107 lines
5.1 KiB
Markdown
107 lines
5.1 KiB
Markdown
# How to Setup Genre based AutoDJ
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* YouTube video
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[](https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/XNVIDnczrOk "How to Setup Genre based AutoDJ")
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## Text-based Step-by-step
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In this tutorial we will focus on how to build a traditional auto DJ system
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where we use a feature called smart blocks and auto loading playlists to play
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random music tracks of a certain genre during a show. This tutorial is
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primarily focused on program managers but users who are DJs can also benefit
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from smart blocks but will only be able to manually schedule them.
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So for the purposes of this tutorial we are going to assume that you
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have uploaded a number of files of music with the genre metadata all
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matching a specific genre, for instance, Alternative. This can be done
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ahead of time, but LibreTime has no way of automatically grouping sub
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genres and so it is important that you spend some time curating the
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track metadata before you upload it to LibreTime as there is not
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currently a way to bulk edit tracks from inside LibreTime. Also once
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tracks are uploaded the metadata of the track itself isn’t changed but
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just how it is represented in the LibreTime database. This might change
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in the future but would only affect you if you were downloading tracks
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and uploading them to another instance and hoped that the changes you
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made were saved.
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So we can bulk upload a number of creative commons licensed tracks that
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have their genre all set to specific genres as one way of getting tracks
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if you don’t have a mp3 collection of your own to draw from. See links
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below for some spots where you can procure tracks where the creators
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gave permission for everyone to redistribute play and share them.
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One the tracks are uploaded to the system and imported we can now create
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a smartblock that will select the tracks that match a certain genre. For
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this we will use Genre contains Jazz – this will match any track that
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has genre anywhere in its genre so ‘big band jazz’ and ‘swing jazz’
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would match as well as ‘acid jazz’. Any subgenre that doesn’t include
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jazz explicitly such as ‘be bop’ would need to be added as a new
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modifier.
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For the purposes of this smart block we want to select 4 random items.
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We also want to avoid really long tracks that are longer than 10
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minutes. So we will add the modifier Length is less than 00:10:00
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and now this smart block will pull 4 smart blocks. Be sure to preview it
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to make sure that you have some matches in your library. This will also
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save it.
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Now we are going to create a new smart block that plays one promo or
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station ID.
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Click smartblock and new and then type in the name promo OR ID and then
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change the criteria Genre to is promo and now click new modifier and
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then is TOTHID.
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And then change limit to 1 items.
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Now we are going to create a playlist that contains these two smart
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blocks.
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Click new and then type Jazz with promos
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and then click smartblocks and add the Jazz Songs followed by the Promo
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or ID smart block.
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Now this playlist can be dragged into a schedule show to add 3 random
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jazz songs followed by a promo. You can manually repeat the selection in
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the playlist to create a long auto DJ playlist. For instance lets add 3
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more Jazz Songs and then add 3 Jazz Songs again followed by a Promo or
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ID. Now lets save this playlist and go and add it to a scheduled show.
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This is a quick and easy way for you to manually schedule a large chunk
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of time. You can also use this as an autoloading playlist.
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Lets assign this to a new 3 hour show. Called lots of Jazz. Now lets go
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under Autoloading Playlist and enable that and in this spot we will
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check repeat until full. This will mean that the system will keep
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scheduling this playlist until the show is completely full. The only
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problem here is that at the end of the show it is almost assured that a
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track will be cut off. If you are a web station and you just want to
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schedule music for long lengths of time you can schedule shows that are
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up to 24 hours long.
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On the other hand if you are an FCC licensed station you are required to
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have top of the hour IDs as close as possible to the top of the hour. In
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this case the random selection of tracks might not suffice for
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compliance.
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If you have a station ID playlist smartblock in your intro playlist (see
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previous tutorial linked below) and you have your tracks broken up
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hourly this shouldn’t be an issue but it still might result in tracks
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being cut of in the middle.
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So the best option currently is to change the music tracks to fill the
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remaining show from the previous selection of 3 items. And then be sure
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to add a promos or musical sound bridges at the end that are also time
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remaining but allow overfill.
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It is possible that we could improve the way the autoloading playlists
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work in the future, please check out LibreTime.org for the latest
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release notes and feel free to ask any questions at our forum at
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[https://discourse.LibreTime.org](https://discourse.LibreTime.org/)
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Thanks for tuning in to another LibreTime tutorial. Our next tutorial
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will show you how to use autoloading playlists to add show specific
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underwriting or advertisements.
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