BRIAN - the Discography Compilation Application BRIAN is a relational database application for compiling standard discography information. It is named after Brian Rust, who perfected the chronological recording session format for print discographies. BRIAN tracks every aspect of a record date, from sidemen to songs to composers to issues. All pieces of data are instantly cross-referenced and searchable and the discographies produced are very similar in format to Rust.

More ambitious than other available catalog/inventory applications that simply provide a list of issued records, BRIAN starts instead with the recording session itself and includes all session details: date, location, full personnel, master numbers, tune titles, and all catalog numbers of every issued performance. Going beyond Rust, it also includes song composers, timings, and full titles of issues.

BRIAN could be used to produce a discography of an individual artist or a general work - it can handle anything in Rust or Raben or Ruppli (as long as someone's willing to enter the data!). BRIAN was used to compile the discography in Capitol's Sinatra Singles boxed set.

Table of Contents

Click on any section in the Table of Contents below, or use the matching Documentation menu found on every page to navigate the documentation. In many cases, the documentation is not up to date with the current version of BRIAN, but in all cases there is enough information for you to piece together the important aspects of BRIAN. In a more perfect world, the documentation would be done along with the newest release of software and beer would be free.

See Release Notes for change details

PLEASE! Feel free to email Steve Albin with any questions or problems you might have.