How to Use Tidal with Serato – Full Tutorial
Tidal is a music streaming service that can be linked to Serato DJ Pro and Serato DJ Lite. If you know how to use Tidal with Serato, you will have a great source of good quality music to DJ with. I have been using Tidal with Serato for a couple of years now, so I created this guide to help other DJs to use Tidal with Serato as well and get the get the most out of it.
DJ with Tidal in Serato DJ
In this tutorial I’m going to start from scratch and walk you through every step. We’re going to create an account at Tidal and linking the account to your Serato DJ account. Feel free to skip some steps if you already know how to do it. At the bottom of this tutorial you can also find answers to frequently asked questions.
Creating a Tidal Account
The first step, when you want to use Tidal to DJ in Serato, is to create a Tidal account. When you click on the link you’ll jump to homepage of Tidal.com. On the left side of the page, near the bottom and in the top right corner, you will see the button “Start free trial”.
If you don’t have a Tidal account yet, I recommend that you use the trial first. The trial can be used with all 3 subscription plans and will last for 30 days. After that you can stop you subscription or keep it going
How Much Does TIDAL Cost
Tidal costs $9.99 or $19.99, depending on you subscription plan. Tidal offers a Hi-Fi and Hi-Fi plus subscription. According to Tidal the Hi-Fi Plus subscription will support your favorite artist with 10% of you subscription cost. You’ll also have better sound quality compared to the Hi-Fi plan.
Here is a overview of the differences in subscription plans.
| Plan | kbps | Audio Formats | Listening Habits | Direct Artist Payouts | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hi-Fi | 1411 | Hi-Fi | Track and share your listening habits | n.a. | $9.99 |
| Hi-Fi Plus | 9216 | Hi-Fi, Master Quality Authenticated (MQA), Dolby Atmos, and Sony 360 Reality Audio | Track and share how your listening habits impact your favorite artists | Up to 10% of your subscription is directed to the artists you listen to the most | $19.99 |
How to Link Tidal to Serato
Now that you have created a Tidal account, you need to link Tidal to Serato. Tidal can be linked to more DJ software, but today we’re going to use Serato DJ. First we’re going to go to Settings and link Tidal with Serato.
After you’ve gone to the settings, click on the Library and Display tab. At the bottom you can check the box for Show Streaming Services, then select Tidal. When Tidal is selected you can login to your Tidal account.
After clicking the Sign-Up / Login to Tidal button, a new window will open, directing you to the Tidal login page. When you’re logged in, a pop-up will appear, asking if you want to open Serato. You can click either click on open/allow or cancel. Either way, your Tidal is now linked to Serato and you are logged in.
The next time you open Serato, you will be automatically logged into Tidal, unless you have logged into one of the other streaming services like Beatport or Soundcloud.
How to Add Tidal Playlists to Serato
Now that you have a Tidal account and you are linked and logged in to Serato DJ, it’s time to add music to Tidal. There are 2 ways to do is.
- Download the Tidal application to your computer/laptop
- Go to listen.tidal.com
When you log in for the first time you will need to select at least 3 of your favorite artists. Tidal will automatically create playlists based on your your selection.
Once you’ve done that you’ll see the main screen of your Tidal music library. On the left side is your menubar. From there you can go My playlists and select Create, and select either folder or playlists. In a folder you can’t add songs, but you can add playlists. In a playlists you can add songs.
When you’ve selected to create a new playlist, a pop up will appear, prompting you to give your playlist a name, and select if you want to make your playlist available to the public. It’s not necessary to make you playlist available to the public if you want to use it in Serato DJ.
Adding songs to your playlist
Once you’ve created your playlist, it’s time to add songs. You can either search for songs in the search bar at the top of the page, or you can click on Explore, in the left menubar.
The Explore option is more for when you want to discover music. You can browse the featured artists, select a specific genre, or mood, activities & events. At the bottom you can also browse a few other collections, like new music, and podcasts.
Once you’ve found a song you would like to add to your playlist, click on the + icon right next to it. You can then select which playlist you want to add it to, or create a new playlist.
Analyzing Songs in Your Tidal Playlists
Now that you’ve created a playlist and added songs to your playlist, we need to analyse the recently added songs. You need to always analyse new music because if you’re in the middle of a mix or live dj gig, you don’t want your computer to have to analyse your songs anymore, because it will take some time.
Besides, knowing the key and BPM beforehand makes choosing your next song a lot easier. Your BPMs will match and your key will match as well, making your mixes sound a lot better.
Recommended: Learn How to DJ – 6 Step Tutorial to Your First DJ Mix
To analyze your Tidal playlists in Serato, simply go to your Tidal playlist in Serato. When there is a little triangle on the left side, it means you can unfold the folder. As you can see in the image below, when you unfold Tidal, you can choose Albums, Playlists and Tracks.
Your newly created playlist should appear when you unfold your playlists. If your playlist is not there, log out of Tidal in Serato, and log in again. Your playlist should be visible now.
Once you’re in your playlist you will see all of your added songs. You can analyze the songs individually but you can also select multiple songs.
You can select multiple songs by either selecting a song, press control/command on your keyboard, and select more songs to analyze. Press shift to select all songs between your first selected song and the next selected song. Depending on the number of songs you select, analyzing songs can take some time.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you have any questions you can always send me a message by going to the Contact menu option in the top bar menu. You can also look at the following questions and see if your question is in here. Of not, feel free to contact me.
I can’t find the songs that I added to my Tidal playlist
You have to log out and log in to Tidal again in Serato DJ. The playlists are not refreshed automatically when you add songs to your Tidal playlist. When you shut down Serato and start it back up the next time, your newly added songs will also be there.
Can’t find the Analyze Files button in Serato DJ
Unplug your DJ controller to see the analyze button in Serato. You will not be able to analyze files when Serato is connected to a DJ controller. Once your songs are analyzed, you can plug DJ controller in again.
Can you use Tidal offline with Serato?
Tidal can only be used with an internet connection, when you’re DJing with Serato. When you don’t have internet connection, Serato won’t connect to Tidal.
