How Traditional Folder Structures Translate to DISCO

Some support and organizational assistance mentioned in this article may be available depending on your subscription plan and file quota. Contact our Support Team to ask about your options.

Example 1: Traditional Hard Drive With Nested Folder Structure

To prepare for an upload, it helps to understand how the Uploader recreates your hard drive structure inside DISCO.

Here’s an example of a common nested folder path:

• > Catalog
• >> Band = "Racing"
• >>> Album = "Real Dancing"
• >>>> Folders for “Instrumentals”, “Mains” etc
• >>>>> Folders for file formats - “wavs” and “mp3s”.

File structure on a Hard Drive:

Translated into DISCO as playlists:

Any folder that contains files becomes a playlist in DISCO. In this example, “wavs” and “mp3s” appear as playlists in Browse, while their parent folders are ignored and do not appear in DISCO.

If you upload the highlighted Catalog folder, DISCO will create hundreds of playlists called “wavs” and “mp3s,” which is not very helpful for organization.

Every uploaded WAV file automatically generates an MP3 in DISCO. In this example, both WAVs and MP3s of the same audio have been uploaded, resulting in two copies of each track in DISCO. These should be merged so the MP3 metadata is retained alongside the high-resolution WAV file.

Example 2: Flattened Folder Structure

Let’s look at what an ideal folder structure should look like before uploading to DISCO:

• The folder containing the audio files is named “Artist - Album,” which becomes the playlist name in DISCO.
• All files are stored together in one folder, including WAVs, MP3s, main versions, and instrumentals.

How will these folders and files appear in DISCO after upload?

After upload, these folders and files will appear in DISCO as one playlist called “Artist - Album” containing all WAV and MP3 files.

The MP3s will include artwork and metadata, while the WAVs will only display titles based on their original file names.

Use the Merge tool to manually pair matching WAV and MP3 files.

WAV and MP3 files can be paired in bulk by our Onboarding team if they were uploaded from the same folder, have identical file names, and your account is on a qualifying plan.

The result after merging

One playlist contains all files from the album. Each track includes paired WAV and MP3 versions, with metadata preserved.

(I added the "Instrumentals" section to the playlist after the upload.)

Preparing your Files and Folders

Before reorganizing anything, you may want to duplicate your full catalog so you can return to the original folder structure if needed.

• Rename album folders to include the artist name, using this format: Artist - Album
• Move all files from the WAV and MP3 folders into the renamed album folder
• You can keep separate folders for instrumentals or other versions if you want them to appear as separate playlists in DISCO

Check each folder to make sure all WAV and MP3 file names match exactly. The only difference between paired files should be the extension, such as .mp3 or .wav. Including the artist name in the file name, for example The Beatles - Let It Be.wav, is best practice and helps prevent incorrect merges.

Each unique audio version should have a unique file name. Before uploading, remove any unnecessary nested folders such as WAV or MP3.

Quickly Rename Files with the NameChanger app

Download and open the NameChanger app, and find the files you are working with on your hard drive.

• Drag the files into NameChanger:

• Hide file extensions from the Options menu before continuing:

The NameChanger app includes the following editing functionalities:

• Character insertion/removal
• Find and replace
• Change case
• Sequencing

Run the Uploader

• Confirm that all folder and file names are correct
• Add them to the Uploader
• You’ll receive an email when the upload is complete

Learn more about troubleshooting bulk uploads to ensure faster transfers.