How to add and delete to filename, title, and artist

[bvon]

I running mp3tag on Mac and trying to figure out 3 things.

1)I'd like to delete from a title if it has song name - singer.aiff e.g.
Sweet Pea - Amos Lee.aiff to just be Sweet Pea

2. I'd also like to add a singer name to a filename with something like
   Sweet Pea.aiff to Sweet Pea - Amos Lee.aiff

3. In some compilations the singer is in the filename after the name like Sweet Pea - Amos Lee.aiff. When I retrieve data from the internet or database search feature it populates the incorrect artist name. How would I say grab the name in the filename and populate the artist tag with it e.g. Sweet Pea - Amos Lee.aiff in Filename to Amos Lee in the Artist tag?

I've looked up examples of how to add and delete strings and tried a few things out to no avail. Any guidance would be great. Thank you.

[ohrenkino]

There is a whole chapter in the Mac documentation about how to get information from or write it to filenames, see here:

Rename Files and Import Tags from Files

Mp3tag provides a variety of possibilities to get tag information from parts of the filename or to rename files based on the information stored in the tag of a file. The base concept behind all converters in Mp3tag is the format string, which describes a pattern or template of a filename. A format string consists of any characters and predefined placeholders or scripting functions. Every placeholder begins with the percent sign %, followed by a tag field name and ends with the percent sign. …

If you have a specifc problem, then give a real example.
A general hint: if you want to modify a filename, then use the tag information and write a completely new filename. Use Convert>Tag-Filename
If you want to get information from a filename, use Convert>Filename-Tag. If the filename has parts that you don't need, mask these parts with %dummy%

[bvon]

Thanks. Your hints were helpful. I still get a space before the info. I replace with since the filename is something like The Chain - Fleetwood Mac.aiff when I use Convert Filename-Tag with dummy - %artist% it places the space in the filename after - and before Fleetwood Mac. How do I get rid of that?

I have a similar problem with a . in Filenames with a file like 6. Blue Light Yokohama.aiff and I use Quick Actions -> Replace with Regular Expression
->
Field _FILENAME
Regexp ^[1]+\s*.
There is still a space before the new filename. I'm not sure how to eliminate it there either.

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[ohrenkino]

@bvon

Convert Filename-Tag with dummy - %artist%

It should be %dummy% - %artist%
Screenshots would help in such cases as you see that every character counts.
In respect to

@bvon

6. Blue Light Yokohama.aiff

wouldn't Convert>Tag-Filename with
Format string: %title%
be just as effective and you do not have to worry about regular expressions?

[bvon]

I tried your technique and it worked well but I still can't figure out how to change what's within a filename for example how to I get rid of the information in () and the parenthesis if I am trying to take just the first part i.e. Los Reyes, and place that as the tag in artist?

[ohrenkino]

What do the tag fields look like that you use to create the new filename, e.g. the one with Los Reyes?

[bvon]

Here's a wider screen shot with the Filename, Path, Tag, and Title. I manually eliminated the (Country) info. in the filename but there are several albums where I have something listed in the filename field, often in (), sometimes in that I'm sure there's a way to batch delete or modify but no idea how to do it.

[ohrenkino]

Actually, I would be much more interested in the tag data of such a file.
Any decent player should interpret the metadata but not the filename.
So I would assume that all the information is present in the tags.
Your screenshot (thank you for that) shows that the title is something completely different than the filename - which leaves me puzzles somehow.
I would have expected to see e.g.
Joyeux Noel as TITLE
New York Twoubadou as ARTIST
but what is "God rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"? which currently is found in TITLE - is that the data for ALBUM?
Could you show the screenshot of the extended tags dialogue for a single file?

[MotleyG]

@ohrenkino

Your screenshot (thank you for that) shows that the title is something completely different than the filename - which leaves me puzzles somehow.

It does appear that the filenames and Titles are mixed up somehow. All the right matches exist but jumbled up from the files.

[bvon]

Thanks for your help on this. The reason the filename title doesn't match the title is because when I use the feature to look up the album via the database, the files are sorted alphabetically by mp3tag, rather in their original order so mp3tag will populate the title field according to the original order and often leads to a mismatch with the alphabetical listing. I usually just bulk change the title in the filename to populate the title with the correct name. I hadn't yet done it for this set of files.

Here is a screenshot of the extended tags.

[ohrenkino]

@bvon

rather in their original order so mp3tag will populate the title field according to the original order

You would have to align the files in the right list with the titles in the left list. Use the arrow buttons to move the files up or down.

[ohrenkino]

I see that there is no country reference in the data in Artist I would rename the files with data from ARTIST and TITLE.
Use Convert>Tag-Filename
Format string: %title% - %artist%

[bvon]

Thanks. Actually if you look at files 10 through 12 you'll see the country in (). The only reason it isn't there in the other files is because I already removed it manually. I have several other albums with this kind of issue, info. in filename and/or artist in (), [ ], after a comma, a -, or some other way it's expressed. I'm sure there's some way to remove that kind of thing if you don't have a clean reference to say copy from here but I don't know how to accomplish that.

[ohrenkino]

You yould filter for files which have something in brackets
Filter: %artist% HAS "(" AND %artist% HAS ")"

And then you apply Convert>Tag-Tag for ARTIST
Format string: $replace(%artist%,(USA),,(France),)
... which you can complete for all the country names.