A weekly new-music triage routine for DJs
Run one weekly session that turns a pile of new finds into a short keep list. Fixed slot, sort by source, a fast pass, a slow pass, inbox at zero.
On this page
- Where triage sits
- Decide three things once
- Step 1: sweep in the strays (about 10 minutes)
- Step 2: sort the inbox by source
- Step 3: the fast pass
- Step 4: the slow pass for keepers
- When the inbox won't empty
- Keep every decision on record
- Part of it can happen away from the desk
- Signs it's working
- Doing this with CatchIt!
- The session on one card
A weekly triage session is one sitting where every track you've found since last week gets a final keep or reject, and the inbox ends at zero. Settle three things once: a fixed slot, a time limit and a rule for tracks you're unsure about. Then run the session in four steps: sweep in the strays, sort the inbox by source, do a fast pass that rejects the obvious, and give what's left a slow, careful listen. Buying and library prep come afterwards and have their own guides. This one is only about the session where backlogs are won or lost.
Where triage sits
| Stage | What happens | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Digging | Finds come in from charts, feeds, sets, Shazams and friends | How DJs find new music |
| Triage | Every new find gets keep or reject; the inbox reaches zero | This guide |
| Buying | A second cut, a cap, then the purchase | How to decide which tracks to buy |
| Prep | Grid, cues, tags, crates | How to organize new music before it hits your DJ library |
If you want the whole week laid out, from daily trawling to shopping day, the digging guide has a weekly routine. Triage is the step in that week that most often slips, so it gets its own guide.
Decide three things once
A fixed slot. The same evening every week, in your calendar like a gig. Triage that waits for a free evening doesn't happen, and the inbox grows until it feels too big to start.
A time limit. A reasonable starting point is 60 to 90 minutes. The limit pushes you to decide quickly on obvious tracks and saves your attention for the close calls. If you hit it with tracks left over, that's information, not failure; see when the inbox won't empty.
A rule for tracks you're unsure about. Indifferent means reject. Intrigued means keep, and the second cut before buying decides. There's no third pile.
Step 1: sweep in the strays (about 10 minutes)
Before you listen to anything, get every find of the week into the inbox:
- Links sitting in chats and messages.
- Browser tabs you left open "for later".
- New entries in a streaming playlist that collects your Shazams, if you sync one.
- Charts you follow. Beatport's Top 100 and genre Top 100 charts update daily from sales, so a weekly look shows a week of movement; take only the tracks that are new since your last session. Beatport chart history shows how to spot those.
- Tracklists of sets you listened to this week.
- New releases from labels and artists you follow. Keeping up with new releases covers where those feeds live.
Then close the tabs. From here on, everything you need is in one list.
Step 2: sort the inbox by source
Sorting by source means you switch listening mode once per group rather than once per track. It also helps because each source tends to fail in its own way, so you know what to listen for.
| Source | What to check first | Typical reason to reject |
|---|---|---|
| Shazams from a club | Is it the version you heard, and does it work at home? | It sounded great because of the room or the blend |
| Tracks from a set's tracklist | The track on its own, away from the mix | It only worked layered with something else |
| Chart picks | Does it fit the slots you play, not only the chart? | Popular, but not your sound |
| Links from friends | Would you keep it if a stranger had sent it? | Kept out of politeness |
| Promos | Is it finished, and would you actually play it? | It arrived in bulk, and most of the bulk is filler |
| Bandcamp feed | Is it a track for a set or for listening at home? | Lovely at home, no place in a set |
Step 3: the fast pass
Go through each group top to bottom and decide on every track before you move to the next.
- Listen in a fixed order: a few seconds of the intro, then the first drop or main groove, then the breakdown. Many tracks are clear rejects by the first drop.
- No skipping for later. A skipped track is a decision postponed into next week.
- Trust earlier verdicts. If a track was already judged when it arrived from another source, don't judge it again.
- Judge the sound, not the context. Who played it and where it charted are why it reached you, not reasons to keep it.
- Reject freely. A reject isn't a ban. A really strong track will reach you again from somewhere else.
If almost everything survives the fast pass, the rules are too soft. Look at the reject reasons in the table above and apply them more strictly.
Step 4: the slow pass for keepers
Now listen to what survived, longer and properly, on good headphones or monitors at a sensible volume. Will Lynch, writing for Pioneer DJ about digging, recommends listening "purely for your personal pleasure, without picturing yourself playing it to an imaginary crowd". For each keeper, ask three things:
- Does it hold up for its whole length, or only for one moment?
- Can you name where it would go in one of your sets?
- Is this the right version: extended, remix, dub?
Demote anything that fails. What remains is your keep list for buying day, where the buying checklist takes over.
When the inbox won't empty
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to change |
|---|---|---|
| You run out of time every week | You collect more than you can hear | Drop the source you keep least from |
| Most tracks survive the fast pass | The reject rules are too soft | Decide by the first drop; use the per-source reasons |
| The same tracks keep coming back | Rejects aren't on record | Keep rejects instead of deleting them |
| You put the session off | It's too long to face | Split it into two shorter sessions in the week |
| The keep list is too long to buy | The slow pass is too generous | Be stricter on "where would it go?" |
An inbox that never reaches zero stops being trusted, and once you stop trusting it, tracks start getting lost again.
Keep every decision on record
Don't delete rejects. A record of what you've already turned down saves you from hearing the same track three times from three sources. Over a few weeks, it also shows you which sources earn their place: if a chart or a feed gives you nothing for a month, unfollow it, and next week's sweep gets shorter.
Part of it can happen away from the desk
The fast pass doesn't have to happen at a desk. In his Pioneer DJ piece on managing music, Lynch recommends hearing new music "in natural settings and situations", because "you may be surprised which tracks really speak to you". A walk or a commute suits a first listen through a tracklist. Leave the slow pass for proper headphones.
Signs it's working
- The inbox is at zero when the session ends.
- Sessions take about the same time each week, or less.
- You rarely hear a track you've already judged.
- The keep list is short enough to buy in one go.
- You can say why you rejected things, source by source.
Over a few months, it shows in your library too: fewer tracks bought and never played. Building a DJ library without filler shows how to measure that.
Doing this with CatchIt!
CatchIt! is a Mac app with a free iOS companion, built for the triage session and the capture that feeds it.
- Capture all week. The iOS app's Shazam button, a Shortcut you can pin to Control Center, and the Save to CatchIt! share extension send finds to the Mac's Inbox. See Capturing tracks.
- Gather in seconds. Paste a stray link into the Mac window. Import tracklists by link from 1001tracklists, TrackID.net, set79 or Djooni. Refresh followed Beatport charts when you sit down; each chart's sidebar row shows how many tracks are new since your last refresh. Refresh is manual, by design.
- Triage on the Mac. In the Inbox, Return keeps a track (green) and Space rejects it (red), then moves to the next one. The arrow keys drive the player. Tracks you've judged before show their previous decision, and the Previous filter can hide them.
- Triage on a walk. On the iPhone, the Tracklists tab plays each track's Apple Music match. Walking Mode turns the screen into a pad: swipe up for green, swipe down for red, tap the left or right half to jump 15 seconds. It needs Apple Music access and a subscription.
- Shop and close out. In the Wishlist, Demote → Red handles the second cut, Done marks what you bought, and the Bandcamp, Beatport, YouTube and Google links search each store. Mark finished tracklists completed and hide them with Hide Done.
The session on one card
- Set up once: fixed slot, time limit, indifferent means reject.
- Sweep: links, tabs, synced playlist, charts, tracklists into one inbox.
- Sort by source, and know each source's typical reject reason.
- Fast pass: intro, drop, breakdown, decide, next.
- Slow pass: keepers only, on good headphones.
- Close: inbox at zero, rejects on record.
This guide is part of how to organize new music before it hits your DJ library. For where your finds come from, see how DJs find new music. See also Core concepts.
Frequently asked questions
- What is music triage for DJs?
- Going through everything you've found since last time and making a quick, final decision on each track, keep or reject, so only a short list moves on to buying. It's the step between digging and shopping.
- How long should a triage session take?
- Long enough to empty your inbox. A reasonable starting point is 60 to 90 minutes once a week. If it regularly runs over, you're collecting more than you can listen to, so drop a source or split the session in two.
- How long should you listen to each track?
- Long enough to hear the parts that matter in a set: a few seconds of the intro, the main groove or drop, and the breakdown. Skipping through is fine for the fast pass, as long as keepers get a proper slow listen afterwards.
- Can you triage music on your phone?
- Yes, for a first pass. Listening away from your desk, on a walk or a commute, is a good way to hear tracks as music rather than as tools. Do the slow pass on good headphones or monitors.
- What should you do with tracks you can't decide on?
- Split them by feeling. If a track leaves you indifferent, reject it. If it intrigues you without convincing you, keep it and let the second cut before buying decide. Don't create a maybe pile; it turns into a second inbox.