credence or cadence.
anonymous
October 18 2006, 02:40:44 UTC
so i established this collaboration of songs on a cassette tape for a friend of mine. i don't create mixes that often, and i was curious as to how a professional, such as yourself, goes about concocting an appropriate mix tape.
my first question involves purpose. inspiration to create a mix defines the entire process, in my opinion. my friend is celebrating a birthday in about a week, but my driving motivation is derived from an obligation in response to the disproportion in exchange with this individual. i've been fortunate enough to receive all kinds of gifts and attention from my friend, but i have yet to reciprocate. i suppose this mix is an expression of gratitude for all the unsolicited grace my friend has shown me. i don't want the mix to be cliche appreciation; i want to include songs that represent the commonality, perhaps unrecognized, between my friend and i.
which brings me to my next question: how selfish should i be in creating this mix? certainly i am aware of my own emotional connection to the music, but how much attention should i pay to the reception of these songs? i want to choose music that represents the commonality i share with my friend, but when do i become too patronizing? i want to share music with my friend as well as entertain and enlighten. i don't want to be predictable, but i can't be alienating. how do you make this compromise?
i want to achieve an even representation on the mix. i don't want to treat an artist at the expense of another, but sometimes i feel two or three songs by the same artist are appropriate. what balance should i strike within an artist's catalogue? stylistic diversity affords me more latitude in selecting multiple songs by the same artist, but am i beating a dead horse? as i mentioned before, i don't want to be predictable.
i'm struggling most with my favorite artists. unwound, don caballero [specifically 'american don'], and tortoise are giving me fits. 'standards' is my favorite tortoise album, but, as with several albums, i find it exceptionally hard to isolate a particular song because of its relationship with the rest of the album [radiohead, amirite?]. i don't want to exclude these songs simply because of their participation in a cohesive whole, but i also want to preserve the emotion implicit in the original work. perhaps i'm letting my personal relationship to the music interrupt the project. the books, radiohead, blockhead, and beck also make strong showings on the mix, but every team has its role players and there are some songs that serve to ease the brevity of my project. david bowie, elton john, and self [specifically their cover of "what a fool believes" by the doobie brothers] do a good job of providing universally appreciable toe-tappers in the midst of some cagey gems.
i was inspired by your album covers; i hadn't thought of that level of personalization so i was prompted to create my own:
given my bashful and forced use of similes, i thought it appropriately humorous.
i serve an ftp off my machine and have my mixes as well as my library available to those who care to peruse. if you'd like to take a look at my latest mix or browse my catalogue i'd be happy to give you the login and password.
i recently emailed you to tell you that i enjoy reading what you write. if you feel anxious about the attention i've paid your journal and website, i completely understand. having an ambiguously anonymous nobody plug you with questions can be quite uncomfortable. i'd be happy to hear your answers to my questions, but if i don't i will understand.
i hope this note finds you well. have a pleasant evening.
Re: credence or cadence.aekastarOctober 18 2006, 09:47:12 UTC
Hm, okay, you pose some good questions and I'm honoured to be considered a professional.. I would love it if I could dj or make mixes for a living though :P
As for how I go about making mixes for individual friends and especially for a special occasion, I consider stuff they like then find stuff I like that is similar in sound.. say, one friend of mine likes a lot of jazz, but mostly sticks to contemporary jazz, I'd go find all the underground/indie jazz I could and mix it together with some stuff I find meaningful as well. I've done this many a time. most friends have appreciated the effort in trying to find things they'd like while hearing some of the stuff I usually listen to as well.
Hmm... this second question sort've corresponds with my first answer... give a mix of both, so that way they feel comfortable within the confines of their taste as well as your own mixed inbetween. one friend gave me a purely jazz mix; nothing else within it, and I'm sad to say, but I lost interest since jazz was never really my favourite genre.. I did appreciate the effort that friend made, but I only listened once. a mix is meant to be treasured, so I always feel bad thinking about how I couldn't get into that particular one.
In the past, I used to add more than one song by a particular artist, but now I get about a dozen+ albums a month in some form or another, so I feel there's not enough room for more than one. if you feel the need to though, never stick them one after the other.. mix it up.. maybe do this trick I've seen done before.. a palindromic mix by using the same artist at the top as the bottom and continue this trend till you reach the center solo artist.
Hm... I think I get what you're saying in terms of an album being a cohesive whole. I feel I can't use explosions in the sky on a mix very well since each track was meant to continue into the next. I did once make a post rock mix, but it was my least favourite one since it felt like I just took fragments and tried to make a new whole which didn't work as well. I have found a good way to make it feel whole is to try crossfading your tracks. I just learned how to imitate this trick since I never figured out the actual tool on my editing program. if you'd like to know the trick, let me know!
Is that you in the album cover or someone from a band? sorry, if that's a stupid question :P It looks good to me though.. really, covers should represent your personality in a way.
Sure, I'm always curious about other people's mixes!
I didn't seem to get an email beyond this... maybe I accidently deleted it? I get a lot of spam. I only noticed this one 'cause it was an alert from livejournal, so they always stick out. I don't mind the questions.. I like when people take interest in my entries/site. that's why I have it up ;P
Hopefully you get notice of this considering I don't think anons get alerts, but coincidentally, I'm making a new mix right at this moment, so mixing has been directly on my mind again; it was a good time to ask :D
my first question involves purpose. inspiration to create a mix defines the entire process, in my opinion. my friend is celebrating a birthday in about a week, but my driving motivation is derived from an obligation in response to the disproportion in exchange with this individual. i've been fortunate enough to receive all kinds of gifts and attention from my friend, but i have yet to reciprocate. i suppose this mix is an expression of gratitude for all the unsolicited grace my friend has shown me. i don't want the mix to be cliche appreciation; i want to include songs that represent the commonality, perhaps unrecognized, between my friend and i.
which brings me to my next question: how selfish should i be in creating this mix? certainly i am aware of my own emotional connection to the music, but how much attention should i pay to the reception of these songs? i want to choose music that represents the commonality i share with my friend, but when do i become too patronizing? i want to share music with my friend as well as entertain and enlighten. i don't want to be predictable, but i can't be alienating. how do you make this compromise?
i want to achieve an even representation on the mix. i don't want to treat an artist at the expense of another, but sometimes i feel two or three songs by the same artist are appropriate. what balance should i strike within an artist's catalogue? stylistic diversity affords me more latitude in selecting multiple songs by the same artist, but am i beating a dead horse? as i mentioned before, i don't want to be predictable.
i'm struggling most with my favorite artists. unwound, don caballero [specifically 'american don'], and tortoise are giving me fits. 'standards' is my favorite tortoise album, but, as with several albums, i find it exceptionally hard to isolate a particular song because of its relationship with the rest of the album [radiohead, amirite?]. i don't want to exclude these songs simply because of their participation in a cohesive whole, but i also want to preserve the emotion implicit in the original work. perhaps i'm letting my personal relationship to the music interrupt the project. the books, radiohead, blockhead, and beck also make strong showings on the mix, but every team has its role players and there are some songs that serve to ease the brevity of my project. david bowie, elton john, and self [specifically their cover of "what a fool believes" by the doobie brothers] do a good job of providing universally appreciable toe-tappers in the midst of some cagey gems.
i was inspired by your album covers; i hadn't thought of that level of personalization so i was prompted to create my own:
album cover art.
given my bashful and forced use of similes, i thought it appropriately humorous.
i serve an ftp off my machine and have my mixes as well as my library available to those who care to peruse. if you'd like to take a look at my latest mix or browse my catalogue i'd be happy to give you the login and password.
i recently emailed you to tell you that i enjoy reading what you write. if you feel anxious about the attention i've paid your journal and website, i completely understand. having an ambiguously anonymous nobody plug you with questions can be quite uncomfortable. i'd be happy to hear your answers to my questions, but if i don't i will understand.
i hope this note finds you well. have a pleasant evening.
Reply
As for how I go about making mixes for individual friends and especially for a special occasion, I consider stuff they like then find stuff I like that is similar in sound.. say, one friend of mine likes a lot of jazz, but mostly sticks to contemporary jazz, I'd go find all the underground/indie jazz I could and mix it together with some stuff I find meaningful as well. I've done this many a time. most friends have appreciated the effort in trying to find things they'd like while hearing some of the stuff I usually listen to as well.
Hmm... this second question sort've corresponds with my first answer... give a mix of both, so that way they feel comfortable within the confines of their taste as well as your own mixed inbetween. one friend gave me a purely jazz mix; nothing else within it, and I'm sad to say, but I lost interest since jazz was never really my favourite genre.. I did appreciate the effort that friend made, but I only listened once. a mix is meant to be treasured, so I always feel bad thinking about how I couldn't get into that particular one.
In the past, I used to add more than one song by a particular artist, but now I get about a dozen+ albums a month in some form or another, so I feel there's not enough room for more than one. if you feel the need to though, never stick them one after the other.. mix it up.. maybe do this trick I've seen done before.. a palindromic mix by using the same artist at the top as the bottom and continue this trend till you reach the center solo artist.
Hm... I think I get what you're saying in terms of an album being a cohesive whole. I feel I can't use explosions in the sky on a mix very well since each track was meant to continue into the next. I did once make a post rock mix, but it was my least favourite one since it felt like I just took fragments and tried to make a new whole which didn't work as well. I have found a good way to make it feel whole is to try crossfading your tracks. I just learned how to imitate this trick since I never figured out the actual tool on my editing program. if you'd like to know the trick, let me know!
Is that you in the album cover or someone from a band? sorry, if that's a stupid question :P
It looks good to me though.. really, covers should represent your personality in a way.
Sure, I'm always curious about other people's mixes!
I didn't seem to get an email beyond this... maybe I accidently deleted it? I get a lot of spam. I only noticed this one 'cause it was an alert from livejournal, so they always stick out.
I don't mind the questions.. I like when people take interest in my entries/site. that's why I have it up ;P
Hopefully you get notice of this considering I don't think anons get alerts, but coincidentally, I'm making a new mix right at this moment, so mixing has been directly on my mind again; it was a good time to ask :D
Reply
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