There are some simple rules applied during the organisation and maintenance of this collection: -

1. If a bootleg is remastered, then the original bootleg name and artwork is kept and tagged as (Remastered) or (Speed Corrected) etc.
2. If there is a merge, where the primary source and bulk of the music is from a single bootleg, the original artwork is kept but not the name
3. No home-made artwork (although there are a few exceptions)

Future Development: -

1. Create an audio grading scale which will be published and added to all database entries and add an option to filter by audio quality
2. Create a video grading scale which will be published and added to all database entries and add an option to filter by video quality
3. Finally, the biggest job of all, add databases for Dr Sir Brian May CBE, Roger Taylor OBE, Queen + Paul Rodgers, Queen + Adam Lambert, a combination database with collaborations between band members and after that, who knows...

For full details on archive rules, software used, methods and more, read on...

FLAC Files

MediaMonkey is used on all recordings to ensure correct naming, tag entries, artwork embedding etc.

MediaMonkey details for every downloadable concert: -

1. Move all files from any sub directories to the main directory
2. Put in the 'Track Numbers'
3. Remove any 'Disc Numbers'
4. Set the 'Genre' tag to 'Rock'
5. Set the 'Date' tag to the actual concert date (format dd/mm/yyyy)
6. Set the 'Album' tag to the correct album title, or if there is no title, set to 'location - Venue (specific information)'
7. Set both the 'Artist' and 'Album Artist' tags to 'Queen'
8. Update all track titles
9. Update the filename to include the track number and title
10. Analyse the volume
11. Set the 'Comment' tag to the same as the 'info.txt' file (not including the notes)
12. Embed any cover artwork into each file (during playback on any player, the artwork will be displayed)
13. Edit an 'info.txt' file to include the date, location, venue, instruments played, track listing, lineage and notes

Video Files

Various programs were used for video editing, Gihosoft Free Video Cutter and OpenShot Video Editor to cut sections out of larger video files, but now Wondershare UniConverter is used.

MKVToolNix is used to edit MKV files or to package any format into an MKV file and can be downloaded here MKVToolNix download. This software can also be used to create, edit or remove chapters, embedded file names, delete, add or change audio tracks and can be used to add subtitles etc. Another use is to package pretty much any video format in an MKV container, and is used to combine DVD VOB files into one MKV and to package AVI's or MPG's etc.

Video details for every concert: -

1. Move all files from their sub directories to the main directory (as necessary)
2. Set the 'Title' tag to the correct title, or if unavailable set to 'location - Venue (specific information)'
3. Edit an 'info.txt' file to include the date, location, venue, instruments played, track listing with timings, lineage and notes

Lineage

All lineage files should start with one of the following: -

It is important to note that lineage notes have NOT been changed, but have been tidied up. All references to equipment or software used have been checked on the internet for correctness and includes making sure that acronyms, initialisms, nomenclature and spelling is correct and wherever possible looks similar.

For example, 'Wavelab' should be 'WaveLab' and 'Izotope' should be iZotope'. All acronyms and initialisms have been capitalised where 'flac' becomes 'FLAC' and 'mp4' becomes 'MP4'.

Finally, the original notes have not been altered and are complete with their spelling and grammatical errors.

FLAC Files - Addendum

You will usually see either 'FLAC', 'FLAC Level 8' or 'FLAC Level 5' mentioned in the lineage. Do not worry, ALL FLAC files are lossless (unless otherwise stated in the details of individual recordings). Basically, the difference between the nine levels (0 to 8) is the compression ratio. When FLAC was developed, computing power was at a bit of a premium, therefore the only difference is the time taken to compress the file. Nowadays, computing power is far beyond what was available at the time and therefore to save drive space most files are FLAC Level 8.

As an example (if you are interested see FLAC compression level comparison) a 233.6 MB WAV file was compressed at all levels and the differences between 0 to 8 are as follows: -

In short, do not worry about the FLAC Level, it is always lossless.

File Naming

Within the 'Audio' and 'Video' download files there may be a number of images. These conform to the following: -

XX is a number for multiple files.

Media Naming

Download media files are organised to conform to the following: -

XX is a number for multiple files.

Images

Images for bootlegs sometimes need some work to make them more pleasing on the eye. Especially the front image which is embedded into the track, white lines around the outside can be distracting on playback when the image is displaying.

GNU Image Manipulation Program or GIMP is used to rotate, trim, and generally tidy images before being exported as a 'jpg'.

All images not requiring any work are simply converted to 'jpg' using 'Windows Paint'.

YouTube

The old method was to use online downloaders, but these seem to disappear resulting in a search for another website. A much easier approach is to use 4K Video Downloader to download content from YouTube, its quick and easy and supports every format.