Trackhunter! A Dj’s new best friend…

Usually I focus my posts about music events, new releases, or mixes that I think people should listen to. I am so remarkably satisfied with a program I was given to beta test (mac version), that I have to tell you all about it. Its so simple, to the point, does what it supposed to, and each time I use it, I am the one reaping all the benefits.

I’m speaking of Trackhunter (www.trackhunter.co.uk). Trackhunter is the product created from the mind of an old Dj friend, Keith Boynton.

Keith in the early 90’s was a seriously active DJ, playing many times a week, and traveling immensely. After a grand decade and a half of sharing his skills and love of electronic dance music, he decided to switch his focus to his family, and had put his DJing on haitus. Even though he was no longer actively spinning vinyl in large clubs and festivals anymore, his passion for dance music still resided within.

A few years ago he decided to ‘come out of retirement’ and start playing again. Only now, all of the venues have switched from turntables to CDJs, Serato, and Traktor setups – its all digital! So instead of Keith spending hours at a time at a record store like he used to, he found himself visiting website after website,

listening to the mass amounts of new music being released every week.

Keith found a couple issues with this new way to ‘record shop.’ Each site had their own way to preview music, their own embedded player or pop out player. He found himself listening to the same thing over and over at multiple sites. He asked a couple friends for opinions on how to keep up with it all, and find new music? The only suggestions he was getting was to ‘follow a couple DJ playlists and you will get to hear new music that way…’

Keith, like other DJs, is proud of his own ‘sound’ and didn’t want to follow the trends of other DJs, nor did he want to mimic what other DJs were playing. All he wanted to do was have one place to listen to as much as he could, and of the genres he was interested in. This is all what lead up to the creation of Trackhunter.

Keith says it the best:

“Trackhunter is an easy to use application that makes finding upfront electronic dance music very quick and easy. It makes it possible to listen to all the new music regardless of genre so you can create your own style without having to follow anyone else.

It lets you keep up to date with the new music from your favorite online digital stores and more; Audiojelly, Beatport, Dance Tunes, DJ Download, DJ Tunes, Juno, Stompy, Track It Down and Traxsource (and more being added).”

The Trackhunter program has been a godsend for me. Ever since Keith sent it to me, I have been using it multiple times a week, finding new, fresh, and inspiring music that I spin on my radio show on Deep House Lounge.

Here are what i personally find as some of the most beneficial attributes of this program.

1. I don’t have to visit all of the individual sites anymore, the program pulls the new music from the sites I want to pull from, and lines them up in a simple to use application

2. The program can run in the background while I am multitasking on my laptop. The program has an auto skip/play function, that plays through the trax at a length I set, and I can even program it to skip through tracks at certain increments. I listen to more new songs than ever before, in a shorter period of time…all the while working on new cover art, filling out my meta data, or typing out a new hype sheet.

3. The program filters out duplicates. If the same song is a new release on 5 different sites, the program will only list it once, and play it once for me. I no longer have to hear the same song(s) over again.

4. I can tell the program what type of file I’m in search of, whether I want mp3, or a WAV/AIFF file (lossless format). Not only that, but it will also tell me which retail site offers the highest quality at the lowest price, so not only am I saving time, but also money!

5. This one is the biggest one for me, and maybe even an addition that could come on later versions of the software. I am consistently introduced to new artists, and new sounds that I would of never heard before, or took the time to find on a regular retail site. If I hear a song I enjoy, I highlight the name of the artist, and instantly do a Google and Soundcloud search for them. In the past month alone, I have gathered over 50 new, FREE tracks that have been available for download, directly off of a producers Soundcloud page. I would love to see a ‘Google search ‘artist’ embedded into the program. Keith might already be working on this, if he is, AWESOME!

6. THE SOFTWARE IS FREE ON THEIR WEBSITE!!! I REPEAT, THE SOFTWARE IS FREE!!!

There will be a mobile application available soon, Keith has given me that bit of information. He and the Trackhunter designers are working it all out so that every user has the best experience when it becomes available.

Last week, my entire show on Deep House Lounge was from new tracks and artists I was introduced to that week by using the Trackhunter program. Take a listen, grab the free download HERE, or you can take a listen on my Mixcloud page too.

(*writers note – update – i changed the link to a new service, as i ran out of bandwidth for downloads – thanks for all the support!)

All of us live busy lives, especially active DJs. Do yourself a favor, and go download Trackhunter TODAY! Click HERE to do it now!