Mixtape Alert: Savants 'R' Us

Firecloud

I'm a sucker for a good mixtape. Once the audio cassette came along, mixtapes completely changed the listening experience for music lovers, and well beyond physical format. They allowed the audiophile to become a part of the production and create an entirely new patchwork piece of art. Making mixtapes for girls in school was better than any love note or retarded poem- it was a way to flirt and even show off a little without tripping over your braces or showing the world how epileptic your handwriting was. Sure, our tastes in music were, in retrospect, shotgun-gobbling bad, but hey, we were kids.

But I was the fucking champion, man. Before I could afford one of those space-age dual-cassette recorders, I remember waiting all goddamned day by the radio for the right song to come on so I could hit record. Practical? Hell no. But I was a kid with all the time in the pre-internet world, and getting that mix right meant everything to me.

Then the CD came along, and the terms convenience and versatility were entirely redefined. Did we notice that the sound quality had diminished a bit? Sure, and some of us even cared. But not nearly enough to convince anybody that cassettes weren’t dead in the water.

The MP3 was the weird guy in school for a good period of time. It took a few years to catch on with the masses, but now it’s far and away the most popular format. Once Napster took hold, there was no turning back. P2P and online music services enabled us to access an unprecedented wealth of music; you’ve now got access to any album you can fathom, virtually any song that’s ever been recorded. And if you know where to look, it’s free. Like I said before, CD sales are tanking, labels are fucked, and there’s, inarguably, a new school rising. Notice how I said ’school’ there, and not ‘order.’ Because there is no fucking order. It’s chaos. It’s pure goddamned insanity, and it perfectly suits the state of the world today.

The soul-mate union of CD burners and the internet allowed the mixtape to evolve exponentially. I was ecstatic. I went through blank CDs like the disposable coasters they are, burning mixes for my friends and my damn self, sampling new bands, sharing newly-discovered classics and revisiting old humiliating glory days in music within a 74 minute timeframe. Each became a sonic canvas of pure entertainment, and served as a time capsule of favorites and listening habits- nearly as much a snapshot of yourself as of the music.

Now we're even farther in the future, and CDs are fast approaching the obsolete. Long story short, I've hopped in the time machine and moved my mixes over to the digital world, and my most recent one can be found here: http://www.antiquiet.com/features/mixtapes/2009/01/savants-r-us/

Puscifer, 8mm, Kings of Leon, Jack Conte, Fight Like Apes, Electric Six... some shit you may not have heard of. Hope you dig it.

DewieCox

I never did make mixtapes, I made multivolumemixfreakouts. Not that the music itself was way out there, just kinda all over the map w/in the world of rock.

Firecloud

haha same diff, no?

soulsinging

The one downside of cd burners is that it, somewhat ironically, killed the mix tape for me. I used to make TONS of them. I loved the planning of it... whole notebooks of scribbled side a's and b's, carefully planning to make sure there's time to fit it all on the tape. I was legendary for it, my friends always got a kick out of checking out the little tape box I had to see what mixes I'd added that weekend. I loved that you had to play it, make it flow, not like a cd where you can skip tracks. Everything had to be perfect. And I loved that you had to think... I loved the zen-like state of recording the tape, switching cd's, hearing the whole thing come together, and end with that little tape with the handwritten label. It was an investment and you felt like you had put something into not... not like the 10 seconds it takes to drag and drop 20 song onto a playlist and burn it in another 60 seconds. I miss those days...

I am not one to hate on cd's... i think they sound just fine and I don't get this poor sound argument, especially when compared to tapes. But I AM nostalgic for tape making...

Ridin The Wave

soulsinging wrote:

The one downside of cd burners is that it, somewhat ironically, killed the mix tape for me. I used to make TONS of them. I loved the planning of it... whole notebooks of scribbled side a's and b's, carefully planning to make sure there's time to fit it all on the tape. I was legendary for it, my friends always got a kick out of checking out the little tape box I had to see what mixes I'd added that weekend. I loved that you had to play it, make it flow, not like a cd where you can skip tracks. Everything had to be perfect. And I loved that you had to think... I loved the zen-like state of recording the tape, switching cd's, hearing the whole thing come together, and end with that little tape with the handwritten label. It was an investment and you felt like you had put something into not... not like the 10 seconds it takes to drag and drop 20 song onto a playlist and burn it in another 60 seconds. I miss those days...

I am not one to hate on cd's... i think they sound just fine and I don't get this poor sound argument, especially when compared to tapes. But I AM nostalgic for tape making...

I couldn't have said it any better myself. I still make mix tapes for people, but the sad part is, nobody even owns a tape player anymore. A friend of mine bought a walkman at a garage sale just so she could keep listening to my tapes.

And I totally agree with the OP when he said that the mixtape was the best kind of love letter you could ever create. I always said "forget flowers, make me a fuckin' mixtape if you want me to know how you feel!" Haha.

shell bell

I had to make mix tapes when I worked at a tv station in La Crosse,WI. Why you ask? There were no cd players in the news cars,so tapes it was (and the radio stations in La Crosse sucked!!). I made punk mix tapes, all PJ, mellow Sunday morning mix tapes....I loved putting them together,

Firecloud

shell bell wrote:

I had to make mix tapes when I worked at a tv station in La Crosse,WI. Why you ask? There were no cd players in the news cars,so tapes it was (and the radio stations in La Crosse sucked!!). I made punk mix tapes, all PJ, mellow Sunday morning mix tapes....I loved putting them together,

Hell yeah - nothing like being stuck without the latest technologies to get you in touch with the good old days.

shell bell

Firecloud wrote:

shell bell wrote:

I had to make mix tapes when I worked at a tv station in La Crosse,WI. Why you ask? There were no cd players in the news cars,so tapes it was (and the radio stations in La Crosse sucked!!). I made punk mix tapes, all PJ, mellow Sunday morning mix tapes....I loved putting them together,

Hell yeah - nothing like being stuck without the latest technologies to get you in touch with the good old days.

It made me happy to make the tapes. It truly is a process to make them....but happy one.

BinFrog

soulsinging wrote:

The one downside of cd burners is that it, somewhat ironically, killed the mix tape for me. I used to make TONS of them. I loved the planning of it... whole notebooks of scribbled side a's and b's, carefully planning to make sure there's time to fit it all on the tape. I was legendary for it, my friends always got a kick out of checking out the little tape box I had to see what mixes I'd added that weekend. I loved that you had to play it, make it flow, not like a cd where you can skip tracks. Everything had to be perfect. And I loved that you had to think... I loved the zen-like state of recording the tape, switching cd's, hearing the whole thing come together, and end with that little tape with the handwritten label. It was an investment and you felt like you had put something into not... not like the 10 seconds it takes to drag and drop 20 song onto a playlist and burn it in another 60 seconds. I miss those days...

I am not one to hate on cd's... i think they sound just fine and I don't get this poor sound argument, especially when compared to tapes. But I AM nostalgic for tape making...

I was a master of mix tapes as well.

However...

Not all CD mixes are shoddy. I put a LOT of time into mix CDs....more than mix tapes. I never drag and drop from playlists. I always rip songs directly to wav files from CD. I normalize them, fade in and out where approriate, etc etc. Plus all of my mixes come with custom artwork. I've made a lot of them over the past 8-9 years. Friends and family always love them. They show as much dedication as an old mix tape, they don't degrade as easily and they sound better. I love them!

Take for example the slimline discs I put together a few weeks ago for my band. Mind you I normally make mixes w/ regular size jewel cases, complete with tray liners and side text, but this gives you an example of how much effort I put into them:

http://www.cheesemerge.com/images/rando ... -Cover.jpg
http://www.cheesemerge.com/images/rando ... Inside.jpg
http://www.cheesemerge.com/images/rando ... s-Both.jpg

My mix tapes were legendary, and now my CD mixes have a loyal fan base as well!

soulsinging

BinFrog wrote:

I was a master of mix tapes as well.

However...

Not all CD mixes are shoddy. I put a LOT of time into mix CDs....more than mix tapes. I never drag and drop from playlists. I always rip songs directly to wav files from CD. I normalize them, fade in and out where approriate, etc etc. Plus all of my mixes come with custom artwork. I've made a lot of them over the past 8-9 years. Friends and family always love them. They show as much dedication as an old mix tape, they don't degrade as easily and they sound better. I love them!

Take for example the slimline discs I put together a few weeks ago for my band. Mind you I normally make mixes w/ regular size jewel cases, complete with tray liners and side text, but this gives you an example of how much effort I put into them:

http://www.cheesemerge.com/images/rando ... -Cover.jpg
http://www.cheesemerge.com/images/rando ... Inside.jpg
http://www.cheesemerge.com/images/rando ... s-Both.jpg

My mix tapes were legendary, and now my CD mixes have a loyal fan base as well!

That is pretty cool. I'm too computer illiterate to produce artwork though... plus my printer sucks I'm also vaguely OCD so I liked the simplicity and consistency of those handwritten cards in the tape cases They don't seem to make them for cd though? At least not for the slimline cases I have laying around.

Though, now that you mention it, I HAVE made a lot of mix cd's in similar style... A lot of bands I grew up on that I love a few songs but felt I didn't need all their albums around anymore (Collective Soul, for instance), I went through and ripped the songs I dug in WAV format and burned them into my own little greatest hits comps. They're all in a big leather case though... no artwork or cases. Maybe I'll look into doing something about that!

intodeep

Firecloud wrote:

I remember waiting all goddamned day by the radio for the right song to come on so I could hit record. Practical? Hell no. But I was a kid with all the time in the pre-internet world, and getting that mix right meant everything to me.

I have very fond memories of doing this. Actually i did it with friends sometimes we would wait for the songs togetehr and play nintendo (8bit mind you) Ahh the good ole days

stevehomeair

Mixtape mastermind...I havn't made my 2008 mix yet my 2007 was Epic.....ask my detroit crew

jecica

http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/mp3/9bd7/

mavi

A dear friend is rediscovering PJ after many years, missed a lot of stuff. We started with a mixtape to warm up and are now moving forward chronologically. I have always loved mixtapes, the time and thought it takes to make everything right... Not the same nowadays the actual tapes are gone, I know, but the idea still stands.