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Casiotone for the Painfully Alone |
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So, this is a post about how you go about making mixtapes. Not just how you actually record them...well, that too...but some general questions.
01. How do you record your tapes? The actual mechanics of it, like your source, tape deck, etc.
I've got a setup that you'd think was pretty much made for mixtaping. All-analog eighties studio standard Fisher reciever, equaliser and double tape deck with Dolby noise reduction and 5x speed dubbing. My source is an older belt driven JVC turntable. I also have some demo tapes and stuff that I can record from using the tape deck, but nearly all of my music is on vinyl. I don't have a CD player I can record from (yet), but that doesn't really matter since I only own six CDs. Here is a picture of my setup. The speakers are on the ground.
02. What do you look for when choosing songs for a tape?
Pretty basic...what makes a certain song good for your tape? For me, it's all about flow. I can't stand when the song order goes from something relatively calm and smooth to something chatoic and discordant. This isn't to say it can't be done...I do it all the time, but I pay attention to crescendo and decresendo. If a melodic song ends in a noisy or sudden way, or in a crescendo, I've got no qualms with using something (relatively) intense as the next song. Of course, I won't go from a melodic Indie song to a full-on balls to the wall Hardcore piece...generally I let the entire layout start out slowly and over the entire side build up to an intense finish, or vice versa, both with crescendos and decrescendos throughout.
Another thing that makes a choice easier for me is "opener" and "closer" songs. Certain songs just make good selections as the first or as the last on a side. Generally I like to pick something energetic as a beginning...stop/start mechanics, somewhat intense (but not over-the-top), usually short to medium length, with a good, sudden finish. For the end I usually choose something really intense or cathartic for most of my tapes (since they generally all have that feel). For the more sedate ones, I choose something somewhat lengthy (five to ten minutes), and generally pretty airy and...well, I don't know if there's a word for it...but a long, drawn-out ending that fades from quiet and calm to nothing.
03. Do you generally go for a lot of variety? Many styles to a side, etc?
This is my crutch. My musical tastes aren't limited...yes, about seventy-five percent of it falls under the Punk/Hardcore umbrella, but the other twenty-five is massively varied; anywhere from Experimental to Hip-Hop to Classic Rock to SynthPop. But, when I make a tape, I can't mix the two sides of my musical interests on the same side of the tape. I can't have a Heroin song followed up by Xiu Xiu, or a Silver Mt. Zion piece proceeding a Rites of Spring song. It just doesn't work for me. However, I will put Punk/Hardcore/whatever on one side, and the other stuff I'm into on the other.
04. Ever do themes?
I've done a few. One was acoustic music that DOESN'T suck (I'm doing another version really soon), I did another which each side had a bunch of bands who's members mixed, or each band had one musician in common, etc. The most recent one (in fact, the one I'm working on right now) is songs that I really like but never use on mixtapes. There are a lot that I've started and never finished.
05. Packaging?
Ever make packaging for your tapes? I do it for most...usually when it's for a girl (and no, not every tape I make for a girl is meant to be romantic...I'm not that creepy), I do something nice. I really enjoy the DIY aspect of it all. Cutting, hand-sewing, gluing, photocopying, typing stuff on my typewriter, et al. I like to use burlap, cotton, faux-silk (vegan friendly!), paper grocery bags, rubber stamps, various arts & crafts sort of things.
06. Why?
Simple: why do you make mixtapes? I mean, for those of you who regularly make them. Obviously some make them for people they like, as little gifts, yadda yadda; but do you ever just randomly make them to give to people? I do it a lot. I like to get people into new music. Usually they end up liking what I put on. When I first got into most of the stuff I'm into now, there was really NOBODY in my town who was into it. Since I've been distributing it to lots of my friends and people I know, there are a few people I can actually talk about the music I like with now.
Now you go.
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