Library & files
Comment field
The comment field is free text inside an audio file, and the only metadata slot nobody else is using. DJs fill it with the things no other field holds — energy ratings, where a record works, what it mixes into.
In practice
Use short fixed codes, not sentences: an energy number, a situation, and where it goes next.
Something like "E7 peak vocal-out" carries three facts in twelve characters and sorts sensibly. Keep the vocabulary tiny — five energy levels rather than ten, four situations rather than twelve — because a scheme with too many values is one you will apply inconsistently and then cannot trust. Write it into the file rather than leaving it in a software-only field, or it disappears the moment the track is copied to another machine.
E1–E5
An energy code that fits
3 facts
About as many as stay useful
In the file
Where to store it
Where these come from: Tagging conventions rather than catalog figures — the comment field holds whatever you put in it, which is precisely why it is useful. For what we can measure, see the energy reading we compute.
Why it matters
It is searchable, sortable, and it travels inside the file, which makes it the closest thing to a personal field in a format nobody designed for DJs. A consistent scheme in the comment turns your whole collection into something you can query.
The requirement is that the scheme is consistent. Comments written in prose are unsearchable a year later; short codes in a fixed order are still readable when the record surfaces at 2am.
Frequently asked
What should a DJ write in the comment field?+
Short codes for the things no other field carries: an energy level, the situation it works in, and how it ends. Consistency matters more than detail — a scheme you apply the same way every time is what makes it searchable.
Is the comment field searchable?+
Yes, in every major DJ application, which is what makes a fixed vocabulary valuable. "E7" finds the whole peak-time end of your collection instantly; a sentence about how you felt about it does not.
Does the comment field transfer between DJ software?+
If it is written into the file’s tags, yes — it is standard metadata. A note kept only in one application’s database stays there.
Related terms
ID3 tags
ID3 tags are the metadata written inside an audio file — title, artist, album, genre, year, comment, and on DJ files often BPM and key. They travel with the file rather than with the software that read it.
Tag
A tag is a label you attach to a track so you can find it by something other than its name — a genre, a mood, a situation. A track can carry as many as you like.
Energy
Energy is a 0–100 reading of how hard a track hits, taken from loudness, spectral drive and percussive weight. It is the dimension that decides where in a set a track belongs rather than what it mixes with.
Crate
A crate is a folder of tracks inside your DJ software, named after the boxes vinyl DJs carried. A track can sit in as many crates as you like without being copied, because a crate holds references rather than files.
Explore: Energy · Energy arc planner · ID3 tags · All DJ terms