don't know if this is of any help -- an old post of mine showing how I organise classical music using lots of custom fields...

I too recently undertook the task of organising my rather large classical collection. The default tags simply don't cut it for the following reasons:
 --> each piece will have multiple artists (composer, performer, arranger, conductor, orchestra/ensemble)
 --> tracks will belong to a physical album (eg Best of Bach) and to a work (eg Brandenburg Concertos) so a single album tag won't suffice...

To begin with, I organise all my music files by three levels of genre, all are custom, list-type fields
[Genre 1] = the uppermost level of organisation. For broad categories of music
   eg Popular, Classical, Film, Comedy, Christmas, Game

[Genre 2] = major styles of music within each Genre 1
  eg Rock/Pop, Rap/Hip-Hop, Electronic/Dance, Jazz, World etc  (for popular music)
       Romantic, Classical Period, 20th Century, Baroque, Medieval etc (for Classical)

[Genre 3] = specific styles of music
  eg Adult Alternative, Britpop, Album, Rock, Midwest Rap etc (for Popular)
       Concerto, Symphony, Prelude, Fugue, Waltz etc (for classical)

For popular music, Genres 2 & 3 are based on the "Genre" and "Style" fields used on AMG respectively (http://www.allmusic.com/)
For classical, I try to use information from http://www.cduniverse.com/ where available

Eg. Bach's: Brandenburg Concerto No.1 BWV 1046 in F Major I. Allegro

[Default Field]
[Custom Field]

[Composer] = Bach, Johann Sebastian
[Artist] = Johann Sebastian Bach
[Album] = Brandenburg Concertos 1-6 (ie the CD album purchased)
[Performer] = Emanuel Hurwitz (Violin); Peter Graeme (Oboe); Ifor James (French Horn); Anthony Randall (French Horn)
[Conductor] = Benjamin Britten
[Band] = English Chamber Orchestra (ie the orchestra or ensemble)

[Genre 1] = Classical (vs. Popular, Film, Comedy etc)
[Genre 2] = Baroque; Chamber Music
[Genre 3] = Concerto

[Works 1] = Concertos and Orchestral Suites
[Works 2] = Brandenburg Concertos

[Classical: Title] = Brandenburg Concerto No.1
[Classical: Name] = (ie common name of piece: not used for this piece)
[Classical: Opus] = BWV 1046
[Classical: Number] = (used for opus parts: not used for this piece)
[Classical: Movement] = I. Allegro
[Key] = F Major

[Date Written] = 1721
[Date Recorded] = 1995
[Date Released] = 1995

Without going into too much detail, I then put together an expression (as a new field: "Piece") based on the above fields, which formats the output based on which fields are filled... ie Brandenburg Concerto No.1 BWV 1046 in F Major I. Allegro

That way I can fill out whichever fields I've got the information for, and still get a nice clean display to browse my classical music...

My genres have changed a little since then, but I still use basically the same setup

[darichman]

Click to enlarge.

[craft]

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