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MusicBrainz Integration - Beta

Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 9:50 am
by MDE
Further to my earlier posts re classical music enhancements and MusicBrainz integration, I have completely revised my approach to classical music tagging to build it around MusicBrainz. A complete description of the approach can be found on my website here:- http://music.highmossergate.co.uk/index.php. Central to this approach (apart from Muso of course) is my plugin for MusicBrainz Picard - "Classical Extras". Once Picard has been installed, you can download the beta version of the plugin from here:- https://github.com/MetaTunes/picard-plu ... extras.zip. Please read the Readme at https://github.com/MetaTunes/picard-plu ... /Readme.md before using it.
The net effect is to make the rich metadata available in MusicBrainz (and not currently fully utilised by any other tagging software that I am aware of) available to players/library managers and in particular to Muso.
IMHO Muso still has the best and richest interface for classical music and "Classical Extras" takes full advantage of this.
The screenshot below shows how works are pulled in from MusicBrainz and text from MB's "canonical" works database is combined with track titles to give fully descriptive titles. All of this can be done (if required) without any Muso import actions as the plugin gives a tag mapping capability. (In practice I use a few import actions, but that is personal preference). Exactly what elements are displayed is customisable using a User Interface in the plugin.
Respighi.jpg
The plugin handles multiple work levels and pulls in all data for performers (and also conductors, arrangers, leaders, chorusmasters and more):-
Vivaldi.jpg
There is a link on the Muso page to take you directly to the MusicBrainz listing, e.g.
VivaldiMB.jpg
Assuming the release is properly listed in MusicBrainz, absolutely no "manual" tagging is required - just rip the CD (if necessary) and look it up on MusicBrainz using Picard + "Classical Extras". Save it and import to Muso :D
I encourage people to become MusicBrainz editors to deal with the cases where the release is not listed or needs improvement. It isn't a big deal and means that others benefit (as well as providing a back-up in the cloud of all your tag sources).
I hope this helps any classical music fans (and maybe jazz fans too?) among Muso users and am happy to deal with any queries posted here.

Re: MusicBrainz Integration - Beta

Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 5:50 pm
by DuLac
Thanks for sharing this with us here. I am away now. However, on my return I will definitely give your plugin a try. My library is mainly made of jazz records although I have a few dozen classical ones. I will try to adapt it to the sort of tagging I require.

Re: MusicBrainz Integration - Beta

Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 11:55 am
by musoware
Thanks for putting this togeher Mark. All my classical collection has this level of detail but I had to do most of it manually. Next chance I get I'll give this approach a try to see how much work it saves me.

Re: MusicBrainz Integration - Beta

Posted: Sun Sep 03, 2017 6:02 pm
by MDE
This is now an "official" Picard plugin - see https://picard.musicbrainz.org/plugins/
The original link will be used for development versions.
Feedback from jazz fans is welcome too - the artists tab may come in useful.

Re: MusicBrainz Integration - Beta

Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 9:56 pm
by MDE
Version 0.8 of the Picard "Classical Extras" plugin is available for beta testing. As before, it is designed to make the most of Muso's rich data representation ability.
Enhancements include:
  • Handle multiple recordings and/or multiple parents of a work.
    Handle multiple albumartist composers for one track.
    Option to use “credited as” name for artists (inc. performers and composers) who are “release artist” or “track artist”.
    Option to exclude “solo” from instrument types.
    Option to over-ride plugin options with those used when the album was last saved.
    Option to keep (and append to) specified existing file tags - furthermore if “is_classical” is present, the work-type variable will include “Classical”.
    Option to use (and write) SongKong-compatible work tags (saves processing time if SongKong is used to pre-process large numbers of files).
    Include the work (and its parents) of which a work is an arrangement (as a “pseudo-parent”).
    Include medleys in movement/part description (as [Medley of:…] or other descriptor specified in options).
    Allow for multiple parents of recordings and works (and multiple parents of those) - multiples are given as multiple tag instances, where permitted, otherwise separated by semi-colons.
    Option as to whether to include parent works where the relationship attribute is “part of collection”.
    Plus minor enhancements and bug fixes too numerous to mention!
This is available at https://github.com/MetaTunes/picard-plu ... cal_extras
Zip and install the .py files in Picard.
The earlier version (0.7) is still available on the official plugins page https://picard.musicbrainz.org/plugins/
Whichever version you use, please read the readme first - it is pretty comprehensive.

Re: MusicBrainz Integration - Beta

Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 10:26 pm
by MDE
Post deleted