'Scan' problems

MusicBrainz Picard
1

I have albums which do not exist as Releases in MusicBrainz, so I have created new Releases for them. Now I want to create AcoustID fingerprints to associate with the Release’s individual Recordings. I am using MusicBrainz Picard for this.

My workflow using Picard is as follows.

1. Paste the MB URL of the Release into the right pane of Picard, hit Enter, and expand the resultant Release so the individual Recordings are listed.
2. Using the left pane of Picard as a browser window, I navigate to the folder containing the files for my album. I drag-and-drop those files into the center pane of Picard.
3. I click on the Cluster button and the album now appears as a Cluster in the center pane.
4. I highlight all of the track files and then click on the Scan button. This causes Picard to create AcoustID fingerprints for each of the tracks, which then show up in the Tags list in the bottom pane of Picard.
5. I drag-and-drop each of the Tracks in the center pane onto the corresponding Recordings in the right pane. The Tracks then disappear from the center pane, and the Recordings in the right pane acquire a green/yellow/orange/red flag to replace the music symbol, and the recording is highlighted in pink.
6. I select all of the Recordings in the right pane and click on Submit AcoustIDs.
7. The newly-created AcoustIDs now show up in the fingerprint tab of the corresponding Recordings in MusicBrainz.

That’s how is mostly works. However, I have an album which departs from this behaviour. In section 4 above, when I press the Scan button each of the tracks on the album gets identified with track from a different album, and not the new one I have created. A bunch of additional Releases appear in the right pane, and my tracks are distributed among those other releases. These other releases do NOT correspond to identical recordings, in which case I would be able to merge them with the corresponding Recordings in my new Release.

There is nothing I have been able to do to get the AcoustID’s to associate with the Recordings on the new Release.

I have created a log file which I wanted to attach to this post, but it seems I can’t do that. It is a huge log file, and it seems it is too be for the Forum rules to allow me to append it below. If I can, I will add it in two chunks as “replies” to this post.

2

Sorry, I can’t upload the debug log. Something about too many links :frowning:

3

Those AcoustIDs are probably matched to the wrong recordings, which is why those files you have are matched to the wrong releases. You can drag all the faulty albums back to the middle panel and continue with step 5. Now if you submit the AcoustIDs, they will be added to the correct recordings.

4

That suggestion was made by someone on IRC. But it doesn’t work. I can’t drag them back. Nothing happens when I try that :frowning:

5

Oooh, my bad. It seems I have to drop them precisely onto the “Unmatched Files” folder icon. Then it works. Anywhere else, and it doesn’t.

:slight_smile:

6

I’m glad it is working for you now, but it isn’t working like it should. For me it doesn’t matter where in the middle panel I drag the files to. What operating system and version of Picard are you using?

7

Latest version for OS X.

Once I have dropped the first file onto the folder then it seems I can drop the rest anywhere in the general vicinity of the folder.

8

What exactly do you try to drag? You can drag the files between different recordings on the right. Just like you drag them to individual recordings from the middle pane. You can also drag them back to the middle pane and then back to the correct release on the right.

Also are you sure they are completely different recordings? Because having the same AcoustId is a strong indicator, and while they can be wrongly assigned it sounds rather unlikely this being the case for an entire album. Maybe you can give the links to the affected release and some examples of wrongly detected recordings

9

I have checked the recordings and yes, they are different recordings of the same piece. These are Shostakovich String Quartets, and you can imagine the possibility for different recordings of the same Quartet to end up with the same AcoustID. At least it kinda makes sense to me.