Into the mix
This is a subject I've wanted to have a blog post about for quite a while now, but never got around to writing, and that's on the subject of music.
Specifically, mix tapes. At least that's how I know them even though recording on cassette tapes is all but non-existent lately (although a cassette tape (not a CD) was used as a clearly referenced prop in a recent skit in "Blue Collar TV" (so sue me, I watch the show sometimes and enjoy, at least parts), was somewhat surprised!) I heard the term "mix CD" (or maybe it was "mix disc") used once, in a recent Corner Gas episode where the B-story revolved around mix CDs (formerly mix tapes) and the "unwritten rules" involved with them.
Personally, I much prefer mix tapes (as I'll be referring to them, maybe it's because I'm old school) to commercial CDs any day of the week, I have roughly as many commercially purchased CDs as mix tapes, but all my mixes are in my iPod Touch, whereas only maybe 1/4 of my commercial CDs are there. There's something about picking the songs yourself that really does it for me.
I know there are several audiophiles who read my blog, so I want to know your thoughts on mix tapes. Specifically how you determine what goes on them. Growing up with my sister, who I would definitely call an audiophile and takes her mix tapes and choices very seriously (she was, briefly, a DJ in her past too), I've developed my own set of rules as well. I usually approach a mix tape as if I was solving a jigsaw puzzle, where the songs that I want to put on are the pieces, and I determine the best fit. With a jigsaw, one normally starts with the obvious pieces, that is the borders. With a mix tape I usually start with the first and last songs, often times (but not always) there is a song that makes a perfect "opening" or "closing" song. For example, Platinum Blonde's "It Doesn't Really Matter" starts with a friendly femal voice saying "Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin." which I think is a perfect way to start a tape, and has been song 1 on Assorted Songs 1 since about high school. (On the other end of the spectrum, Men Without Hats' "Pop Goes the World" ends on a loud "POP!" sound, which I think makes a good close to Assorted Songs 6 (the last Assorted Songs tape - the other tapes in the Assorted Songs series also have good openers and closers for the most part, but those being the best ones open and close the series as a whole.) As another example, the short "radio-quality" song bit (of a few seconds) followed by chuckling in Barenaked Ladies' "Enid" makes a good opening to my CD of "funny songs", whereas the subject matter of Napoleon XIV's "They're Coming to Take Me Away" makes as apt close.
The other songs are fit in, as I said, like a jigsaw - #2 is determined by what best fits following #1, if there's a song that would go good before the last song, it becomes the penultimate one, etc. Slower songs tend to stick together this way, and is often hard to fit them in with the rest of the group (which is why my mixes are often thematic, like "country", or "road songs" (for travelling in the car), or "funny songs", or "Paul Simon songs" (with or without Garfunkle), etc. (The CDs are named more imaginatively, if only slightly.) I may get lucky and find a song that starts off slow and winds up fast, or vice-versa, which make a good transition to a soft block.
As I said before, I'd like to hear others' thoughts on the whole "mix tape" thing. What do you call them now that they're no longer "tapes"? How do you determine song order?
Specifically, mix tapes. At least that's how I know them even though recording on cassette tapes is all but non-existent lately (although a cassette tape (not a CD) was used as a clearly referenced prop in a recent skit in "Blue Collar TV" (so sue me, I watch the show sometimes and enjoy, at least parts), was somewhat surprised!) I heard the term "mix CD" (or maybe it was "mix disc") used once, in a recent Corner Gas episode where the B-story revolved around mix CDs (formerly mix tapes) and the "unwritten rules" involved with them.
Personally, I much prefer mix tapes (as I'll be referring to them, maybe it's because I'm old school) to commercial CDs any day of the week, I have roughly as many commercially purchased CDs as mix tapes, but all my mixes are in my iPod Touch, whereas only maybe 1/4 of my commercial CDs are there. There's something about picking the songs yourself that really does it for me.
I know there are several audiophiles who read my blog, so I want to know your thoughts on mix tapes. Specifically how you determine what goes on them. Growing up with my sister, who I would definitely call an audiophile and takes her mix tapes and choices very seriously (she was, briefly, a DJ in her past too), I've developed my own set of rules as well. I usually approach a mix tape as if I was solving a jigsaw puzzle, where the songs that I want to put on are the pieces, and I determine the best fit. With a jigsaw, one normally starts with the obvious pieces, that is the borders. With a mix tape I usually start with the first and last songs, often times (but not always) there is a song that makes a perfect "opening" or "closing" song. For example, Platinum Blonde's "It Doesn't Really Matter" starts with a friendly femal voice saying "Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin." which I think is a perfect way to start a tape, and has been song 1 on Assorted Songs 1 since about high school. (On the other end of the spectrum, Men Without Hats' "Pop Goes the World" ends on a loud "POP!" sound, which I think makes a good close to Assorted Songs 6 (the last Assorted Songs tape - the other tapes in the Assorted Songs series also have good openers and closers for the most part, but those being the best ones open and close the series as a whole.) As another example, the short "radio-quality" song bit (of a few seconds) followed by chuckling in Barenaked Ladies' "Enid" makes a good opening to my CD of "funny songs", whereas the subject matter of Napoleon XIV's "They're Coming to Take Me Away" makes as apt close.
The other songs are fit in, as I said, like a jigsaw - #2 is determined by what best fits following #1, if there's a song that would go good before the last song, it becomes the penultimate one, etc. Slower songs tend to stick together this way, and is often hard to fit them in with the rest of the group (which is why my mixes are often thematic, like "country", or "road songs" (for travelling in the car), or "funny songs", or "Paul Simon songs" (with or without Garfunkle), etc. (The CDs are named more imaginatively, if only slightly.) I may get lucky and find a song that starts off slow and winds up fast, or vice-versa, which make a good transition to a soft block.
As I said before, I'd like to hear others' thoughts on the whole "mix tape" thing. What do you call them now that they're no longer "tapes"? How do you determine song order?