Tagging classical music

[simoncn]

(24-03-2012 19:13)Wammer Wrote:  I have just started using MinimServer after using Twonky for the last few years, and just signed up for this Forum. Of my 1400 or so albums more than 75% are classical music, most of then ripped from CDs. The tagging has evolved in a haphazard way, and the flexibility offered by MinimServer compared to Twonky has prompted me to seriously consider retagging my entire collection - a major task given the number of albums involved, so it requires careful thought rather than just plunging in.

My initial thinking on the subject resulted in a scheme very similar to the one Simon has set out above. My search pattern usually starts with Genre (Concerto, Symphony, Chamber, Orchestral, Opera, etc.) then Composer, and then I manually scroll through the albums to find the one I want - although i may wish to further refine the search by conductor or artist where I have several versions of the same work, something that I could not do reliably with the limitations imposed by Twonky. The main exception is a compilation by a particular artist, where I would start with the artist. For pop and jazz Genres I generally refine my search by artist.

To make effective use of the search facility I need to be able to tag multiple artists, particularly for works where there is more than one soloist, such as an opera or a concertante work. However my knowledge of tagging is relatively basic and it would be help if someone could tell me (a) how to rip CDs in dBpoweramp with multiple artists; (b) how to add multiple artists to existing rips using mp3tag; and © what is the maximum number of artists MinimServer can handle for an individual track?

Once I have this information I can experiment with a few albums and develop a more considered strategy for tagging my classical collection that also takes into account my growing jazz collection and other non-classical genres, so I should appreciate any help that members can offer.

Wammer.

Welcome to the MinimServer forum!

I can answer (b) and ©. To add an additional artist in Mp3tag, edit the Artist field and add the additional artist preceded by \\. So for two artists John Eliot Gardiner and The Monteverdi Choir, you would enter

John Eliot Gardiner\\The Monteverdi Choir

Note that there aren't any spaces before or after the \\.

MinimServer doesn't have any limitation on the number of artists you can use for a track. It might struggle with a few thousand, though.

Regarding (a), the Artist information in your rip will depend on what Artist information is in the tagging databases that dBpoweramp uses. In my experience, you'll almost certainly get a single Artist tag with all the artists combined, for example:
ARTIST=John Eliot Gardiner, The Monteverdi Choir
ARTIST=David Hill: The Parley of Instruments, Westminster Cathedral Choir
ARTIST=Ex Cathedra (Jeffrey Skidmore)