3. Title Searches
To find songs, you can choose from a wide variety of criteria that correspond to data describing every song in the catalog. These criteria are grouped into the following categories:
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Title Search Interface
Categories are organized on the Title Search page according to the method used for entering criteria. For example, Song Title or CD Name may be entered using a text field while Tempo is selected using a drop down menu.
Text Fields
These fields are used for "partial string" text searches; for each word entered, results containing the whole word, or words and phrases that word is a part of, are returned.
The criteria entered using text fields are:
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Song Title | The title of the song. (Except when referring to the title of a song as in this description, the term 'title' is used interchangeably with 'song' throughout the User Guide. See Glossary for more information.) |
| CD Name | The name of a CD on which the title is included; e.g., the term 'country' will return all titles on CDs that include the word 'country' in the CD title such as Country v.2 and Country Rock v.5. |
| Keywords | Keywords is unique in that any phrase entered in this field will be checked for matches against ALL other text-based criteria. This includes all categories except for Vocal Type and Tempo. |
Example: Searching for songs with a title that contains the word 'rock' will return the songs Let's Rock and Beach Rocker.
Multiple words are matched as a phrase.
Example: Searching for songs with a title that contains the phrase 'get away' will return the songs Get Away, Get Away From Me, and Gotta Get Away.
Using Boolean terms such as AND and OR in these fields is not currently supported.
TIP: Searching for the term 'love' using the Keywords field will return results that include:
- Songs with a title containing the word 'love,' e.g., Ready to Love
- Songs with topics that include the word 'love,' e.g., Love Commitment
- Songs that sound like Courtney Love
- Et cetera
It can be useful for finding songs quickly when you have an unusual word by which to search, however, if the term is too general or broad, it may return a lot of seemingly unrelated results.
Checkboxes
To search these fields, check the box next to the criterion you wish to include. Multiple criteria may be selected and are treated as an OR search, e.g., Vocal Male OR Instrumentals. Currently, the only checkbox-style category is Vocal Type.
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Type | The type of vocal arrangement; including instrumentals. |
TIP: If you know you're looking for a song with vocals, check one or more Vocal Types to avoid cluttering your search results with Instrumental titles.
Search and Select
Search and Select categories use a two-step "mini-search" process to help you find and select criteria from the thousands of available words and phrases used to describe the catalog. The Select button takes you to a page where you can 1) search, or browse, for the criteria you want and then 2) select them for use in your title search.
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Soundslike | Well-known artists the song sounds like. |
| Genre | Each song is associated with one or more Sub-Genres. These Sub-Genres are grouped by Master Genre. |
| Mood | Terms that describe the sonic character of the song, regardless of lyrics. |
| Topic | Themes that describe the lyrical content of the song. |
| Instruments | The instrumentation of the song. |
| Writers | The writer(s) of the song. Publisher and share information for cue sheets is not included and needs to be requested from Heavy Hitters Music. |
| Performers | The name of the writer, artist, or band performing the song. |
To use the Search and Select Categories:
- Click the Select button next to a Category.
- Use the text field to search for criteria
or browse the list using the page navigation.
- Check the box next to the criteria you wish to select.
- Repeat steps 2 and 3 until finished selecting criteria.
- Click the Return to Search button to go back to the Title Search page.
The criteria you selected are listed under their category heading on the Title Search page. These criteria will be included when initiating your title search.
Exception: The Sub-Genre criteria are organized by Master Genre. To select criteria from more than one Master Genre, you must click the Return to Search button to save your settings before moving to another Master Genre page.
Exception: The Instruments category does not contain a search function; this list can only be browsed. Instruments are labeled according to instrument family, e.g. Guitar: Electric, Guitar: Acoustic, etc.
TIP: For the Search and Select categories (except for Genre and Instruments as described above), you can perform multiple searches and selections without returning to the Title Search page, e.g., on the Topic selection page, you can type 'fantasy', click Find, and check the selection box. Then type 'desire', click Find, and check the selection box. When finished, return to the Title Search page by clicking Return to Search.
Drop Down Menus
Drop Down Menu categories use the browser's built-in input control to provide for selection of criteria from a preset list.
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| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Tempo | The exact beats per minute (BPM) for each title is included on its Title Detail page. For searching, choose from a range of tempi in groups from Very Slow to Very Fast. |
Criteria Relationships: AND/OR Searching
The two main search logic, or Boolean, operators used in search engines are AND and OR. The operator AND is used to limit or reduce results because it requires a match of two or more keywords. Alternatively, OR will increase results because the search engine will return results that match any of the words.
Instead of requiring the user to decide which operators to use, the Heavy Hitters Music search engine is 'hardwired' to provide the most useful results.
Multiple criteria within the Search and Select and Checkbox categories are treated as an OR search.
Example: Selecting the criteria 'happy' and 'joyful' within the Mood category will return titles that have been described as either 'happy' OR 'joyful.'
Multiple categories are treated as an AND search.
Example: Selecting the mood 'happy' and the sub-genre 'New Wave' will return titles that have been described as both 'happy' AND 'New Wave' in their respective fields.
Exception: Multiple criteria selected within the Instruments category are treated as an AND search.
In general, selecting more criteria within the Search and Select or Checkbox categories, e.g., multiple topics will return MORE results. And using multiple categories in a title search, e.g., SoundsLike, Mood, and Type together, will return FEWER results.
TIP: If you're having trouble getting results, try saying your selected criteria out loud. Looking for "songs that sound like Nine Inch Nails OR Metallica AND have a mood that is either soothing OR serene AND have a female vocal type" probably won't get you many results. When using multiple categories, make sure your criteria combinations make musical sense.
Initiating and Clearing Searches
When you are finished entering all the criteria for your search, click the Search button on the Title Search page.
To clear all your entries and start the selection process over, click the Clear button.
Search Results
After initiating a search, you are taken to the Search Results page. From here you can listen to MP3 audio clips, get more information about a title, or create a list of titles you want to save.
The light grey navigation bar includes:
- the total number of titles returned.
- the number of pages.
- options for changing the number of titles per page.
- pagination links.
Below the navigation bar is the list of titles returned by your search with useful title information available immediately:
- MP3 audio clip
- Song Title
- Vocal Type
- BPM
- Performer
- Heavy Hitters CD
- Cut number
Sorting
The default sort order for the Search Results page is alphabetical by title. You can also sort by Vocal Type and BPM. Click the column heading to choose the column by which to sort. Clicking the column heading the list is currently sorted by will reverse the order.
Navigating
Page number links are available in five page increments. You can also move in one page increments with Next and Prev links or jump to the beginning or end of the list with the First and Last links. Use the 'View on Page' links to display either 20, 50, or 100 titles per page.
Listening to MP3s
For each title, you can listen to an MP3 audio clip, approximately 30 seconds to 1 minute in length, by clicking on the speaker icon. The application or plug-in used to play the audio file is determined by your computer's settings. The website does not include its own "media player" window.
TIP: This icon links directly to an MP3 file on our server. If you're having trouble playing the file, try downloading it to your hard drive first (Mac: control-click, PC: right-click) and play it from there.
Multiple CDs
If a title is included on only one CD, that CD name and cut number is displayed. If the title is included on more than one CD, it will indicate 'Multiple CDs' and no cut number is displayed. Click either the song title or the Multiple CDs link to go to the Title Detail page where the CD information is listed.
Modifying a Search
If your search didn't return the results you hoped for, but you just want to tweak your search settings and try again, click the Modify Search button to return to the Title Search page with all your criteria selections in tact. You can also navigate back to the Title Search page by using the Back button of your browser.
If your search returned zero results, try increasing the criteria that are matched using OR and decreasing the criteria that are matched using AND.
If you have too many results, do the opposite: use less OR criteria and more AND criteria.
For an explanation of how AND/OR logic is used by the search engine, see Criteria Relationships.
Title Detail Page
Clicking on a title link will take you to a page with more detailed information about that title. In addition to data for each category described on the Title Search page, the Title Detail page includes the duration of the full audio file and a unique Title ID number.
To find a particular title in your search, you must either match one of the criteria on the Title Detail page or the following categories that are searched, but not displayed:
- Soundslike artists
- Lyrics
Lyrics are matched by using the Keywords field. Remember: Keywords will match any text-based criteria associated with a title.
CDs This Title Is On
This is a list of Heavy Hitters CDs that contain this title. Clicking a CD Title link takes you to the CD Detail page. If you match any words or phrases in this list when using the CD Name (or Keywords) field to search, the title will be included in your search results.
TIP: If you navigate to a Title Detail page from the Search Results page, use the Back button on your browser to return to your search results. Clicking the Title Search link in the main navigation bar will reset all your search criteria.