How to Make a Mix Tape Vol 1: Ground Rules

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To get through the work day. To make a long drive seem shorter. To play at a party. To tell that "special someone" how you really feel. There are infinite reasons to make a mix and every one of them requires something different from the maker. A mix for a black-tie dinner celebrating your company's 100th anniversary will likely look very different from the mix you make for your hipster friends' wedding reception. However, while each collection of songs is different, there are certain steps that are common to assembling them.

Over the course of this week the lovely Ms. Stolte-Sawa and I will make a mix before your very eyes. We will take you behind the curtain, demystifying the art of the mixtape. In due course you, too, will join the ranks of the compulsive mix-makers; those of us who look for any excuse to string together great music and obsess over song choice and order all to appease our thirst for that next great playlist. Trust me, it's way more fun than it sounds. Before jumping into the mix itself, I offer a few words of advice:

"Now, the making of a good compilation tape is a very subtle art. Many do's and don'ts. First of all you're using someone else's poetry to express how you feel. This is a delicate thing."₁

I will tell you first and foremost every rule I set down here (and there really aren't that many) is a "soft rule." That is, if breaking one makes your mix better then by all means do it. Newbies, however, should probably stick to everything laid out until they get the hang of putting together a great-sounding compilation.

1. First and foremost, know your audience.

If the target of your mix hates jam bands don't fill up the tape with Phish and the Grateful Dead, no matter how much you might like them. (I would personally suggest to never put one of these bands on any mix, ever.) That's not to say you should just fill it up with your target's favorite bands. If you're making a tape for someone else you should put in some familiar tracks but also feel free to venture out as long as what you're offering matches what you know of their taste.

2. Pick songs that go well together.

Now, song 3 doesn't have to fit exactly with song 12 but it better fit with song 4 and there'd better be a smooth progression between the two. Just because it's called a 'mix' doesn't mean it should sound random and discombobulated. A disjointed mix is not only kind of annoying, it's also less fun to make. So take some extra time, fiddle with order, add extra songs. In the end you'll be glad you did.

3. Don't put two songs by the same artist back-to-back.

This is kind of a personal pet peeve but I think it's a good rule of thumb. There is a ridiculous amount of music in this world. Use as much of it as you can.

"I find the one guy who isn't getting off, and I MAKE him get off." ₂

Music has the power to shape the mood of the environment in which its played. If you're having a party, your choices are the difference between a great time and an empty room filled with undrunk booze. It isn't good enough for your tape professing your undying love for your girlfriend to contain love songs. If she's a Billie Holiday girl and you fill your mix up with Keepsake and the like, it won't have the effect you're looking for. Create a cohesive whole and you can make people feel how you want them to feel. Make them dance, make them talk, make them cry. With patience and a careful ear this power can be yours.

"The music was here...and here. That's the one thing they can't confiscate, not ever. That's the beauty of it."₃

Anybody can generate a smart playlist through iTunes or randomly pick songs and burn them to a CD. But every time you make a proper mix you are pulling disparate pieces together and making a whole that has never been before. You put a little bit of yourself into it and unless you were incredibly unoriginal in your song selection it's not likely that the exact collection of songs will ever exist again. Think about that as you assemble your tracks. Reflect on that as you hand off your creation. And the next time somebody hands you a carefully crafted mix, thank them appreciatively for gifting that bit of themselves to you.

These are preliminary points to think about when approaching a mix tape but making a compilation is an art more than a science and so in the end your ear is the best tool you'll have when putting songs together.

Before I sign off, I leave you with one final thought. We who truly love to make these lists do it because we love the music, and want to share it with others. Every successful compilation in the history of the world was made with this in mind. For each mix you make in earnest, for every tape you dub, for every CD you burn you should be able to look at your final product and say without irony:

"This music is the glue of the world. Without it, life would be meaningless." ₄

1: Rob Gordon, High Fidelity
2: Jeff Bebe, Almost Famous
3: Andy Dufresne, The Shawshank Redemption
4: Berko, Empire Records

Be sure to watch out tomorrow for stolte-sawa's contribution to the Listen In mixtape series.

© Eric Atienza 2007 for ListenIn. Some rights reserved.

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