Making Mix Tapes

[fatty]

I've been making mix tapes for as long as i loved music. i actually refuse to get a cd player for my car because it's much more fun to listen to the tapes i make.

i also have a lot of rules, start big, go bigger, then cool it off (just like high fidelity), never put 2 songs from the same band too close together, save your best song for the second side, all sorts of rules. and i name all my mixes accordingly (ultimate mix, fatty mix (all rap), suicide mix (all slow songs), etc.)

anyone else make mix tapes still?

<IMG SRC=http://media.ticketmaster.com/dbimages/1020a.jpg>
FATTY- Where it's at

[Tazz]

What exactly are these "tapes" you speak of?

<img src=http://tazz1376.homestead.com/files/tazz.gif>
Thanks J.R.
I Don't Care About Anyone Else But Me - Drowning Pool

[nortonfan]

you can make mix c.ds 10x easier

<a href="http://www.nortonfan.com">
<img src="http://www.nortonfan.com/shit/nortonfan.gif" border="0" alt="Jim Norton Fans">
<b>
http://www.nortonfan.com</a></b>

[Arienette]

i am with you all the way, fatty. i am a huge mix tape makeing fiend. people make fun of me sometimes, these days, becuase they find the mix tape to be outdated. what the hell do i care? i still carry around my walkman wherever i go, so i'm happy.

and i love making them for people. i have spent hours and hours on a single tape. i sit beforehand, making songs lists, timing them out, etc, so everything works perfectly

and i've mad my own rules... the last mix tape i made had an entire side comprised of one band's music. a bright eyes mix, if you will... it was so excellent i wanted to keep it for myself



http://members.aol.com/deviantari/myhomepage/arienette.gif?mtbrand=AOL_US
worshiping the dancing rooster... thanks for the sig

i want a lover i don't have to love
i want a boy who's so drunk he doesn't talk

[fatty]

nice ari, i'm glad someone is down with what i'm talking about.

mixing cd's is probably easier but i can't burn cd's so i'm done.

but there is something romantic of taking the time to make a mix, whether it's for yourself or others. getting the right songs, hoping you have the timing right, getting the perfect mood throughout the whole tape. i guess it's a dying art but it will die with me because i'll never stop.

<IMG SRC=http://media.ticketmaster.com/dbimages/1020a.jpg>
FATTY- Where it's at

[nortonfan]

romantic


????

<a href="http://www.nortonfan.com">
<img src="http://www.nortonfan.com/shit/nortonfan.gif" border="0" alt="Jim Norton Fans">
<b>
http://www.nortonfan.com</a></b>

[TomPoo]

ok, I love making mix tapes but there are 3 problems, and all you mix tape makers know it

1) Making sure you have enough space at the end of the tape to get in the last song AND not having too much space... cause a dead area between side A and B is the WORST

2) When you have like 10 songs your have in your head to make a tape.

and it only takes up Side A

then your like "FUCK! what about Side B!!!" then you put in all these "fillers" that you really don't want there, which you end up just fastforwarding through just to get to the songs you want to hear.

3) You always put one song in the middle of the tape where youir like "FUCK... why did i put this here!?!?!" and you ALWAYS fastforward threw it.

then you spend the rest of that tapes life-span trying to find a song that is the same length that you can tape over it with


<IMG SRC="http://tompoo.50megs.com/images/tompsig3.jpg" width=300 height=100>

There is nothing more exhilerating than pointing out the shortcomings of others, is there?

[Arienette]

Making sure you have enough space at the end of the tape to get in the last song AND not having too much space... cause a dead area between side A and B is the WORSTyou're so on, tommy... that's why i do all the pre tape making prep. i get a whole list of everything i want to put on the tape... i time the songs, figure out how long everyhitng is gonna be and where i'm putting the songs. that way i can work it out so there's not much dead space and nothing gets cut off

http://members.aol.com/deviantari/myhomepage/arienette.gif?mtbrand=AOL_US
worshiping the dancing rooster... thanks for the sig

i want a lover i don't have to love
i want a boy who's so drunk he doesn't talk

[sweet201]

Fatty, there's just one rule I have to disagree with:

never put 2 songs from the same band too close together


There are some songs IMHO that always need to be played as a "double feature" - they're a little trademark of my compilation tapes. (I hate the term 'mix tape' and refuse to use it even though everyone else does nowadays.) For example:

Built to Spill - Girl/Joyride

Descendents - Weinerschnitzel/Suburban Home

Depeche Mode - Dreaming of Me/New Life

Ani DiFranco - Both Hands/Talk To Me Now

Cake Like - Sweet 15/Fruitcake

Possum Dixon - Nerves/In Buildings

Go Sailor: Ray of Sunshine/Together Forever in Love


My best songs are usually the second track on side A, and the first one on side B. But they're all great. Well, usually. :P

<img src=http://sweet201.net/sigpickitties.jpg>

[Zipgun]

you can make mix c.ds 10x easier


This is true, but it's not the same "feel".

1) Making sure you have enough space at the end of the tape to get in the last song AND not having too much space... cause a dead area between side A and B is the WORST

That is why making a mixed tape is an art.

It's about more than just creating a compilation of songs you like. The art of timing the pause and record buttons on a two deck system. Timing the last song just right. Making sure to spool up the leader to the white mark when you start. Blending the vibe of one song into the next and turning the song after that into a new direction. Trying to compile songs with lyrics that apply to the person you're making it for. This is all stuff that makes it an art.

Making it on CD can be okay, but it still doesn't have that raw feel. And part of the fun was knowing you took like 3 hours to get it right. Ocassionally you'd get it wrong and have to erase a large part of tape in real time, so you'd just walk away for a while and make a sandwich.

But when it's finally done, and you've even made hand crafted cover art, you have total satisfaction knowing you made your very own "concept album". Ok, "concept tape".

Making that tape for a girl you have a crush on, can even make your feelings for her grow as you make it because you get SO into the lyrics you're trying to convey and the right music you know she's gonna like.
You get done and think to yourself "Awwwwwww yeahhhhh....I'm gonna get some now baby!".

So ummm...

Yeah, mixed tapes are pretty cool.

<img src=http://atamichimpo.50megs.com/images/diggerphelpssig.jpg>

[F1Gm3nT]

MIX TAPES ARE ALWAYS HOT!!!
I used to make em all the time... till well.. I discoverd minidisc's and dat's

"be like water."
- Bruce Lee
<img src="http://my.purerave.com/gallery/p/105315.jpg" width="300" height="100>

[jamesdiggy]

I like putting a broad mix together on a tape. Going from a Dean Martin song into Korn. I love the jolt of different genres and generations.

I don't like pits, pits, pits, in my juice, juice, juice!

[sweet201]

I forgot to add - I totally know what you mean about refusing the CD player in favor of the cassette... I recently passed up a brand new, completely loaded Escape partly because it came with a 6-disc changer instead of the optional in-dash single-CD and cassette deck... I'll be ordering one when the 2003s come out, though. (Provided my husband doesn't lose his job...) Whee!

<img src=http://sweet201.net/sigpickitties.jpg>

[JustinR]

MIX TAPES ARE ALWAYS HOT!!!
I used to make em all the time... till well.. I discoverd minidisc's and dat's



You use Dat's?? You must make a lot of money.

And tapes?? Who uses tapes anymore? I'll admit i was the biggest tape mark out there.

But then my brother finally convinced me to convert...around 1999 or so.

<center><a href="http://www.lentsite.com"><img src="http://lent.quentinr.com/skyysig.jpg" width="300" height="100" border="0"></a> </center>
<marquee>Crazy Clare & Frenchy. Teh best sig evar!!</marquee>

[ADF]

You guys need to get in the twentieth century. Mix CD's are the way to be. Just because it doesn't take twenty hours to make the thing doesn't mean there's any less sentiment involved. You can't hit "shuffle" on a mix tape when you get bored from listening to it for the thirtieth time.

<img src= http://thereisnogod.faithweb.com/images/adfsig.jpg>